Thank you so much to St Martin's Press for an advance copy!

This is my 3rd summer of reading a Megan book and truly I am on a ride each and every time! I was HOOKED into this story from the moment I started reading it. I knew Goldin was going to take me on a ride.

"Always know what you're walking into. Dark corners can be danger points."

This book had 3 different point of views and each were very distinguished. You had the present day, Thomas McCoy and the podcast. Each would rotate in quick short chapters (which also made this book very bingeable) that just kept you wanting more.

Rachel Krall is such a force and I absolutely love her character so much! She has such boss girl energy that you can't help but root for her in all cases. She really puts herself deep into the crimes & you never know if she is going to make it out but somehow she does. She has such a way with people that people end up just spilling the beans - intentionally and unintentionally.

Goldin did such a wonderful job writing Thomas McCoy's character. As a reader, you could tell that something was just off about him but not quite sure what. Same for Terence Bailey - the man who has been in jail for years & was about to be released but also could be a killer that would be set free. Thriller writers have a tendency to make characters unreliable so you just don't know who you should be trusting. Pretty much everyone gets a side eye from me until the end.

"Burnout is high in the world of influencers."

I think those in the bookstagram/booktok world would enjoy this because of the connection it has to community. There is a storyline that focuses on content creators and the pressure to constantly be feeding content to the public and that image is everything. Granted I am not at the level that is described in the book, I still felt some of the things mentioned were relatable in my micro influencer life.

One storyline that I was unsure about is her relationship to Agent Martinez. Of course I want Rachel to have love in her life but I really hope this relationship continues into the next book otherwise I'm not sure if it served a purpose. If it doesn't continue, I think having it be a Florida fling would have been better. But we shall see! I truly hope it continues because they had great chemistry and because they could understand each other due to having parallel professions.

With that being said above, I truly hope Goldin has more Rachel books planned! I truly enjoy reading how she intertwines her life & uses her knowledge and skills to get to the bottom of crimes.

If you enjoy a podcast element in thrillers, a bad-a$$ podcast host, influencer tie in and a down to the wire chase - give this. read! Perfect for a day at the pool!

4.75

The story opens with a chilling retelling of how three different families set up camp in a deserted campground and their fast exodus out.

Rachel Krall finds herself on a plane at the FBI's request but has no idea why she's been summoned. When she arrives at the state prison, she learns that she is supposed to talk to a killer. Terence "Terry" Bailey has had only one visitor during his prison time and is to receive his second. The FBI is counting on Terry being a fan of Rachel's true crime podcast, that he'll be more forthcoming and reveal the motive behind the request of his first visitor.

When Rachel's visit doesn't go as intended, and a parting remark by Terry is viewed as a threat, Joe Martinez wants Rachel on the first flight out of Daytona. Rachel isn't so easily persuaded and will use her undercover as an influencer to ask questions. As she gathers information, time is ticking to Terry's release, and the FBI are no closer to solving their case.

I was pulled into the story to learn why the three families turned around and left in such a hurry. Rachel is the perfect person to mingle with a crowd of influencers, as she is the voice behind a microphone and keeps pictures of herself out of the media. Although the bad guy is evident, there are a lot of missing facts that keep the reader guessing. This was a definite 5-star read for me!

I received an advance reader's copy and voluntarily read and reviewed this book.

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first one in the series, but it was long enough between readings that I had forgotten some of the previous incidents that Rachel was involved in. She was pretty much lied to when asked to take an immediately flight to Florida to investigate in promise for the story. Turns out she was somewhat involved in it. More than a little creepy!

This is the fourth book I’ve read by the author, so I’m obviously a fan. Rachel Krall is back. Terrence Bailey was busted on breaking and entering, but was always a suspected serial killer. He is now sitting in a Florida prison. Influencer, Maddison Logan, met with Bailey two days ago in prison and is now missing. Rachel’s name came up in the FBI investigation, so they fly her to Florida to meet with Bailey. They are hoping she can figure out why Maddison met with Bailey and, if alive, where she might be. Nearby in Daytona Beach, BuzzCon, a conference for social media influencers is gearing up. Rachel decides to go, under an alias, so she can continue to investigate Maddison’s disappearance. While the investigation of Maddison’s disappearance is ongoing, a couple more dead bodies are found. Overall, this is fast-paced thriller with short chapters that keep things moving along. I was pulled in from the first chapter and couldn’t stop turning pages at the end. I liked that everything comes together at the end; and all the loose ends are tied up.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Corners was the gritty, but not too dark summer mystery I needed! This was my first by Megan Goldin and haven't read Night Swim (but want to now!), but this is easily read as a standalone. Rachel Krall has been summoned to Florida by the FBI as an influencer has gone missing and she has been connected to the case. This story has lots of twists and turns and eventually, Rachel ends up at BuzzCon, an influencer conference occurring in Daytona. I loved the various crimes and threads to this story and the different perspectives of characters that the author gives the reader. The podcast chapters also gave a a bit more background information to the story as it goes along. Goldin delivers with the conclusion and wraps up the threads with satisfaction. I look forward to going back and reading previous works from this author including Night Swim and can't wait to see what happens next to Rachel!

Rachel will not stop until she finds the killer before he strikes again in this story. I found it hard to put it down and thoroughly enjoyed this thriller! Loved the romance, the mystery, and the suspense!

Great book, I wish I read the first book before this one but I do appreciate a nice twist. I did not see the ending coming or the actually antagonist becoming the protagonist.

Rachel Krall, a popular true crime podcaster, is called down to Florida by the FBI. The FBI needs Rachel’s help in the case of a missing influencer, Maddison Logan. They think if Rachel visits Terence Bailey in prison, she might get him to reveal something about Maddison. Bailey has long been suspected of killing several women in the past, but the police could never prove anything. Bailey is also due to be released from prison (he had been serving time for breaking and entering) in a couple of days and the FBI is also hoping Rachel will get some information that will keep Bailey in prison longer. Rachel poses as an influencer at a convention of influencers called BuzzCon, hoping to get information about Maddison that will help find her. In the process, Rachel deals with the FBI agents and they realize Rachel herself may be a target.

I enjoyed the story and found most of the characters interesting. The story moved along at a good pace and it held my interest. I give the book 4 stars out of 5 even though the ending was a bit predictable.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is great drama. The plot brings together four major characters and the criminal. Joe is an FBI agent, Rachel is a crime podcaster. Maddison is an influencer, and Terance is a guy about to get out of jail. Even suspecting who the criminal is, readers will be entertained as they try to connect all the pieces. It is a page turning experience as everything unfolds. Makes for a great summer read.

Rachel Krall is back again, and before she even expected it! Fresh off Season 3 of her podcast - (book #1), Rachel is ready to catch up on her life and take a break. Before she can even get a morning of sleeping in, she is rushed off by the FBI and she doesn’t know why. Once down in Florida, Rachel learns suspected serial killer Terence Bailey is being released around the same time Madison a famous influencer goes missing.

Torn between helping the FBI and investigating a new story for her podcast, Rachel goes undercover at BuzzCon to try to figure out just what is really going on and if there is a connection between the two. As more bodies turn up, Rachel is running out of time before Terence is released.

The second installment of Rachel Krall is told differently than book one but still has you on the edge of your seat this summer!

I love the Rachel Krall series!!! The Night Swim was so good, and I was hoping to see more of Rachel and finally she's back!!

She's tough, smart, a has nose for sniffing out details, doesn't allow others to tell her what to do, and always seems to be a step ahead of the FBI/police.

While I don't know much about podcasts and influencers, I think Megan did a great job of depicting them.

This one has murder, mayhem, sleuthing, heartbreak, twists & turns, and even a little romance.

#Rachel #Joe #Terence #Maddison #Influencers #Netgalley

I have seen a lot of mixed reviews for this book. Majority saying The Night Swim was way better. To be honest, I think they were both equally great! This book held my attention from the get go, and kept it the whole time. I loved the mystery of the missing women, and the red herrings throwing you off the scent of the actual culprit.

The part that I didn’t like was the FBI agent who shared valuable case information with our lead, Rachel Krall, during an active investigation. I kept thinking of my friend who is an attorney and she would say that is NOT believeable and wouldn’t happen in real life.

If you can look past that, definitely check this one out!

I am loving this series and this one is even better than the first one! This one is super twisty and has so many layers. It centers around the relevant theme of influencers and social media. It is told from multiple perspectives, one of which is quite dark and chilling. Goldin writes the most perfect short chapters, full of foreshadowing. She is a master at crafting ominous suspense and building tension. I love trying to solve the mysteries and put the pieces together along the way. I love the characters, especially our main girl, Rachel. And I enjoyed the romantic subplot. This story was compelling and truly kept me turning the pages. It’s a different enough story from the first book that I felt fully engaged in something new and fresh, while still giving us the writing and narrative style that we loved so much from the first book. (You could honestly read this one as a standalone if you wanted to.) It was just everything I was hoping for and totally lived up to my expectations. I enjoyed reading it and highly recommend it to all thriller readers! I really hope there will be more in this series in the future! Guilty or Not Guilty podcast season four, please!?

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’m not going to lie - I struggled with this one a bit. And I think my main issue is that this is so different from the first book in the series, and that really threw me off. I found The Night Swim to be an unflinching and raw exploration of a sexual assault case, and the tension of the mystery aspects of the book to be very unsettling. And I wanted more of that type of story.

This, however, kind of took a character I really enjoyed and flipped her story into a run-of-the-mill police procedural. The mystery was interesting enough, but the format felt generic. It was much more of your boring action thriller instead of the nuanced look at the criminal justice system that the first had.

I don’t dislike those types of books. And I might have liked this more if I had expected that going in. But I also can’t help but wish that, if Goldin wanted to write that type of book, she didn’t tie it to a book that is very much not that. It kind of soured the series for me, which is very disappointing.

Megan Goldin is back with another Rachel Krall novel. Rachel is a podcaster and has been contacted by the FBI to help find a missing girl. The missing girl is a popular influencer who is supposed to be at the big Influencer awards ceremony in Florida. Anyone who is anybody important is at this ceremony and everyone continues to post their best reels and photos to get ahead of the competition. The FBI continues to pull Rachel in. Why is Terence Bailey being linked to the influencers disappearance? Rachel has so many unanswered questions. Can she manage to go undercover and solve this missing persons case before it is too late? There is way too many clues turning up to just be coincidence.

This is my second novel I have read by Megan Goldin and it won't be the last. I like her procedural crime investigation and how she brings current event right into the story line. Her writing is great, easy to read, and flows perfectly. I can see her Rachel Krall series becoming a television series in the future. I will always look for Megan Goldin's future works and will always recommend her work to other readers in my life. Special thanks to NetGalley, Megan Goldin, and St. Martin's Press for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 4 stars for me #NetGalley

Dark Corners is one of the best thrillers I have read this year! I loved that scripts from the podcast were included in the narrative, I appreciated the ending, and I really liked the characters. This was a suspenseful read and while I had successfully predicted one of the twists, there were several others that took me by surprise. This was a super enjoyable read!

Dark Corners by Megan Goldin

Published: August 8, 2023
St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Serial Killer Thrillers
Pages: 347
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

MEGAN GOLDIN worked as a correspondent for Reuters and other media outlets where she covered war, peace, international terrorism and financial meltdowns in the Middle East and Asia. She is now based in Melbourne, Australia where she raises three sons and is a foster mum to Labrador puppies learning to be guide dogs.

“Dark corners can be danger points.”

Rachel gets an unexpected invitation that brings her to Florida and puts her in the middle of an influencers convention. With curiosity getting the better of her, Rachel quickly finds herself the target of a killer.

I enjoyed this storyline. The pacing was comfortable, and it was fantastic having Rachel Krall back!

I like Rachel so much. She is such a great character. I love her intelligence, kindness, drive, and sass. We meet many new characters in this book, and their personalities clash!

This was a nicely paced read. Things moved steadily enough to keep me engaged but not so quickly that I missed anything. I love how Megan writes her twists; they come out so smoothly!

Fabulous. Blown away. No loose ends. Tied up so nicely. Not as violent on the page as The Night Swim. So much better than The Night Swim, in fact. Rachel really gets into it but also finds some romance along the way. I loved that things were not quite what they seemed, which was huge for the whole influencer plotline and how the life you see online may not be the life that person actually leads. Can't wait for the next Rachel Krall book!

This second in the series could also be read as a standalone. It’s been a while since I read the first book and I still enjoyed this one a lot. The plot kept me guessing how everything was connected and after a while it felt like it would just become more and more tangled. Believable wrap up was mush appreciated. Great read.

I've really enjoyed each Megan Goldin book I've read, so I was thrilled to get a copy of this one - and to see Rachel back! I thought the unfolding of this case was really well done and was completely engaged as I rode along to see what happened next. I actually really enjoyed the influencer slant of this book and found it to be a perfect summer read. I didn't love it quuuuuuite as much as The Night Swim and found the romance a little random, but overall I really enjoyed this book and look forward to what the author has in store for us next!