This thriller kept me hooked from the beginning. The back and forth from the viewpoints was a little confusing at times, but I enjoyed the character development of Rachel and Joe. I also liked how you can guess who the killer is halfway but not the complete picture of what happened to the missing girls. Solid page turner! Would give 4.5 stars if I could.

I thoroughly enjoyed Megan Goldin’s recent thriller! Dark Corners was a sequel to The Night Swim which I loved and was eager to continue reading about Rachel Krall’s podcast journey. I was hooked from the start of Dark Corners until the end. It was unpredictable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves fast paced, engaging thrillers.

Lots to like in this book, but some things missed the mark for me too. I think this will be a popular book on bookstagram, although I disagree that this is a thriller - more just a supense/mystery novel. Firstly, I recommend editing the book before final publication to capitalize the word "Black" when used to describe Aysh (or any other Black character). Now, here are my overall thoughts:

What I liked: multiple POVs, McCoy's character (his influence on the plot, not him as a person lol), use of the rare medical condition, Terence ending up being a good guy, pacing

What I disliked: how juvenile Rachel acted at times, she is not a trained investigator; plot line about the influencer conference made sense in the context of the info we needed to learn about Maddison, but it was kind of annoying since influencers are annoying; sexual relationship that developed between Rachel and Martinez was unprofessional and completely unnecessary; ending was incredibly abrupt (at least it read that way on kindle); death of Jonny was a bit too much of a sidebar

Like I said, I do think this book will be publicly popular. It was engaging and kept my attention, but didn't feel thriller-y. Some plot points were disjointed, like the focus on Owen finding Aysh's body. Really unnecessary info there, and some of the conference descriptions were unnecessary too.

Thanks for the advanced copy!

3.5 rounded down. It took awhile for me to get into this story but it picked up about 25% in. I hate how many books use influencers as a subject these days and I was on the cusp of just a 3, but I liked the suspense of the book. I wish the chapters that outlined the would-be podcast episodes were more clearly outlined as it took me out of the story and I consistently had to remind myself what this chapter was.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Megan Goldin is one of my auto-buy, go-to authors! Stay Awake was definitely my favorite thriller by her but The Night Swim & her newest Dark Corners were good as well.

Dark Corners definitely had a different tone than The Night Swim- both follow Rachel- a true crime podcaster. I found Rachel to be a little negative in Dark Corners but the storyline was creative and I enjoyed the plot!

I really enjoyed this read. The twists were so well planned out. There were multiple view points and information that have you parts of the story but still not the full picture until the end.

I loved this book. I was hesitant at first as it is not my usual genre. I took the book slow even though it kept pulling me in I just felt that Thomas Mccoy character would be too dark to read and I usually read before bedtime. But I felt the author did really well by using his POV in a way that wasn't diabolical. I was guessing for while but it didn't take too long to figure out the story. Especially when they introduced Hailey I knew it would be predictable but I still loved this book. Really well written and definitely recommend. I'm gonna read the first book the night swim sometime this month!

I think these two quotes perfectly describe the way Megan Golding writes her books with dark topics:

"He'd liked the way Rachel brought humanity to an unspeakable crime, focusing on the grief and the quest for justice more than on the gory details."

"We're so desensitized to evil, so obsessed with finding out what makes the likes of [character name] tick, that we forget about the victims. Not just those they kill, but those they leave behind."

Goldin has a clear and concise compassion to her writing that focuses on the victims and survivors of such horrific crimes in a very sensitive way. The subject matter is of course difficult to read at times but Golding navigates it perfectly so as to not continue the glorification of true crime.

By far my favorite writer of "the podcast book" trend we're seeing right now.

4.5
Dark Corners by Megan Goldin
I would like to thank #NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eCopy of Dark Corners by Megan Goldin. This novel was a quick read- fast-paced, many twists and turns and allows Rachell Krall, a true crime Podcaster to return to the pages of this thrilling novel. In Dark Corners, Rachell's character is a strong, independent woman living in a dangerous world involving missing girls, prison, the FBI and the cut-throat and competitive environment of social media influencers. Rachell is called in by the FBI when an influencer goes missing and Rachel's own status as a podcast influencer may help solve this ever- expanding case. The case was eventually resolved, but I did not find the very ending satisfying. I like open-ended conclusions,but this ending just puzzled me.

I initially loved the premise of this book, but I felt like it unraveled too soon. Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison when he gets an unexpected visitor, an influencer with a mysterious past named Maddison, who goes missing shortly after her visit. The FBI's only lead is that Terence and Maddison discussed Rachel Krall, who is a true crime podcast host. There were a lot of subplots within this book, people going missing, mysterious symbols, etc. It was an enjoyable read; however, I feel like a lot of the big clues were revealed too early and ruined the ending.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.
I really enjoyed Night Swim and looking forward to the second in the series. Once again I enjoyed a great book from Megan Goldin.

Hot topic thriller checks all the boxes.
Missing influencer. Check
Podcaster. Check
Van life. Check
Stinky man. Check. Wait, what?!!! This was probably my favorite part. What a twist to build the story around. Love the chutzpah of that.
Yeah, yeah, there are some problems that better editing could fix. But overall, an entertaining second outing for our girl, Rachel Krall, the voice behind fictional podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty, introduced in Night Swim (which I loved).

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for access to an early copy. All opinions are mine alone.

I love the mystery megan adds to all of her books & this one was no different. So many moving pieces and so many things that needed tied up at the end & they were!!! I'm so impressed.

Rachel is an interesting character to me in a lot of ways, but I like her. She does what she knows is right, she fights for people who don't have anyone else to fight for them, and she realizes Joe was a catch, so more points to her.

I didn't remember much about the night swim, so I didn't feel like I really needed it to enjoy this story as well.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, publisher and author, for the ARC of this fantastic story. I was glued to the story from the very beginning. I liked how the cop character (Martinez) and the podcaster (Rachel) interacted throughout the story. I liked the background stories from all of the main characters. I liked that everything was explained in tidbits as I read more. I really liked the author's storytelling style, it was never boring or confusing, just entertaining and addictive. This is not my first book from this author (I enjoyed Stay Awake!) and I plan to read more from her!

I have a confession to make -- I am absolutely obsessed with Megan Goldin books. Needless to say, I was absolutely THRILLED to see another Rachel Krall book, and it did not disappoint!

Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison for breaking and entering, though investigators have long suspected him in the murders of six women. As his release date approaches, Bailey gets a surprise visit from Maddison Logan, a hot, young influencer with a huge social media following. Hours later, Maddison disappears, and police suspect she’s been kidnapped—or worse. Is Maddison’s disappearance connected to her visit to Bailey? And why was she visiting him in the first place?

I am an avid reader of murder mystery/true crime thrillers, but just like her other books, Dark Corners had such a unique premise. And it was so relevant with today's world of podcasters and influencers. There were some excellent plot twists -- things that were plausible but unexpected -- that kept me hooked until the very last page. A must read for 2023!

Found Megan Goldin through Net Galley and LOVE her. This book has a plot that is very 2023 - a true crime podcaster at an influencers contest? Very fun. This is a fun, quick read for those who love Goldin!

I have to admit that I picked this book solely based on it's cover. I had read Stay Awake by Megan Golden but I had not read the first book in this series, Night Swim. Once I started this book I was so hooked that I immediately went and bought a copy of Night Swim so I could read the books in order. This book was amazing. It kept my attention the whole time and I found the plot to be unique and perfectly twisty. Rachel Krall is the perfect female lead character and look forward to reading more stories in this series.

Okayyyy y’all! I loved this one so much. The cover is gorgeous. The story is so amazing! I highly recommend.

Hallelujah, not one single courtroom scene! 🙌🏼
I was nervous about starting this one as I wasn’t a fan of The Night Swim (Book 1). I was hesitant to pick this up thinking it was going to be another book where 90% of it takes place in a courtroom. I get that a lot of people like those books, but I realllllly have to be in the mood for one of those. I liked this one more than the first and am happy I read it!! ☺️
This can be read as a stand-alone as references to the first book are usually briefly explained.
This book was very very similar to Carol Wyer’s A Life for a Life. I rated that one about the same as this one which isn’t too shabby! So if you read and enjoyed that book you will probably enjoy this one too.
Although I mostly enjoyed it, my biggest criticism would be the unnecessary length as I felt there was a ton of filler as well as predictability. A few of the ‘twists’ weren’t twists at all to me since I spotted them a mile away and I feel most readers probably would too.
Overall, fun and entertaining enough read.
A big thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary advanced copy of this book. This book will be available on August 8th, 2023! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress, and @megangoldin for the opportunity to read this ARC 😊

Rachel Krall is back, still working on her podcast. This time she’s called to Florida and ends up assisting the FBI with talking to a suspected serial killer, who’s last visitor in prison has gone missing. This leads Rachel into the world of influencers and trying to figure out what’s real, what’s online, and what secrets the dark corners of the internet are hiding.

I shared how much I liked The Night Swim earlier this week. I’ll be honest, I think I liked this one more! I love podcasts, I listen to them almost all day while I’m working. So I think the podcast element of this really resonated with me. I liked the influencer aspect of this, it added some humor (is that that right term? 😅). I also really liked the addition of the semi-romance and I hope more books are coming so we can see more of them! The twists and turns were so good. I think the writing and cohesiveness was better in this one too! I can see Megan Goldin becoming an auto read author for me.