I really enjoyed this fast-paced thriller by Megan Goldin, as I'm a HUGE fan of true crime podcasts (My Favorite Murder is my absolute favorite!), and I loved how the author intertwined her own mystery as well as the rape trial she was in town to cover for her show. I read this book in one sitting because I couldn't wait to figure out whodunit and was shocked to find out at the end. Loved the small town setting, the mysterious characters, as well as the jumping back and forth in time from the previous crime and the current crime Rachel's podcast is covering. It's not often that I'm totally stumped by a crime book, but I totally had no idea who was behind the murder of Jenny...well done to the author!

4 out of 5 stars for The Night Swim by Megan Goldin. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book...all opinions are my own.

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

Wow. This novel was incredible! I love having the different points of view and the now and then storylines that have a SURPRISING connection that I had not guessed at all. This novel is primarily told from Rachel Krall who is a trained investigative reporter and is now famous for doing a true crime podcast. This is similar on the lines of the show Conviction (which I loved, so of course it was cancelled) where sometimes they are looking at old cases and sometimes current to really figure out the truth.

I am in awe at how well the author handled the questions/criticisms that come up for rape cases while in a court room and really did explain things well without making excuses for the perpetrator or the victims, all while solving a cold case too! I really enjoyed this novel and would absolutely come back to Megan Goldin again.

3.5 This is a slow burn suspense that follows two crimes, one from twenty five years ago and one that is current. Rachel Krall is a true crime podcast reporter covering a current a sexual assault in a small coastal NC town. A second sexual assault and murder from the past is woven in. I thought I would like this more but it was too graphic at times and very predictable. The author does handle victim shaming well, and is a topic that always needs to be addressed more. Warning - graphic content that could trigger. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Megan Goldin for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

I liked The Escape Room, and I was looking forward to the new book by Megan Goldin. I was not disappointed one bit.

A journalist, Rachel Krall, who rans popular true crime podcast, come to a town to cover ongoing rape trial for her third season. She never did podcast in real time, she usually covered only closed cases, but now she invites her followers to a "jury box" and to form their own opinion based on presented facts. While working on her podcast, Rachel starts to receive anonymous letter with the request to investigate a 20 year old murder that was considered to be an accident.

Both story lines are interesting and the ending was mind blowing - I did not really see that coming. I believe Goldin does a good job by setting the scene in the court and trying to be unbiased. I still wonder if she feels for the victim or for the alleged rapist. She drew a picture of court with its in and outs, its loopholes and injustice. Goldin also does a great job interlacing the present story with the past.

I could not out it down.

If you are looking for a book to keep you on the edge of your seat, this is it. Twists and turns abound and the podcast interwoven was frosting on the cake. The author wove together the past and the present in perfect detail. The Podcaster goes to cover the story of the rape of a 16 year old girl by the college star athlete in a small town. While covering this story bits and pieces of the story of a murder 25 years prior start seeping out.
Grab this book now but be prepared to not want to put it down.

Thank you to Netgalley, St Martins Press and Megan Goldin for an ARC of this book. My thoughts are my own and the audio of this book is awesome!!!

So here's a bookworm fact to know about me-I am immediately drawn to a book if it is a mystery/thriller centered somehow around a true crime podcast. I love listening to true crime podcasts, and something about a book that includes transcripts of a (fictional) one (the mixed media? the use of another something I love?) hooks me right away. A lot of the books on my TBR shelf and Kindle are this exact type of book.

That's what got me excited about The Night Swim. I had enjoyed Goldin's previous book, The Escape Room, but had also felt a little let down by it, and was very curious to see how her second book went.

The plot is definitely intriguing-a true crime podcaster famous for solving cold cases, heads into a small town for a trial, and finds a mysterious note on her windshield from someone she has never met, pleading with her to please solve her sister's murder. The way these two plots intertwine is clever, and there's such a sense of foreboding in the way even just the town itself is described. The use of podcast transcripts I of course loved, though they did seem a little short if they were being presented as full episodes. I found the ending definitely a surprising twist, and I thought it was well done.

This is not a book that shys away from material that can be hard to stomach, in particular sexual assault and rape. But because of this, this book also has a lot of important things to say.

While not my favorite in the book with a fictional podcast genre, I found Goldin's second book did not disappoint.

Megan Goldin is becoming one of my “go-to” writers. I loved her debut novel “The Escape Room,” so when her newest novel “The Night Swim” released I knew I needed to get my hands on it. While her first novel was a thriller, this one was more of a court room drama surrounded by an emotional past.

Rachel travels to the small town of Neapolis for her true crime podcast where the town’s golden boy is accused of raping a high school student. While Rachel is a household name she is barely recognized in person, only by her voice, so when she finds a note on her windshield begging for help she realizes this small town has more of an unsettling dark history then it’s letting on.

I have to admit there are parts of this novel that was very difficult to read. Majority of the book exams how a rape trial plays out in the courtroom, including manipulation and victim shaming. Great job to Goldin who wrote this story with such honesty and sensitivity!

Overall this book was a great sophomore novel, but a very emotional rollercoaster. I look forward to more novels in the future from Megan Goldin!

As someone who enjoys both books and podcasts very much, I really liked the story and layout (chapters differ being told as a narrative and others as part of a podcast). This book is timely with so many true life crime podcasts being out there, and I felt the characters were honest and relatable!

Rachel is a podcaster reporting on true crime stories, in a similar vain to the one that started off so many, serial. She follows a story of a small town crime that is unfolding in real time while simultaneously figuring out some secrets of the past that occurred in that town 25 years earlier. I will admit that i was hoping for perhaps a little bit more thrill, but it was still a great ride. The content of the two crimes in the story, however, were graphic and heartbreaking which i could withstand but i would put a disclaimer that it could be trigger some to certain people. Overall, a good story with a protagonist you are rooting for!

I really enjoyed this book. I particularly liked the juxtaposition of the podcast chapters and the more conventional narrative chapters. I definitely didn’t see the twist at the end. Well done, Megan Goldin. I’m looking forward to reading more of your work.

Great thriller! I really like how it was told from different POV and the podcast chapters. The subject matter was pretty sensitive but handled well.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the review copy of the audiobook and e-book! I listened and read a long at the same time.

This book was what I wanted it to be!!!!! I loved it. The plot of this story was very well written. I love to go into my mystery and thrillers not knowing much so I wont give much on this, but guys, this is a must read! If you enjoy and book based on podcast!! READ THIS!!!

I highly recommend this read!

The Night Swim – Goldin (8/4/20)
THE NIGHT SWIM by Megan Goldin wasn’t what I expected. Then, again, I am not sure what I expected, but what I got was so much more intense and emotional than I could have imagined. Once I started reading, it was impossible to walk away for any reason.
Rachel Krall has two seasons of a successful podcast under her belt, including finding evidence that exonerates someone that had been found guilty. She decides that for her newest season, she needs to do something different. She heads to a small town divided over a rape case. She will do her own investigating, sit in on the trial, report the facts, and let her audience make the call. When letters asking for her help finding out who killed the writer’s sister years ago, Rachel’s first spooked, then intrigued, especially when the writer connects her sister’s case to the current one. Was her sister murdered?
It by turns creeped me out…. Rachel was a voice on a podcast, with no good, recent pictures, yet someone was able to track her down and leave notes for her. I could see where some could happen, but others? More often than not, it ripped out my heart with the circumstances and the incidents. It also kept me twisting and guessing as I tried to figure out the past and how it translated to the present case.
The subject of the novel is tough and horrific, but Goldin crafted a tale so nuanced that you will keep reading, puzzling over the details in the back of your brain, as you speed to the conclusion without realizing how much time has passed.
Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.
#thenightswim #megangoldin #stmartinspress

The subject matter that this book dealt with was really tough and the way that rape victims are sometimes treated was really upsetting. This was more of a slow burn for me, but I'll keep picking up Megan Goldin's books.

3.5 *

I was really anticipating reading this book. It started off good with grabbing my attention right away.

Rachel Krall has a hit true-crime Podcast and travels to Neapolis, North Carolina to report on a sexual assault case. While she is there she begins to receive mysterious notes about another sexual assault and murder that occurred in the same small town twenty-five years earlier.

This was a slow building mystery as Rachel starts to piece things together. It's a very important and emotional story that centres on rape culture and victim shaming. I applaud Ms. Goldin for writing this story. It is written well and I liked it. I just did not love it and I know I'm in the minority on this one. It might just be that I'm losing some interest in psychological thrillers at this time. I think I was expecting a spectacular reveal to the story but instead got something a bit more predictable.

It's still a story I'd recommend to any thriller/mystery fan and I'd like to kindly thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press with granting me access to this Advanced Reader Copy.

Wow. The Night Swim by Megan Goldin was a heavy read yet one of my favorites of the year. It masterfully combined two of my hobbies: reading and true crime podcasts.

Rachel Krall runs the Guilty or Not Guilty Podcast. Kicking off season 3, she travels to a small town called Neapolis in North Carolina where she is covering a high profile and controversial rape case. Just before she reaches town, she is contacted multiple times by a woman who wants to prove that her sister's death there, nearly 2.5 decades earlier was a murder and not a drowning accident.

Megan Goldin brilliantly tied these two stories together and all of the narrators (Bailey Carr, January LaVoy, and Samantha Desz) did such a great job, I felt like I was listening to a real podcast. If Guilty or Not Guilty, the podcast that puts you in the jury box, was real, I'd 100% be binge listening.

Whoa! Didn't see that coming.

Ok. Let's backup a little. This book revolves around two very different (yet eerily similar) stories.

One story follows the rape trial of a girl named Kelly (aka "K") who accuses Scott (a well known local athlete from a very wealthy family) of raping her. The story then takes you on an inside look at just what a rape trial entails, and can help even the most close minded people see what keeps victims from coming forward. Is Kelly telling the truth? Will Scott go to prison or will he walk away a free man? You will get all the facts as told by Rachel on her nightly podcast "Guilty or Not Guilty."

The other story revolves around a sister seeking answers about her sister's death, 25 years ago. You'll suspect everyone at one point or another, I know I did. But you'll never figure out who is actually is. Let's just say my brain is still spinning trying to wrap itself around that little piece of information. In a small beach town such as Neapolis NC can a secret stay buried forever? You're gonna find out.

After two successful seasons of a true-crime podcast, Rachel Krall has found the third season for her show - the small-town trail of a young man accused of rape and its impact on him, the alleged victim, and their community.

Reading Megan Goldin's The Night Swim, I couldn't help but wish I'd decided to listen to the audio version of this story. Well, at least that was the case in the chapters when Megan is narrating her podcast. I couldn't help but feel I was missing something by not listening to Rachel narrate the story as it unfolds.

Rachel's investigation into the current rape charge brings up some old undercurrents and possibly cover-ups in the small town. The Night Swim doesn't pull any punches or shy away from examining the implications of the rape on all those associated with it. It's a hard, eye-opening look and yet, somehow, the novel walks a fine line. The mystery of what happened the nights in question drives the narrative and while I wouldn't call this a suspense thriller, I will say that I was curious to see where the actual truth would lie in the final pages.

As with many great crime novelists working today, Goldin's interest isn't just in solving the central mystery but looking at the impact that mystery has on its characters and society as a whole. Coming away fromThe Night Swim, I found myself thinking about it and pondering those implications long after the final page was turned.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Megan Goldin filled me with an emotional whiplash which was jam packed throughout this book I knew from the synopsis that the book had to do with a rape trial and a past unsolved rape. I was ready. Both were written and blended perfectly. This is an emotional, gut wrenching and an amazing read that will stay with me for a long time to come. Although some parts are tough and hard to read Goldin handled it with grace and respect. I highly recommend this book.

I’m in the minority here when I say this book was ok. Good but not my favorite. I liked the ending but found it a little predictable. I was actually more interested in reading the chapters discussing the events that led up to how Jenny died several years earlier, not as much the trial of the current day rape. For me, it was a slow burn and not a page turner. However, those that love a courtroom drama will probably find it a quick read. That being said, I’d definitely recommend to crime/courtroom thriller lovers.

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC!