Rachels pod cast is an instant success she is now known for helping to solve a crime. Can she make this something she does again?

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin takes place in the small town of Neapolis being torn apart by the devastating rape trial of a 16 year old girl by the town’s golden boy, headed to the Olympics as a world class swimmer. Rachel Krall has become a new sensation in the true crime podcast world, and heads out to the trial for her next season as it plays out in real time. Rachel is surprised when she arrives as she starts receiving mysterious letters left in places she frequents begging for help for in solving the case of a drowning of a 16 year old 25 years previously. Although it was classified as a drowning, the sister of the deceased is certain it was murder. As Rachel finds herself drawn to the mysterious drowning of Jenny Stills, and starts asking questions around town, she is quickly shut down by residents not wanting to get involved. The letters are being sent by Jenny’s younger sister, Hannah, who remembers certain events that took place before her sisters death, and as she is desperate for answers and justice for her sister, Rachel starts to uncover connections between the past events, and the present trial that will change the course of everything and everyone involved.

This book is about so much more than just a rape trial. It is deep...very deep...it exposes the divide in small towns, and large, all throughout the country where how much money you have determines how you are viewed by society. If you are wealthy, you have a sterling reputation seen by everyone, even if that is the furthest from the truth. The truth is more than likely the fact you have the money and the power to hide your misdeeds and convince people to look the other way. If you are on the other end, poor, low income, you are often viewed as having a less than desired reputation, often being seen as a slut, or a life worth nothing. The mystery surrounding Jenny Stills’ death is the perfect storm of injustice in this type of society. The book will look into the rape of two girls and how the reputations of these victims is usually destroyed regardless of the circumstances surrounding the crime. It will take you inside the court proceedings of the current trial case, where you once again see how the victim of rape is often victimized again and again, there really isn’t any justice for them. And my favorite new past-time, besides reading books, listening to true crime pod casts. It will take you into this new world of “talk radio” of the past generations. I was captivated from the first page.

I really loved this book. It touched on so many of my favorite things. The rapes were a little difficult to read, but not because of details, it really just broke your heart for what these girls had to endure, before, during and after the attack. It was thought provoking, an inside look at the criminal justice system, and while we have come so far, we still have so much to do as far as the mental health of victims. We need to stop seeing them as victims, but we need to see then for the strength they have after enduring such horrific life changing events and empathize with how they handle every day life. We can’t continue to look down on them, we need to empathize and raise them up. This book was emotional, it made me angry, it made me want to scream out for the injustice of the underdog, it made me want to cry for the life taken away from Hannah when she was so young. I continued to think of this book days after I finished it, it was that good.

I would like to thank Netgalley, St Martin’s Press, and Megan Goldin for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I truly hope this becomes a series of books based on future pod casts. Hint Hint...

The Night Swim, by Megan Goldin

Short Take: A delicious double scoop of intrigue.

(*Note: I received an advance copy of this book for review.*)

Good mornings, my lovely nerdlings! We are right in the thick of the hottest part of the year, and it’s been a record-setting scorcher in my little corner of the world. And I don’t know about all of you, but as much as I hate freezing my soft parts off, I’m starting to not like summer very much either. I usually love lazing around in the sun like a pasty lizard, but multiple weeks of 90+ days are just too much. Can’t we just have some normal-hot days, instead of this-is-miserable-I’m-never-going-outside-again weather?

There are advantages to staying inside, however, namely catching up on my reading (duh) and today we’re going to talk about Megan Goldin’s The Night Swim.

Rachel Krall is a getting-seriously-famous true-crime podcaster who is headed to the small east coast town of Neapolis to cover a rape trial which (as such trials tend to do) is tearing the town right down the middle. It’s a sadly common story - a mousy teenage girl has too much to drink, an encounter with the local football hero happens, and it’s left to the legal system to determine whether or not a crime was committed.

(Sidenote - As someone who lives very close to Steubenville, Ohio, I can’t say enough about how Ms. Goldin handled this topic. I felt a deeply uncomfortable sense of deja vu while reading, which means that she nailed the small town range of reactions, the ingrained misogyny that runs rampant through people who would deny ever feeling such a thing even as they spew it far and wide. BRILLIANT.)

It’s just as Rachel is arriving in Neapolis, however, that a second case is brought to her attention. Via a series of letters, Hannah Stills tells Rachel the story of her sister Jenny According to Hanna, Jenny was murdered twenty-five years earlier, but the authorities wrote her death off as an accidental drowning.

Despite having plenty to do already, what with the podcast and the actual present-day hot-topic trial happening, Rachel is compelled to look more closely into Jenny’s death. As is to be expected, the town’s Darkl History Comes To Light, and Terrible Secrets Are Revealed. And of course, in the end, it’s all tied up in a very satisfying way.

The Night Swim flips between Rachel’s narration of current events, from both transcripts of her podcast and more traditional perspective, and Hannah’s retelling of events leading up to Jenny’s death, but only through her letters. Rachel’s sections were spot-on, moving at a nice clip, rounding out characters, and giving out important plot points at just the right time to build the suspense and keep me hooked.

The sections from Hannah's perspective, however, were a different story, and my only real complaint with The Night Swim is the writing style in Hannah’s letters. I don’t know if it was what the author’s reasoning was, but Hannah writes like a creepy male stalker, the wannabe sociopath in high school who writes his essay, badly, from the point of view of the serial killer.. Overly descriptive, stilted and pretentious. Trying too hard and overwrought. Her sections felt gimmicky and fake, and I wanted to skip to the end to find out what her real story was, but there was none, just a good writer putting me through too many chapters of bad writing, for no purpose except maybe to draw a clear line between Hannah and Rachel.. The story was fascinating, but the style was grating.

Overall though, The Night Swim delivers for fans of small-town thrillers (read: EVERYONE) and the podcast angle feels like something new and different.

The Nerd’s Rating: FOUR HAPPY NEURONS (and a nice big margarita. Or five.)

This isn’t the kind of book I usually read, but it was by Megan Goldin, author of The Escape Room, which I found to be a five star book, so I wanted to read this one also.

The story revolves around two different teenagers who were raped 25 years apart, and the podcast reporter/investigator who specializes in crime stories and chose to go to the seaside town of Neapolis to cover the current case. She ends up looking into the one from years past after that girl’s younger sister contacts her about righting the wrong that was done.

Sadly, not only were the girls raped, but they also had their reputations ruined while the boys smugly expected to get away with it. The way the girls were treated broke my heart. This is a difficult book to get through that made me feel emotions from anger to sadness for anyone who not only has been abused, but encounters even more abuse after the fact.

This is another 5 star book by Megan Goldin.

Interesting premise but just did not deliver for me. Repetitive thoughts were a turn off. Slow burner. Far fetched ending. I seem to be in the minority with this one. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

It is difficult to rate a book that is as intense and gory as this one. Rape, sexual assault, and physical abuse weave in and out of every chapter in this story. The author does a phenomenal job of portraying the reality of rape cases in the United States. It is sickening and despicable, and if you can tolerate reading about those things then I 100% recommend this book. It is worth the read.

CW: rape, sexual assault, physical abuse

Pub Date: August 4, 2020

Rachel Krall has earned her fame as the hottest true crime podcast host after setting free an innocent man. Now, she is heading to a small town of Neapolis to cover a rape case trial for her Season Three of “Guilty or Not Guilty.
At the same time, she keeps receiving mysterious letters begging her to seek justice for Jenny Stills, who was disturbingly drowned twenty-five years ago…
Rachel is tremendously intrigued by those letters and decides to dig up the past in order to find the truth, not knowing that she would be tangled in the complexity of some heinous conspiracy…
Megan Goldin has a real knack of writing such gripping and chilling crime thriller THE NIGHT SWIM! I am authentically absorbed in its consistent suspense right from the beginning till the end.
I would like to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this fascinating and obsessive read.
#TheNightSwim
#NetGalley

The beginning was a bit confusing but ones you have become intrigued on what is going on currently and what happened 25 years ago you will have to finish the book. The story is very realistic and plays of in a small coastal town where everybody knows everybody. In the 25 years not much seems to have changed in the attitude towards rape victims. The female tends to get blamed. Some of the wealthy population of town feels they are entitled to do whatever, including rape and murder with no consequences. A number of lives got destroyed by the events of a quarter century ago. It is heartbreaking to see how rape victims are treated and shows that or legal system on this subject still leaves a lot to be desired. The mother that blames the girl for ruining the future of her son and doesn’t see anything wrong in what he did. After a very disturbing story I loved the ending with the nightingale showing no lose ends and a hint that live will become more normal for the main characters.

I was provided a copy of The Night Swim by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
⠀
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Title: The Night Swim
Author: Megan Goldin
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 4 August 2020
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This book was far out of my preferred genre and has quite a few triggers in it.
⠀
For fans of crime shows, this will be a good read. Half of the book reads like you're watching a true crime show, which I found fantastic. It's an attention grabber. You are in the trial of a popular boy accused of rape, while still trying to figure out what happened to Jenny Stills. It's a book filled with tragedy and the author points out a few hard, realistic facts about rape and how it is often the victim who is blamed and shamed. As you follow the narrator of the podcast, learning facts as she does, you can speculate and solve the mystery with the main character.
The victims in this story deserved better, like all victims do.
It is definitely a worthy read!

The Night Swim is one of those reads that captivates you from the start and stays with you long after you've (sadly) turned the last page. CAUTION, this book contains graphic descriptions of rape and abuse. If this is a trigger for you, do not even consider reading this book.

This is the story of two young girls (each 16) who were raped and abused multiple times twenty-five years apart in the same town. It is told by alternating among the first person view of Hannah Stills, the younger sister of Jenny, a third person narrative about Rachel Krall, famous host of the cultural sensation podcast Guilty or Not Guilty, and through the 3rd season of the podcast which for the first time features a live trial.

Hannah, age 10, begins telling about the last summer Jenny was alive. The girls live with their mother who is dying of cancer. Jenny has taken on the responsibility of caring for her mother, her younger sister, and the house. Money is a problem, and the family has been looked down on by the townspeople for generations. No one really cares what happens to the Stills family. When Jenny dies, it is quickly declared an accidental drowning. Her mother thinks otherwise, and asks that her daughter's death be investigated. But it wasn't.

Rachel has tried to protect her anonymity from the start of her career. Her voice may be known, but she has done all she, can to keep people from recognizing her. So she is quite surprised when someone starts leaving notes at her door, on her car, addressed to her, asking for her help. She is in Neapolis, NC to base the third season of her podcast on the upcoming trial that is the talk of the town. Wealthy, privileged, nationally known swimming sensation Scott Blair, 18, is accused of raping Kelly Moore. Though Rachel's focus is on the trial and her podcast, she cannot ignore the continuing notes from a woman named Hannah who asks her help in getting her sister's death twenty-five years ago declared as the murder it was. The more Rachel looks into what happened to both Kelly and Jenny, the more connections she finds between them.

The author's writing is so descriptive that she easily makes the reader feel that they are present in each scene. She also seamlessly blends the two stories across the years that seperate them, and handles a difficult subject with great sensitivity. As one of her characters states "I want to make you think about how rape and the threat of rape affects the lives of women in a hundred different ways."

Between the high and heart-rending emotions generated by what happened to Jenny and Kelly, how it affected them and those who love them, the courtroom drama of the trial, and the podcast episodes, this is a compelling though troubling read.

Add this to your TBR (to be read) pile now. You won't want to miss this excellent book!

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

The Night Swim is the perfect dose of legal suspense, murder-solving investigative work and ominous feelings. It was a great read and I give it 4 ½ stars!

The Night Swim follows Rachel, an investigative journalist, as she works on the third season of her hit Podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty. Rachel is in Neapolis, a small coastal town, to cover a rape trial for her listeners. However, she begins concurrently investigating the suspicious death of a teen girl in the nineties, after receiving mysterious letters from the girl’s sister.

I really liked the way the story was told. The main narrator is, of course, Rachel, who we follow as she works on covering the rape trial of Scott Blair for her podcast. But we also get inside the mind of Hannah Stills, the sister of Jenny Stills, who died under suspicious circumstances 25 years ago, when Rachel receives letters from Hannah.

Hannah tells the story of what happened the summer Jenny died in bits and pieces, giving Rachel some time to investigate on her own in between each mysterious letter. I love how the author builds up tension as we get closer to finding out what happened to Jenny through Hannah’s memories.

At the same time, the trial is happening and we are kept in the loop via Rachel’s podcast episodes, scattered throughout the story. The transition between the different point of views is flawless and kept me hooked. Every time I told myself “Just one more chapter…”, I ended up reading three more. Did I mention this book was hard to put down? Because it was!

I loved how our heroine is all work and no play. No distractions, just her investigation and her interviews. I haven’t read many novels where there are so few relationships mixing up with the story. Really, the only constant human connection Rachel has throughout the whole story is with her producer. And I didn’t mind at all!

The only “negative” thing I can say is that a few of the big twists were easy to see coming. Still, I enjoyed The Night Swim and I recommend it 100%!

Rachel Krall is a podcaster of some renown - her first season got a convicted man freed by uncovering new evidence! Now she is in a coastal Carolina town to cover live the trial of a teenage athlete accused of rape. As she arrives in town, she starts getting notes about a girl's death, 30 years prior. She is spooked that the letter writer had to be following her - the first note showed up on her windshield while she was parked at a roadside diner where she hadn't even planned to stop. Arriving in town, she meets with the defendant and his posse of attorneys and publicity staff. The victim will not speak to her - the judge does not want any advanced press that may influence the jury pool. The whole time, notes, knocks on her door, and even restaurant visits all give her more information about the death of a teenage girl, from the wrong side of the tracks, 30 years ago. The letter writer claims to be the sister of the victim, looking for justice. What parallels are there in the 2 cases? , As it turns out, boys from affluent families certainly experience "justice" differently than the rest of us. Clearly drawing from the trial of Brock Turner, The Night Swim takes a close loo at the miscarriage of justice that sometimes occurs when victims are blamed and defendants are powerful & popular.

The Night Swin by Megan Goldin
Pub Date 08/04/2020
Thriller

Rachel the podcast host of guilty or not guilty, the podcast that puts you in the jury box! Rachel travels to a small town of Neapolis to cover a rape trial on her podcast that will put the millions of people that listen into the jury box. They can decide after listening to the trial and going over the evidence if the man is guilty or innocent.
While Rachel is in town covering a trial someone is following her, leaving notes, asking her to investigate it 25 year old case. Rachel decides to look into this old case while working on the second season of her hit podcast.
Rachel soon uncovers startling connections between the two cases. Which will change the lives of everyone involved in the two cases. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to the publisher and to #netgalley for the free book for an honest review.

I would like to thank the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a copy of this book for me to read and review.

Wow, everyone loves this book, huh? It's got so many 4 & 5 star reviews, I'm a bit intimidated. Because I didn't love the book. It's listed as a thriller, and I don't really think it fits that category. IT was a bit slow overall for me. I didn't feel that surprise moment that I like to read in thrillers. But I suppose I should also note that I did not like the author's previous book, which it seemed that everyone also loved. So maybe this author and I just aren't a good fit. I do think the author has an ability for character development and setting the scene, but this book just didn't work for me.

And, I feel like maybe there should have been a trigger warning. When I requested this book, I did see that the case being investigated was a rape trial, but didn't expect the level of details and emotion. Though, maybe that is the sign of a good author, if they can bring out the emotion in you. I don't know. I just wasn't expecting it in this book, and would have stopped reading had this not been an advance reader copy of the book, waiting for my review. As it is, I've taken months to actually finish the book and write this review. Because I just don't know what to say.

I'm thoroughly undecided on this book, I guess. The idea of a crime pod-caster appealed to me (Hey, I listened to and enjoyed Serial too!). And the descriptions and emotions were there. But this book still just really didn't work for me. Maybe due to the rape? Or maybe something else.

But, hey, I'm in the minority here. If you like crime drama and reading about a rape doesn't bother you, give it a try!

Rachel is a journalist with a popular true crime podcast, Guilty or Innocent. She has had two very successful seasons rehashing former cases for new results. I, personally, love those kinds of podcasts, books, and documentaries. I was hooked. The Innocence Project has me. I will listen to, watch, or read anything thing they are involved in. Rachel may be leading or she may be capitalizing on the popularity, but either way she has made such a splash that someone seeks her out to get justice for her sister.

A note left for Rachel brings back the case of a young girl whose death was ruled an accident. Rachel has come to Neapolis, a small seaside town, to cover a live rape trial. She is lead into the incestuous underbelly of the town itself as she weaves together the past and the present to investigate both crimes.

Here is where I feel the need to remind people that this is delicate and troubling subject matter. It may not be for everyone. Some people who have survived such crimes find the reading of justice for victims to be empowering and satisfying. Others find them to be traumatic to read. This is a trial. A victim will have to describe the crime against her. You may want to skip it, depending on your experience. It is raw and realistic in its portrayal of what a person goes through when they are a attacked. If you believe women make rape claims in order to get attention or revenge, read completely. It is never going to be worth what is required to try to get a conviction.

Thank you to Megan Goldin, Netgalley, and Macmillan for the opportunity to experience this book for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

It’s safe to say that I’m a fan of Megan Goldin after reading this book. Even tho this story to me was predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. It flowed so well and I really loved everything about it. I was so into what happened in the past and present stories. Megan just really nailed this story telling and character building. I would love to read more about Rachel and her investigative podcasts! This particular story is not for the light hearted. This whole book is centered around two rape cases- one from the past and the present. So there are definite trigger warnings you should be aware of before going into it. Trigger warnings are: rape, physical abuse, sexual abuse, substance abuse and death.
All in all this was a very easy, fast paced, and addicting read. I was very entertained through the whole thing and couldn’t wait to see how things would play out. I would have easily rated it 5⭐️ if it had more mind blowing twists and been less predictable.

Rachel Krall comes to the small coastal town of Neapolis to cover the rape trial of victim "K" vs Scott Blair, for her successful true crime podcast Guilty or Not Guilty. I get the feeling she wants to shed light on the ugliness that rape trials bring out, particularly for the victim. Every small town has its secrets of course, and Rachel finds herself prompted by letters from the mysterious Hannah to look into her sister's death 25 years ago. Despite the case never being investigated, Hannah insists her sister was murdered...

Despite the subject matter, I really enjoyed reading The Night Swim. The characters, setting and reactions are all very well described and believable. It doesn't really feel like a work of fiction. Both cases were interesting and the twist at the end did not disappoint. That being said, I really wouldn't call this a thriller. A great read, nonetheless.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a big of Goldin’s debut novel, The Escape Room because it was was just too over the top for me (I know a lot of people loved it, so definitely read it if you get a chance). That being said, I thought the The Night Swim was absolutely fantastic.

Rachel Krall runs an incredibly successful true crime podcast. For season three, she has chosen to follow the investigation of a rape trial in the small town of Neapolis. In this case, the all-star swim athlete is accused of raping the granddaughter of the local police chief. While trying to focus on the investigation, Rachel keeps receiving mysterious letters asking for her help in investigating a case that happened in Neapolis 25 years prior. The death of Jenny Stills was ruled as an accidental drowning but the person writing the letters insists that Jenny was murdered. To make matters worse, as Rachel starts asking the people of Neapolis questions, no one wants to talk. So what really happened to Jenny? And will the granddaughter get justice or will her rapist walk free?

First and foremost, if rape is at all triggering to you, you will most definitely have a difficult time reading this one as you do get flashbacks to when the rapes take place. While I think that this is something that the author handles with grace, she does not shy away from the details.

When it comes to stories that feature alternative formats such as epistolary and podcasts, I find that they make for better audiobooks especially when you have multiple cast members like you do in The Night Swim. I thought that both Hannah’s letters and Rachel’s podcast cohesively blended into the story and enhanced it rather than detracted.

As far as characters go, I absolutely loved Rachel. Rachel has to ask tough questions as she follows both the rape trial as well as investigates the death of Jenny Stills, but she never backs down from possible leads even when she knows that that they could potentially put her life in danger. She is gritty, fierce, and determined to get justice even if who we think the victim is may not be the case. She is always on the side of truth.

From start to finish, the plot is propulsive. I was immediately sucked into the horrifying rape trial as well as the story of Jenny Stills. Both of them are raw, honest, and utterly heartbreaking. I definitely had moments during the rape trial when I just wanted to stop because I felt like I was being ripped in half by the sheer injustice of the so called justice system. I was angry but also not surprised.

This is one of those books that really walks that fine line of fiction and nonfiction. All of the events within the courtroom and the way society treated both the rape victim and Jenny Stills is EXACTLY what plays in society. Some people will say parts of this book were predictable and this wasn’t a true thriller. I don’t disagree, but I also think the author was trying to achieve something more than your standard thriller, she a damn good job doing so.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing an advanced listening copy through NetGalley. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

WOW. This book is impeccable, which I do not say lightly. This is my first Megan Goldin read, and I look forward to going back and reading her past books.

This is an absolutely captivating story of a small coastal town plagued by secrets. Two horrifying acts against two 16 year old girls 25 years apart. Rachel is a podcast host who is taking on the challenge of recording a podcast about a rape trial as it unfolds in real time. Upon her arrival in the town, Rachel is haunted by letters from the sister (Hannah) of a girl (Jenny) who, according to police reports, died in an accidental drowning 25 years ago when she was the same age as the plaintiff in the case Rachel is currently covering. Goldin manages to integrate the two storylines masterfully and respectfully despite the triggering subject matter.

While reading this book I was disgusted, angry, intrigued, frustrated, and hopeful. Goldin is extremely successful in taking the reader on an emotional journey along with the characters. I think the mechanics (e.g. having the main character be a podcast host and including excerpts of her podcast) were effective in making the reader feel as though they were in the jury box, just as the podcast asserts. I had many hypotheses throughout the book about different perpetrators and possibilities of how both situations (in the past and current) played out, but I was thoroughly shocked by the ending and loved how gracefully Goldin tied everything together.

Full 5/5 stars. Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really good read dealing with a really hard topic - rape. It explores all sides and was really well written. I haven't read anything by this author before but will be adding her to my list of must reads.