Book Review: The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
(Published by St. Martin's Press, August 4, 2020)

4.25 Stars

From "The Escape Room", her enthralling corporate financial murder suspense thriller loaded with mind-blowing high-tech gimmickry, the author pens for us "The Night Swim", an equally chilling dual murder mystery and courtroom drama, intricate, haunting, set decades apart in an idyllic coastal tourist destination.

What is remarkable about both novels is the sheer originality of Megan Goldin's plots, baked from scratch, with a creativity and imagination that stretch boundaries, almost - just almost, to the point of implausibility.

"I'm Rachel Krall and this is 'Guilty or Not Guilty', the podcast that puts you in the jury box."

After the success of her first season in which she "... sets an innocent man free...", a podcaster is rendered so influential, wielding far more influence than a legal eagle, jurist or jury, and so much so that now her good graces are besieged by both sides in a local court case, - including a ghost, stalking, with decades old grievances.

(But, wait - when was the last time has anyone actually listened to a podcast?)

No matter.

Entertaining. Excellent writing. Unputdownable!

Review based on an ARC from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.

Wow! Megan Goldin weaves an incredible plot line in this emotional story of heartbreak and seeking justice as 2 crimes, one present and one past, are investigated at the same time.

I greatly enjoyed the writing style of this story and how it is told. I was immersed in the story. I enjoyed Rachel’s podcast and investigative skills and how the present story unfolded through her podcast and the past story eerily through letters seeking Rachel’s help in a stalkerish manner. The stories weaved together seamlessly as clues are laid out the plot thickened.

Megan Goldin makes you think and feel deeply and see aspects from every angle. It’s thought provoking, hard to read at times, touches on the power people can hold over others, and how deeply lives are forever changed by such tragic events. It’s well written, raw, real, and will touch you deeply as justice is sought after. It’s a story that will stay with you long after you’ve finished.

The Night Swim is an intense, disturbing story that keeps the pages turning. Rachel is a podcast journalist whose current “case” is about a golden boy in a small town accused of rape. While she’s covering the trial for her podcast, she becomes involved in a 25 year old mystery. Nicely told in alternating POV’s, the story becomes more entrenched the deeper Rachel digs into the old mystery. Great characters, plenty of twists, couldn’t put it down. Would love to see the book’s protagonist in another story!
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the podcast aspect of it. The beginning was a little slow but it did pick up. The mystery was well written.


I received a digital arc provided by Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an honest review. Thank you.

5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I had to stop reading this at just 6 % to tell my husband how good it was. It really was two stories, past and present that ended up intertwined by a small N.C. town. And. I. Was. Hooked. This is my first “podcast book” and I thought it was done so well. Did I mention I love a good podcast??

This might be my favorite mystery, thriller of the year. It gave me a landscape painting of a town that had color and shadows that I might not have noticed on my own. From a distance it’s beautiful and peaceful. But with an up close view, there were things hiding in shadows. Secrets, coverups and lots of mystery. Terrible, dark, bad things happened in this town. And no one wants to talk about.

I highly recommend this if you love this genre. It was so good!

This was a NETGALLEY gift from the publisher and this review is my personal opinion.

Taking a rape charge to trial is so hard. The victim has to relive the experience again in front of a room of strangers and their characters are usually destroyed. Most of the time, the victim has lifelong PTSD. In The Night Swim, "K" is a 16-year-old who is assaulted by golden boy Scott Blair, Olympic swimmer hopeful. Main character, Rachel Krall, has a true crime podcast where she puts her audience in the jury box. While Rachel is attending the trial, she starts receiving correspondence from Hannah who is from the same town as the trial, and her sister died 25 years ago, which she thinks was murder. The trial and who killed Hannah's sister Jenny progress at the same time. This was a hard read because of the rape/sexual assault that happened to both young girls and how their lives are changed forever by the attack. This is a heartbreaking book but well written and kept me invested in both the young girls' lives.

Wow, this book was really wonderful but very intense, and I would want anyone reading this to read the description carefully to get a sense of the kinds of dark content that is present in pretty much every scene of this book. Because part of what makes it particularly powerful is not just that it is examining a past crime of sexual assault-- it is diving headfirst into the ways we narrativize this particular crime in terms of the motives of the perpetrators and the character of the victim. I thought the characters in this one were really strong (particularly our 2 focus POVs, Rachel & Hannah), and the writing was excellent. All around, this is one that made me too sad to fully love, but I was immersed & think it is a worthwhile read for those who can handle how dark the subject matter is. Looking forward to going back & reading THE ESCAPE ROOM from this author

This was SO GOOD. I felt uneasy pretty much the whole time, and the storyline mix of the current trial that Rachel is covering, along with the slow discovery and reveal about what happened to another young girl years before was just so well done.

Rachel runs a podcast about crimes. The one she's covering this week is about rape. The victim and the guy who did it, along with the whole town- Rachel covers what they go through and the process from all angles. It's shocking and so sad to see what all a victim has to go through to hopefully get justice. But then people judge (the victim) them anyways.

And Hannah is a fan of Rachel's and needs her help. It's kind of creepy how Hannah almost seems like a stalker, but this town has buried secrets and they need to be brought to light.

Not really a whodunit, more of a what happened sort of story. And while what happened in the past is messed up, what's happening in the current trial is equally upsetting. I was sucked in to the story and stayed up too late reading it.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing for this thought-provoking and electrifying book. It deals with two brutal rapes twenty-five years apart in a small town, the trauma faced by the victims and their families, and how their innocent reputations were besmirched even after the death of the first girl.

Jenny, the victim of the first rape years before, did not survive. Some prominent members of the town covered up her brutal group rape and murder, and the verdict was she died by drowning. Her younger sister, Hannah, was barely 10 years old when it happened, and has been consumed for 25 years by sorrow and guilt for not preventing it. Their mother succumbed to a terminal illness days later. The shock of the loss of Jenny may have hastened her death. Both Hannah and the mother believed she was murdered to cover up evidence of the rape. This was not pursued by the police, and her good name and reputation were besmirched by the town. The family was very poor, and no justice
followed her death.

Rachel has come to town to cover a rape trial twenty-five years later for her popular podcast "Guilty or Not Guilty". Her podcasts have been widely followed by the public who are obsessed with true crime podcasts and documentary TV. The towns' favourite young man, an athlete from an influential family,
is on trial for the rape of an innocent sixteen-year-old girl. The accused was awaiting a sports scholarship and probably a future swimming in the Olympics. The girl, named in the trial as K, is widely known as the granddaughter of a former police chief. The young woman has had her reputation damaged by lies and has been severely traumatized by the rape.

While focusing her attention on the upcoming trial, Rachel begins to receive mysterious letters from Hannah, hoping she will investigate and solve Jenny's murder from long ago. Rachel feels she doesn't need this distraction from the trial she is presently covering, but with each letter she becomes more intrigued. It seems Hannah is stalking her while more about the night Jenny died and its aftermath are revealed in later letters.

The sections where Rachel covers the current trial places the reader in the courtroom and shows the difficulty of reaching a fair verdict in a rape case. The young girl is further traumatized during the trial and is too emotionally fragile to continue her testimony. Many cannot believe their popular sports hero could commit such a crime.

Meanwhile, Rachel continues to hear from Hannah, who finally admits what happened the night her sister died, and the manner in which she was terrorized. Rachel discovers a secret connection between the two crimes which had never been revealed.

This was a suspenseful, gripping story with believable well-developed characters, told with sensitivity. It makes you think of the difficulty of reaching a fair verdict in a rape trial where there are rarely witnesses, and how the victims may often have their reputation destroyed in the process.

In the small town of Neapolis, they are awaiting the trial of one of their golden boys, accused of raping a teenage girl, called K. Rachel Krall is covering the rape and trial in her true-crime podcast. While prepping for the trial, Rachel’s attention is drawn to a letter she receives from a girl named Hannah, who writes of the murder of her sister, Jenny, 25 years ago in the same small town. Police ruled the murder as a suicide when it seems to be anything but. Rachel is reluctant to investigate because of the way Hanna is dropping off the letters, but her curiosity wins out. Will either of these cases get the resolution they deserve?

This is under psychological thriller and psychological fiction on Amazon, but it’s more mystery than thriller. Told in alternating viewpoints and timelines, Goldin tells both Rachel and Hannah’s perspectives extremely well. Rachel is a fantastic character who is strong, thorough, and impartial in her reporting. I would love to see Goldin write Rachel’s character as part of a series.

The Night Swim is well-researched. It’s raw and honest, and sometimes it’s brutal, but a necessity to be true to both K and Jenny’s stories. We get a glimpse of the horrors of rape, what a woman must go through in reporting it, how they get vilified by their peers, and the traumatization of testifying. The two cases of the past and present are seamlessly weaved together in a heartbreaking, yet hopeful story that might be delicate for some readers. Yet is a must-read for men and women alike.

This captivating story will keep you engaged through out the story. Loved every minute! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating from me. Thank you St Martin’s Press, Netgalley, and Megan Golden for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Wow, what an amazing story! The Night Swim was a definite page-turner. I was glued to the pages of this story, fully immersed in both the past and present story laid out on the pages. I loved the concept of the story, a former reporter who has become a celebrity for her True Crime podcast she has created. This season's podcast will be covering a rape trial. While she's covering it, she gets sucked into a story of a similar crime that happened 25 years ago.

Rachel was a tenacious reporter who was obviously passionate about uncovering the truth of a crime. She had a good head on her shoulders, even if she did do some stupid things sometimes in the name of gathering information.

Both cases were very compelling. The current case of a swimming superstar who has been accused of rape. It's the classic case of he said/she said. Megan does an incredible job of delving into how society forms opinions on what a woman goes through when they've been assaulted. How the onus is unfairly put on the victim to prove that they were in fact, raped.

As interesting as the current day crime was, I was really fascinated with what happened in the past to Jenny Stills. Getting fed bits and pieces of the story by her younger sister was infuriating at times, because I needed to know!! It really ramped up my eagerness to discover what really happened, who was behind it, and how they had gotten away with for all this time. The twists and turns had me second guessing everything I thought I knew.

This was my first read by Megan and it definitely won't be my last. I was so invested in this story! It is a very emotional story in that so many people's lives were changed forever by the events that took place, past and present. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time to come!

I had to read late into the night to see how this page-turner ended! What a read!

Rachel Krall has a True Crime podcast and came to the Atlantic coastal town of Neapolis for the rape trial of Olympic swimming hopeful and town Golden Boy Scott Blair. Scott is accused of raping Kelly Moore, granddaughter of the town's police chief. Before Rachel get to Neapolis, she finds a note on the windshield of her car and once she gets to her hotel, she begins to get more notes. The notes are from a Hannah Stills whose sister Jenny died 25 years ago in a supposed drowning accident although Jenny was an excellent swimmer.

As the trial progresses and she receives more notes from Hannah, Rachel begins to see similarities between the two cases.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this super fantastic read that kept me up way past my bedtime. Megan Goldin really hit it out of the ball park again with this book.

"Rachel Krall is the voice of a true-crime podcast. After her first season led to an overturned conviction, she has become an overnight sensation. Now she's set to podcast the trial of a town's golden boy - a swimmer with Olympic dreams - who's accused of raping a high school student. When she gets to town, she is contacted by the sister of a girl, Jenny, who died 25 years ago. Her death was ruled as accidental but the sister knows there is more to it and begs Rachel to help. Rachel is pulled between covering the trial and finding the truth about Jenny. And there are some who don't want the events of the past to be remembered."

I liked the format that Goldin uses. We get Rachel's POV and then we get the podcast episode as Rachel discusses the trial. There are several clues about what really happened with Jenny but Goldin is very subtle with some.

The tough part of this story - there is rape of a young girl identified as K and the trial is brutally descriptive of what happened. These are fictional characters but Goldin wants the reader to see the devastaion that rape can have on a girl and her family. And it's awful.

The ending is not one you might expect. Goldin does take us through the verdict. And we do find out what happened to Jenny. Goldin gives us a twist with a couple of characters.

This is my first book from Goldin. I immediately ordered her first book after reading this one. She has a fast-paced, easy-to-read style. Great story from Goldin.

Well done Megan Goldin! Liked 'The Escape Room' and liked this one even more! Anyone looking for a suspense/thriller/mystery/whodunit/coming-of-age story? Well, this one checks all of those boxes! The story is told through Rachel Krall, who has a podcast about unsolved crimes and follows trials. Season 3 of her podcast brings her to a coastal town where a college boy, accused of rape, is about to stand trial. What sets this book off from others is a letter Rachel reads, which is unsettling for one, because of the way it found her and two, because as a podcaster, everyone knows her voice but how did this person find her? Through these anonymous letters, Rachels learns of maybe another incident that occurred in this same town many years ago. The author perfectly layers the stories together in this hard to put down suspenseful thriller. #netgalley #thenightswim

Loved this book! Amazing pacing and really great read. Kept me up later over the days I was reading cause I couldn't put it down

Night Swim was insane!!! It revolves around Rachel who is a host of a podcast. In her podcast she has to cover a serious rape trial. She discovers some creepy but thrilling things. I really could go on and on about how great this one is, but I don't like spoilers and won't say more. I loved Megan Goldin's writing. I loved her last book and this one does not disappoint. It has all the aspect of a wonderful thrillers. I am for sure excited to see what she writes next!!

Thank you St. Martin's press, NetGalley, and Megan Goldin for the ARC!

I really enjoyed the podcast concept of this book - I like how it was split up into podcast episodes, letters from Hannah, and then the present occurrences. I think that made it a really quick and easy read.

What was not easy was the subject matter. It was horrific, real, and terribly sad. This book weaves two completely separate rape cases together (one that was never reported and one that is currently being tried). Sometimes, it was difficult to distinguish between the cases, which made it even more terrifying.

The characters in this story are detestable- for the most part. Neapolis was a city full of hate which made for a great story, but a sad ending for several people.

Megan Goldin’s previous novel, The Escape Room was loaded with twists and turns. I was really hoping for a big twist (or any twist, if I’m being honest) in The Night Swim, but I found it all to be pretty straightforward and predictable. Though it didn’t detract from the book, it wasn’t quite as exciting as I thought it would be.

The Night Swim is an outstanding suspense/mystery read. The plot was engaging, the characters well developed, and the topic, sexual assault/violence, even though it was very unnerving and shocking at times, gave the story a unique and realistic theme. I enjoyed the podcast part of the story a lot, and the courtroom drama kept me glued to the book’s pages, and left me conflicted and emotional. What really made this book stand out from all others in this genre was the ending. It was just perfect. No loose ends, no unnecessary, written for the shock value happenings, and no rushed, less than believable conclusion to a superb story.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This books will reel you in on page 1 and won’t let go until the end. As a podcaster who covers true crime stories, Rachel travels to Neapolis to cover the Scott Blair rape trial. Immediately a fan leaves her an anonymous note asking for help in solving the murder of the fan’s older sister. With striking similarities between the two cases, the book ratchets up the tension slowly and methodically and makes you question if justice does exist. There are some graphic scenes from both cases, but I think they were done tastefully.

This is a book you’ll want to read and it will stay with you after it’s over.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.