I really enjoyed this book! It connected both the recent increased fame of couch detective crime podcasts and a first person crime experience. I will be recommending this read to my book club for sure!

Thank you to the author, Megan Goldin, the Publisher St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

Wow! I read this book in about a day. What an amazing and interesting way to tell a story and to discuss a very timely and heated debate about women and sexual harassment and rape. It really had enough information to be a topical paper or treatise on the subject of women's rape, but told in a fascinating fictional story. Rachel, a True Crimes on air blogger, decides to change up from her history of reinvestigating old crimes and instead covers an ongoing trial. The trial is set in a sleepy backwater town in North Carolina and involves a charge of rape of a local 16 year old girl who is accusing the college-aged Olympic Swim hopeful. Along with that story, Rachel is dragged backwards to into investigating a 30 year old murder of a 16 year old.

It was a fascinating, readable book about a very hard topic wherein rape victims are repeatedly brutalized by the system of investigating and trying sexual abuse and rape. And how, it usually just comes down to "he said/she said" and who is the more credible person.

It really is very sad. Sadder yet is what women still tolerate as being okay. I would highly recommend this to anyone who really wants to understand the challenge of rooting this out in our society.

I really enjoyed this book. It has a podcast side to it and I thought that was very interesting to read about. I will definitely pick up future books by this author.

What a fascinating book. I was impressed by the storyline and the characters were all well written and complex. Where there are complex storylines combined with intriguing characters the reader experience is magnified tremendously. To have a book that is well written as well as entertaining is a delight. Reading is about escaping your world and entering another one. Here I forgot about my own life and was immersed in the world created by the author. I would recommend this book.

Once again, I feel that this was a book that was labeled as a great thriller with twists and it completely fell flat for me. It had a very slow burn which I do appreciate with thrillers if there's going to be a huge plot twist that it leads up to in the end but this one didn't have it for me. The premise of the book was really intriguing and I do like the rape topics it delved into but go into this cautiously if those topics bother you because they were graphic and disturbing at times.

This was definitely not an easy read and I did the like podcast aspect but overall, not the best thriller in my opinion. I preferred her first book over this one but I will still continue to read her books.

*Thanks so much to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the complimentary copy for my honest review!*

The best thing about this book was its historical mystery storyline revolving around the death of a 16 year old girl 25 years ago. The courtroom drama tangent, that involved the alleged rape of a 16 year old girl by a 19 year old college all star swimmer, seemed weak to me and I was less engaged during these parts. Although the message was a powerful one and I can see why other readers might be emotionally impacted, I found it difficult to get past the somewhat cliché writing. The podcast chapters were repetitive as they would basically summarize what was just presented in the plot line. The “who done it” at the end was riveting although the events that transpired afterwards were predictable. Just a so-so read for me although I would encourage others to read it and form their own conclusions as it is one of those books that many readers absolutely loved.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I ended up listening to this book because it has a podcast element, which I was able to appreciate so much more through audio. This was an interesting story, following two timelines and two different cases. I wasn’t sure how they would be connected in the end, but the cases seemed to have some kind of connection. I was very intrigued for the most of the book, but in the end, felt a little disappointed with how it was concluded. If my just didn’t live up to my expectations after getting through the whole book with high hopes that it was a great ending. In the end, the conclusion brought it down a star for me.

Such a fun thriller! And it was even better as an audiobook! The podcast element made it even more engrossing, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Rachel, a true-crime podcast host, has gotten herself immersed in a small town's brutal past. The story follows Rachel along as she navigates through a current rape trial that she is documenting on her podcast and a past suspicious death of a local girl who no one in town wants to discuss. The story kept me wanting more and had many surprising ah-ha moments. This is not a book for anyone with sensitivity to rape and brutality. I would give this one a solid 4 stars. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for a copy of The Night Swim in exchange for my honest opinion.  Trigger warnings for sexual assault.
Rachel Krall is in a small coastal town to cover a sexual assault case for her podcast. While in the Neapolis, Rachel begins receiving notes from a woman whose sister has been dead for decades. Her sister is said to have died swimming in Neapolis but she believes her sister was killed and is asking Rachel to look into her case. 
Megan Goldin did a great job of handling the topic of sexual assault in this case. The sexual assault trial dealt with the alleged sexual assault of a woman by the town's golden boy who has Olympic aspirations. Within the story, Goldin highlights the polarization of sexual assault cases and how hard they can be to prosecute.  It isn't always as cut and dry as Law & Order: SVU makes it appear.  With the podcast element, Goldin allowed Rachel to see both sides of the story on top of the testimony within the trial itself readers witnessed in "real" time.
No surprisingly, the old case has shared elements with the current case on trial.  The older case is told primarily through flashbacks within the notes.  I thought the flashback elements were well written and allowed the two stories to intertwine well.

Hoo buddy, this book is trigger warning-tastic.

Seriously, if you're even slightly triggered by sexual assault, go into this pre-warned.

I read Megan Goldin's book The Escape Room in 2019, and was obsessed. Brilliantly written, unique, fantastic. So, when I saw she had a new novel out last year, I jumped on it (then took my sweet time getting to it, yes, I know).

Rachel runs a very successful true crime podcast. It started with cold cases, and she ended up having a case overturned, and an unjustly convicted man was set free. So, she has to up the ante with every season. This time, instead of a cold case, she's covering an active jury trial, an extremely controversial case involving a future olympic swimmer accused of sexual assault.

Sound familiar? I say through gritted teeth of rage at said headline this was ripped from?

But while she's investigating this small town crime and subsequent trial, she receives handwritten letters from someone named Hannah. Hannah is a fan of the podcast, and hopes Rachel can help solve her sister's murder. A murder that was committed in the early 90s, and swiftly swept under the rug. Hannah knows Rachel can help her. But the letters and notes appearing out of nowhere are extremely off-putting and concerning.

These two storylines mesh together brilliantly well. And the threads start weaving together the further we get along, and the tension ramps up the closer we get to both the verdict, and the reveal of what happened to Hannah's sister Jenny.

I will say, though, it was rough to go from one story of sexual assault to another. I absolutely needed a break in the end.

Amazing. Megan Goldin is shaping up to be one of the top names in thrillers.

True crime podcaster Rachel Krall is going to the town of Neapolitan to cover a rape trial of a prominent families son. He is accused of raping a high school student, the granddaughter of the police chief. Rachel starts getting letters on her car windshield and other places wanting her to look into a 25 year old drowning that someone thinks is really murder.
I love a book that is told through podcast. This was a fast paced and engaging thriller. Both cases past and present were interesting. I gave this a 3.5

Fast paced crime drama with a very modern twist. Well crafted crime drama following two time periods, present day, and 25 years ago when a similar crime was committed. We follow the actions of a podcast host in the present day, and through her podcasts we get a chance to stop the narrative and reflect on the case. Loved it.

Author deals with the heavy topics of rape culture, misogyny, and classism well. Suspense is kept as a simmer throughout the book. Both timelines are well developed, and delineated, even though characters cross storylines.

Five star thriller for me! I loved The Night Swim, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. Big fan of Megan Goldin, and I highly recommend

I received this book complimentary from NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

I was slow to get into this one but once I did...holy cow. I started a month ago and really started 2 days ago and couldn’t put it down. This was enthralling. The characters were excellent. I really liked how the podcast transcripts were in it - it brought an interesting level to it. The drama and thriller qualities leapt from the page. Rachel and Hannah were interesting and thoughtful. K was a perfect depiction. Vince, I think he was my favorite. I’ve read so many romances lately that I was expecting some romance and I enjoyed how much I love non-romance books. This was a gem of a book. I loved the ending. I loved the plot. It was a true story and I was in for the ride. I just loved it.

Not a book to step into lightly.

Following two cases, past and present. We get the story and the podcast. Both are brutal, both are a mystery and though the topics were hard this was a fast quick read that left me on the edge of my seat needing to know more. Definetly had the vibes of a SVU Law and Order episode and I loved it.

I really enjoyed Megan Goldwin's first book so I was excited to read The Night Swim. It lived up to my every expectation and I flew through it in one day.

Oh my, was this an enjoyable read! I was never tempted to skip ahead, as I sometimes do. I didn’t want to miss a thing!

The Night Swim hooked me from page one. and didn't let go. As a big fan of true crime podcasts, I was really intrigued by the format of this book and the podcast within the novel was really well executed.

It's a fantastic piece of character-driven crime fiction, combined with court drama and an exploration of the toxicity of rape culture and privilege between generations.

The book covers a rape case that brings up thoughts of the Brock Turner case. Goldin handles this respectfully, but it is important to know that it's a central part of the story. Reading this should make you furious. How survivors can be treated should make you furious. The courtroom scenes are emotionally heavy. They aren't easy to read, but are so important.

I continue to be impressed by Megan Goldin's writing and can't wait to see what her next book brings.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's press for the ARC.

This was both brutal in its story line but also in my reaction to it. Rachel, a podcaster, arrives in the small town to cover the trial of a young man accused of raping a 16 year old girl. While on route she receives a note from Hannah, a young woman whose sister drowned 25 years ago in the same town asking her to look into her death. As both stories unravel, the knot in my stomach grew and my heart ached for the pain both girls suffered.