3.5
This is the second book in the Rachel Krall series, the first book is The Night Swim and it is an amazing read, but you do not have to read this book in order to read Dark Corners, there are some general references back to The Night Swim but nothing major.

Megan Goldin bring Rachel Krall and her podcast back, but this time Rachel is directly involved in the investigation:

Rachel Krall has made a name for herself with her true crime podcast, and this success has been a blessing but also a curse. She has become a household name, and the last hope for many who are seeking Justice but it has also put a target on her back. Terrance Baily is about to be released from prison, problem is that the local police believe that he is a serial killer. When Terrance gets his first visitor ever, an up-and-coming social media influencer, who then vanishes it is discovered that Rachel's name came up in their interaction. The FBI are at a dead end and want Rachel's help to determine if Terrance had a hand in her disappeared even from behind bars. When a woman's body turns up, Rachel knows that she's no longer there just to get Terrance to talk but to find a murderer as well.

The Night Swim was one of my favourite books of 2020, so i was extremely happy that Goldin decided to bring Rachel Krall back for another one. But it will say that this book is no Night Swim and it took me a bit to get into this book. I think part of the reason is that I wasn’t a fan of Rachel being involved with the actual investigation from the beginning. She has her own way of doing things and what she finds out we are given in her podcast reports a little later in the book. By her being part of the investigation it felt like she was hampered in a way and I much preferred when she was doing her own thing.

I missed the podcast parts in this book, I feel like it had a lot less than the Night Swim.

I'm not the biggest fan of books where we know who the killer is and we are waiting for the amin characters to catch up. This takes away the mystery for me and all that is left is how some things are connected together. I will say the evidence pieces that are needed to solve the story are interesting and well thought out, I just wish i didn’t know who the killer was beforehand other than some hints along the way.

I'm not sure I am the only one, but the relationship seemed forced to me. I mean it did not add anything to the story it was kind of like you're attractive, I'm attractive we should be attractive together. At least Goldin didn't add in a sex scene then i would be done.

I still enjoyed this book, it just did not live up to my expectations. I really enjoy Rachel as a character and her podcast angle is well done, which is why I wanted more of it. I do hope to read more books with Rachel as the main character and what next case she will investigate next.

Enjoy!!!

Dark Corners by Megan Goldin
August 8, 2023

First off, I loved The Night Swim, and I loved Dark Corners just as much. Rachel Krall is the perfect protagonist to carry this series and I say that with hope of more books to come.

Dark Corners is the perfect balance of true crime and thriller fiction featuring Rachel, a podcaster with a history of success. Rachel goes undercover as a micro-influencer to investigate the disappearance of Madison Logan, a social media influencer and comes across Terrence Bailey, imprisoned for murder but soon to be released. Working with the FBI to determine if he’s responsible for Madison’s disappearance, Rachel enters the world of the shallow and obtuse! Haha!

Thrilling, twisty, and a bit heart-wrenching, Dark Corners is everything I’d hoped it would be. I cannot wait to read more about Rachel (and Martinez!)

Highly recommend this one!

4.5 stars.

Though it didn't have as much podcast content as The Night Swim, I really enjoyed that element continuation in this second installment from Goldin. The setting was interesting and modern. It's hard to say how this will age, but it works great for now.

There were some moments that felt unrealistic (particularly with the FBI handling) and some that felt unnecessary (I didn't really need the romantic aspect), but overall I enjoyed this rather quick paced read. There's a lot of great character work and the organization of the plot is well executed. I enjoy how Goldin's writing feels natural and unpretentious while still remaining somewhat authoritative in the feel. There is a good mix of professional and personal personality development in Rachel and I'm looking forward to the potential of continuing installments with her perspective.

Absolutely loved this one! I really enjoyed the author's earlier novel The Night Swim and this one was a great follow up. 5 stars!

Megan Goldin strikes again! This book was FIRE! Loved Night Swim and loved Dark Corners just as much. Dark and unsettling and will be thinking about this story as a whole for a long time!

Loved the writing which I can't say for many authors lately. Many authors mass produce books for profit esp on these Kindle apps ( sometimes less is better) the writing has to be good for me to read it. Quality of writing tho was never something lacking in the Krall series MS goldin always produces descriptive characterizations and plot depth. Dark corners def had a twist didn't see coming. This book was one of the best I've read this year. I love all Megan's books. I think tho dark corners is my favorite. Night swim was wonderful too. Keep writing Megan!

I loved The Night Swim! Loved it. And in this book, Rachel Krall, the renowned true crime podcaster, is back! This time she’s collaborating with the FBI to uncover the mystery of Maddison Logan’s disappearance. Maddison, a popular social media influencer, went missing after visiting Terence Bailey, a suspected serial killer in prison. Bailey, about to be released for breaking and entering, has long been under suspicion for more sinister crimes. The question is, why did Maddison visit Bailey, and what compelled him to summon Rachel Krall?

The FBI seeks Rachel’s assistance due to her uncanny knack for uncovering clues where others falter. Maddison remains an enigmatic figure, her background shrouded in mystery. She encounters a group of individuals more focused on curating impeccable content and photos than forging meaningful connections.

As the discovery of a body raises questions about whether Bailey had an outside accomplice, Rachel’s dynamic with FBI agent Joe Martinez takes center stage.

Initially, I was unsure about this book, finding it hard to connect. However, as I rread more, the story fully engaged me.

I relished how all the pieces of the puzzle ultimately fell into place. I will happily read another book with Rachel Krall!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Okay so the first half of the book was mid but the last half was perfection. The first half felt a bit kerfuffled and all over the place. Jumping POVs, sometimes chapters would end with rachel being in one place and her next chapter would jump to somewhere else and that was a little confusing. Also the influencer storyline was a means to an end to give maddison a purpose for being in FL and rachel means of staying in FL but it was still kind of odd and low brow. The murder of Jonny felt unnecessary and didn’t add to the main storyline. But overall it was an entertaining page turner!

Rachel Krall is back!!! We originally met her in Night Swim, and she’s back with another exciting adventure! This time the FBI brings her down to FL to talk to an inmate. A VanLife influencer has gone missing and she wanted to contact Rachel. This influencer visited Terrance Bailey, the inmate who was convicted of breaking and entering but police thought him to be responsible for a number of murders. Bailey is about to get out of prison and then another girl is found deceased. With a specific tattoo on her arm. The police and FBI think that Bailey may have an accomplice on the outside. Rachel goes undercover at BuzzCon, an influencer convention, and she learns that not everything and everyone is whom they seem to be.

I love this series and I cannot wait for the next book (hopefully there is a next book haha). The Night Swim captured my attention to this author, and now I’m working through her books. Krall is a fierce woman, she’s got balls, and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. While she sometimes finds herself in tricky situations, I never worry about her.

This book is told in multiple points of view with the story wonderfully weaved together. I really love books that take on a podcast aspect and do it well. There are definitely some surprises and twists coming, though there was one thing that the author wanted me to believe but I didn’t (I won’t put it here because no spoilers!). Thriller fans, go read this book!

I absolutely loved The Night Swim by Megan Goldin, so when I was approved for an advanced copy on NetGalley, I was stoked to say the least and more than ready to dive into another 5 star thriller.
Unfortunately, as much as it pains me to say this, it fell flat for me.
I am already not a huge fan of the podcast trope, and find that it's been horribly overdone in the past few years, but like I said, I enjoyed The Night Swim and was ready for more Rachel Krall.
However, in this second novel the format was changed, and not for the better. I really did miss the courtroom drama and the podcast episodes. We see much more of Rachel this time around, as she is working with the feds and I didn't particularly enjoy her as a character. Any part to do with the FBI cooperation storyline just about bored me to no end, which I mainly attribute to the pacing. The beginning started off strong, but the middle was incredibly slow, uneventful and way too long, while the ending felt a little too rushed.
I also did not enjoy the Influencer subplot, but that is mostly on me, as I'm probably too old for this type of stuff, and cannot relate to the obsession with average Joes and Janes and their respective opinions.
All this to say, that while the book didn't work for me, subjectively, it wasn't a bad book by any objective means.
This is probably the right book for people (maybe a little younger than me), who enjoy both podcasts as well as internet Influencers, and aren't looking for courtroom drama.

Dark Corners by Megan Goldin we get to visit with Rachel Krall again. We first met her in The Night Swim, which I absolutely LOVED. I

Terence Bailey is a prisoner about to be released from the Central Florida Correctional Facility. He LOVES Rachel's podcast "Guilty or Not Guilty".

Special agents Joseph Martinez and Mark Torreno meet Rachel at the prison where they ask her to speak with Terrence. From there things get really exciting!

This was a great story that kept me flipping the pages.

I hope to see more of Rachel in a future book.

What I Like:
✨Rachel Krall: I loved this badass true crime podcaster in Night Swim (book one and one of my favorite thrillers from 2020), and she doesn't back down in Dark Corners. She’s tough, methodical, and passionate about righting injustices. She works with Detective Joe to help solve a missing persons case. A romance develops between them, which feels a little like insta-lust. Personally, I could do without the romance, but I know other reviewers love the romantic suspense element.
✨Twisty Plot: Goldin plants plenty of red herrings. Some of the twists I guessed; others, I was dead wrong. I do think the reader needs to suspend some belief to make the twists work.

Dark Corners
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Megan Goldin

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley. St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: 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 freedom 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? Why was she visiting him in the first place?

When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems only to exist on social media; she has no family, no friends, and other than in her posts, most people have never seen her. Who is she, really? Using a fake Instagram account, Rachel Krall goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference, where she discovers a world of fierce rivalry that may have turned lethal.

When police find the body of a woman with a tattoo of a snake eating its tail, the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krell herself. Suddenly a target of a monster hiding in plain sight, Rachel is forced to confront the very real dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the internet.

My Thoughts: This is book no. two in the Rachel Krall series. I listened to “Night Swim” a few months ago in anticipation of this novel. Rachel has a true crime podcast that has blown up since we last met her, she is even famous, so much so, that she has to keep a low profile. Rachel gets a call from FBI to assist them without any details over the phone, just the name Terrance Bailey. Rachel’s interest is piqued and after an interview with nothing gained, the FBI is sending her back home. Rachel does not do well being told what to do and decides to hang out at BuzzCon to get some additional information on a missing influencer. BuzzCon is a huge convention for influencers and also where they announce the influencer of the year award, which comes with a financial awards, a streaming platform, and bragging rights for a year. The further Rachel digs, the more danger she is in. A danger cat and mouse game ensues.

The story is narrated primarily by Rachel with some other surprise narration. In the beginning, Rachel seems very defensive, lacks situational awareness, engages in unnecessary risky behavior, and even at times, was unlikable. However, towards the end, she warmed my heart again. The characters were created with depth, with our MC being expanded on, had some witty moments, were mysterious, creative, and intriguing. The author’s writing style was complex, a little fun, while still suspenseful and twisty, and engaging. The story unfolds by introducing and building up our characters, layering the plot in twisty ribbons weaved throughout the story with a fabulous ending. Goldin has a way with words that pulls you in and you just get lost in the story, she is brilliant, and intelligent.

I had the privilege of having the ARC for both the digital and audio formats. I got a little behind on reviewing when I had surgery but am almost caught back up. I adored the first one but I felt like this one did not live up to the first one. Do not get me wrong, it was still a good read/listen that I enjoyed, I was just hoping for more. However, I would definitely recommend this one and “Night Swim” to other readers.

This novel is perfect for fans of the show Criminal Minds! For those readers who devour mysteries and thrillers and love the feeling of beating out the clock on solving who the murderer is. This book is for them.

well known true crime podcaster, Rachel Krall, is summoned by the FBI down to Daytona Beach, Florida in the hope that she can help solve the disappearance of a popular influencer by speaking to a soon to be paroled killer. Of course Rachel is ready to do her part, but she is not about to leave once the prison interview is over. With the help of Special Agent Joe Martinez, Rachel feels the need to follow the clues all the way to the end of the story.

Megan Goldin's second Rachel Krall novel is one of the best mysteries of the summer of 2023! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this novel.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read. There were lots of characters to keep track of, they were dealing with a possible serial killer so the names of possible victims were often mentioned. I liked the main characters well enough. The story moved at a pretty good pace. I got sort of bored with the influencer angle just since those characters were annoying as are most influencers.

This said it was the second book in the series. I didn't read the first and was still able to follow the story so it seems like it can be done as a stand alone.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the Arc! Unfortunately, I didn't make it more than 15% in to this book before I had to DNF. The writing seemed juvenile to me, and I really didn't have any interest in reading further. I also never read the previous book, which made reading this one a little confusing.

Fairly entertaining, fast paced thriller but unfortunately, I just didn’t feel the plot was as cohesive as the author’s prior novels. It fell a little flat for me with unsurprising twists even though I am typically a big fan of Megan Goldin. I am still looking forward to reading more about Rachel Krall’s adventures in the future!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read a digital ARC copy in return for my honest review.

Dark Corners is the second book in the Rachel Krall series, the first book being The Night Swim. I am a huge fan of The Night Swim, as well as Megan Goldin’s other standalone thrillers so I was very highly anticipating Dark Corners. In Dark Corners, we are following the same podcaster, Rachel Krall, as she tackles a new case which hits much closer to home. After essentially being tricked into flying down to Florida to assist the FBI with a case they’re working on, Rachel is questioned and then left in the dark about their true intentions. But Rachel being Rachel is not one to back down from a challenge and she vows to help the missing influencer. Now that Rachel has gained a ton of notoriety from the case she cracked in The Night Swim, she receives countless requests from people hoping to have theirs or a family member’s innocence proven. In Dark Corners, Rachel gets involved in a very interesting case. A suspected serial killer who’s been in jail for years for another crime gets his first visit from a well known influencer just days before his release. In the next handful of hours, that influencer disappears. While the FBI knows that Terance has been in jail, they can’t help thinking he’s somehow involved in Madison’s disappearance. What’s also interesting is that we get the perspective of an unnamed protagonist who operates a rideshare vehicle and enjoys murdering people on the side. Sadly, this book did not do it for me. While I continued to enjoy Megan’s writing style, I had a number of issues with the story. First and foremost, I felt like the perspective of the killer took away from the suspense of the story overall. I also took issue with the distinguishing characteristic of the killer. Without getting into spoilers, I felt that using an uncontrollable medical condition was an unnecessary way to go about differentiating someone. Understanding that their treatment during childhood (as a result of their condition) led to them turning into a cold blooded killer felt mean spirited. My second gripe is with the portrayal of influencers. 99% of the influencers in the story are vapid, self-obsessed, airheads and while I’m certain that could be the case for some, it came across as a very generalized characteristic amongst the community at large. Rachel is technically an influencer via podcasting, but she’s completely ignorant to everything on the social media side of her business. At one point in the book, Rachel attends an influencer convention called BuzzCon and she very strongly gave off “not like other influencer” vibes. There was also a clear shift in personality and ton in the Rachel we met in The Night Swim versus the Rachel we spend time with in Dark Corners. I also thought the added romantic plotline was unnecessary. I did enjoy the unraveling of Terance’s story and the search for Madison, but the other factors impacted me too negatively to warrant a higher rating. If you’ve never read Megan Goldin before, this is not the place to start. I highly recommend her other books which are all 4-5 star reads (and likely contributes to why I felt so disappointed in this one). I'm still very much looking forward to whatever Megan publishes next!

Rachel Krall is a true crime podcaster that helps solve crimes and cold cases via her podcast. I didn’t read the first book where she was introduced but that didn’t take away anything from Dark Corners.

Rachel is working with the FBI to try to find an Instagram influencer who has gone missing. She inadvertently filmed her abduction and now the hunt is on for her. FBI thinks that Terence Bailey, a convict about to be released from prison, has something to do with it. Connection has been established that maybe Rachel can help.

This was a twisty plot with a few narrators in it. I wholly enjoyed it and unraveling the mystery along with Rachel. The ending wrapped it up and didn’t leave me wanting more.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC. Dark Corners is out now.

4.5 stars
Another winner by Megan Goldin! I loved the first book in the series, especially the character of Rachel Krall, and the second one did not disappoint. The writing is terrific, the characters are interesting, the plot was twisty and all of this added up to a book I absolutely could NOT put down. I read 70% of this book in one sitting! I felt that the ending definitely set it up for more books in the series, and I am totally on board with that. Keep writing this character!
HIGHLY recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC!