Book review ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC

Dark Corners
Author: Megan Goldin @megangoldinauthor
Genre: Mystery/thriller
Read on e-book
Pub date: 8/8/23

Book description:
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 release date 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? And why was she visiting him in the first place?

When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel Krall’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems to only 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 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―identical to a tattoo Rachel had seen on Bailey’s hand―the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krall herself. Suddenly the 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 review:
This was my first Megan Goldin book and wow, what a ride!!! This book was wonderful in many ways. It kept me engaged from beginning to end. Some parts were a bit slow but I always wanted to know what happened so I kept on reading. Also, I guessed in advance some of the twists by the end of the book.

I give this book a 4 1/2 stars
🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

Did you read a Megan Goldin book yet?

Did you read Dark Corners? What did you think about it?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CuPLDrTLhFm/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Rachel Krall is back! And I'm so here for it.

In the latest crime thriller by Goldin, we get a semi-sequel to The Night Swim. You don't have to read the first one to read her latest book, Dark Corners. There's no spoilers per se just vague references, but honestly if you haven't read The Night Swim yet, you really should. It's a great book and you won't be disappointed if you do pick it up.

With Dark Corners, we get a solid crime thriller. I think Goldin is teeing these books up perfectly to make a great detective series, but with a little twist since Rachel is a podcaster. Maybe a little Joe & Rachel crime solving team. I think Rachel is a strong main character and I really hope we get more in this universe in the future.

The pacing was good for this book. We get some nice twists and well thought out red herrings to throw us off the case. I think anyone who picks this book up, especially if you loved The Night Swim, will not be disappointed.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

Dark Corners is the second installment of the Rachel Krall series. I loved the first book, and this one was as good as the first. I had access to both the Kindle and audiobook versions, and listening to the audiobook enhanced my enjoyment of the book. André Santana, January LaVoy, and Samantha Desz all did an excellent job narrating the book. It was easy to visualize what was happening, and I loved the extra details of the music and the dramatics for the podcast chapters.

This book setup was a little different than Night Swim. Rachel was the only person narrating, and the podcast chapters were more constructed as diction for future episodes than actual episodes of her Guilty Or Not Guilty podcast. I felt it was still easy to get hooked immediately, and I loved involving influencers and social media in the story. The story was fast-paced, and we felt we had enough suspense while our questions were answered. Also, Rachel Krall is still a badass in this book! She is fierce, but she also comes across as a very likable and trustworthy person. It was easy to love her strong and independent self as she was as determined to find answers in this book. I was disappointed that we did not get more of Agent Martinez, but I hope for more Rachel Krall books! This can be read as a standalone or part of the series, but a book that should be on your summer reading list!

Thank you to NetGallery and St. Martin Press, and Macmillian Audio for giving me a copy of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. I really liked this one and I am a fan of Megan Goldin's writing. Rachel is a podcaster who covers true crime and she has been contacted by the FBI to try and assist them with a missing person. The story line of how Rachel's initial meeting with an inmate in prison and the connection to the missing girl was a good one. I thought this story was going in a totally different direction and then it all started to come together. I enjoyed the writing and I liked the characters as well. This was a good ready. Enjoy!!

Talk about a pageturner! I couldn't stop reading this! I was drawn into the story and pleased to read another book with podcast host/journalist Rachel. I like how this author writes true crime thrillers, but focuses on the victims more than her fictional serial killers.

I could have done without the romance bits, but I suppose they were relevant to the story. The MC flip flopping from "fuck the police I'm not helping them and lying for them" to a total undercover source was amusing, if a little annoying because like, where are her principals?!

If you like fast paced thrillers with action, multiple POV and the story told in a few different ways (podcast scripts) you'll enjoy this murder mystery! If you like reading about Influencer culture you'll also like this. It's a creepy good time!

Having been on the fence about The Night Swim hit but enjoying other books from this author I wasn’t sure how this was going to land for me. I will say I enjoyed it more than The Night Swim, but less than the books by this author that are not connected with this series.

I’m going with 3.5 rounded up because it had its moments. There were definitely times that I was incredibly invested in the story but there were also times when I found myself rolling my eyes and waiting for it to end. It was back and forth for me on where it would land on my personal scale of enjoyability - which fits perfect with how I felt about the first book in the series.

The timing of this book didn’t make sense to me. It was apparently a few weeks after the events in The Night Swim, but Rachel felt like a completely different and more evolved character. It felt more like this could have taken place years later. The whole influencer culture and characters were too over the top and just not believable. We all know that social media is fake and curated, but these people were just horrible.

I enjoyed the mystery and was eager to see how everything came together. I enjoyed the POV from the bad guy too and thought it added a fun element.

This is my least favorite book I’ve read from this author and I had really high hopes after The Night Swim was so well done.

Loved this book! Megan Goldin is easily becoming one of my favorites. Dark Corners was filled with suspense and surprises, had me up into the early morning hours unable to put the book down. I didn't read the Rachel Krall book one, Night Swim, but had no problem getting into this new story. I loved the podcast aspect of this and also the social influencer culture of it was really exciting and different. Definitely a must read summer thriller!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

🎧Song Pairing: Smelly Cat - Phoebe Buffay (if you read this you’ll understand)

💭What I thought would happen:

I didn’t see the best reviews so I wasn’t as gung-ho to jump into this one

📖What actually happens:

We are back with Rachael and her crime podcast. She has been brought in to question a convict who’s just about to be released but the police are doing everything to keep him locked up. When a famous influencer goes missing, Rachael is determined to crack the case and possibly find answers to several other missing girls possibly connected to the convict in question.

🗯Thoughts:

I don’t love the character of Rachael, I don’t hate her either. I just don’t find her appealing, she seems about as cuddly as a cactus. I don’t know why people divulge so much information to her.

This was a fine thriller. Nothing great, nothing awful. Just a-Friggin-ok. Honestly I just feel like any thriller, high quality or not is enjoyable in the summer time. Anyone else agree?

I don’t have much else to say. I hope everyone who is excited about this book gets pleasure from it!

Thrilled I had the chance to read this advance copy of Dark Corners! I stayed up way too late trying to finish, even though I had figured out the real killer well before the end. I just wanted to see how the author would reveal everything. I love how the podcast format ties everything together, but I really found the influencer culture piece interesting. It made Rachel's story very relevant! For whatever reason, Terrence seemed much older in my mind, but he is early 20s? Big fan of Megan Goldin!

Love, love, double love this continuation of Rachel Krall and her story. I first enjoyed the podcaster in the night swim, which had some very triggering parts to it. This book is definitely a standalone and picks up right after the last case.

This tale has serial killers and social media, influencers and a lot of miss direction. I didn’t know how it was going to wrap up at all and I love that in a story.

I liked this more than I expected to. It kept me interested and was one of the better thrillers I've read in a while. For some reason, I was not picturing Terrance as young as he was. I liked the way things wrapped up but the very end was super abrupt.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange of an honest review.

3.5 stars

Terrence Bailey has spent years of his life in prison for a somewhat minor offense, but even though suspected of killing six women, he is soon to be released. He asks for Maddison Logn, an influencer, to visit him before his release and she acquiesces. After visiting Terrence, Maddison mysteriously disappeared.

So the story begins. Calling in Rachel Krall, another influencer, becomes an undercover agent i as she joins and attends BuzzCom, a place where other influencers has joined. Rachel joins a world where it is a fully well world of rivalry and dog eat dog environment.

Meanwhile, police find the body of a woman with a coiled snake eating its tail, which leads them back to Terrence Bailey who they feel must have a co murderer on the outside.

Rachel becomes embroiled in the drama, immersing herself into danger and the fact that the murderer (s) might just go after her.

This was an interesting story, coming after the author's Night Swim (which I really liked) The world that influences has created in one of competitiveness and vying for the "likes".

Thank you to Megan Goldin, Macmillan Audio, and Net Galley for a copy of both the kindle and audio copy of this story.

Dark Corners was an incredible read that kept me guessing until the very end. Five stars for sure!!

Dark Corners is the return of Rachel Krall, the investigative podcaster from Night Swim. Night Swim is one of my most recommended thrillers, and I was happy to see that this book has a lot of the same elements: short chapters that make it hard to put down, alternating between different POVs and the podcast, and a mystery to puzzle over. While the POV stays mostly with Rachel, there are also chapters from the perspective of Joe Martinez (FBI), and Thomas McCoy (rideshare driver). The ARC of this book that I received didn't have any indication that certain chapters were the podcast, except for a different font. I also received the audio version, which played theme music and started those chapters with "A Rachel Krall Special Report," which I thought was perfect. The elements of this book that didn't work for me were mostly just about Rachel herself. Rachel, who investigates crimes against women and knows that the world is dangerous, takes a lot of unnecessary risks in this book and is often acting directly against FBI directives. I also can't write about this book without talking about the BuzzCon social media influencers conference. I'm sure that this sort of thing exists but what a group of self absorbed, vapid people! Yuck.

The bottom line is that I enjoyed this book and I'm glad to have not seen the last of Rachel Krall. I hope to see more books about Rachel and her podcast from Megan Goldin, following this same addictive format.

Famous true crime podcaster Rachel Krall is back to help solve a new mystery. Rachel is summoned by the FBI to talk to a prisoner who spoke to a Maddison Logan, a popular but mysterious influencer, hours before she went missing. Rachel is unable to find Maddison by meeting with the prisoner, but she takes an opportunity to go undercover at the influencer convention Maddison was attending. Once there, she begins playing a dangerous game with the power-hungry influencers and the reasons behind Maddison's disappearance.

I did not love The Night Swim, but found myself enjoying Dark Corners a lot more, and looking forward to the next Rachel Krall story. The focus on influencer culture and the competition for fans online, along with a unique and terrifying villain made this book a lot of fun to read. Megan Goldin does a great job moving between Rachel's story, her podcast, the perspective of the FBI agent helping Rachel, and the dangerous individual on the edge of the story. I enjoyed a lot of the twists in the final act and enjoyed the surprising ways a lot of the plot threads intersected. The many moving pieces and short chapters made for a very fast and easy read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of Dark Corners in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. I adore a good thriller, and Megan Goldin delivered an enthralling story filled with murder, mystery, social media influences, a true crime podcaster, a sexy FBI agent, and a serial killer (or two?).

The storytelling was phenomenal. I definitely recommend Dark Corners for anyone who enjoys crime thrillers.

3 stars

Like many folks who will pick up this book, I came to this one after thoroughly enjoying _The Night Swim_. Upon finishing this follow-up, I'm feeling a bit let down.

Rachel, the m.c., is a podcaster who is also somehow an incredible asset to the FBI. I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts - like an almost (but not quite) embarrassing amount of them - and the idea that any of those hosts are somehow showing up people who are trained to do this work is just wild. One must suspend disbelief on that front alone. That noted, Rachel is mostly insufferable (and repetitive - I am surprised by the writing and breezy editing here, even in the advanced copy form). Thus, it MUST be her skills that get her the big invites. I don't think it's her sparkling charm.

I really enjoyed the way the pieces fit together, but since Rachel is at the center and is a bit tough to read, that obviously made an impact on my enjoyment of this book overall. The audiobook is nicely narrated, and I do recommend that version when and where accessible.

This is my third book from this author (_Stay Awake_, along with this series), and while I'm enjoying the works overall, Goldin is falling more into the *maybe* this will work for me camp as I continue. I hope that turns around with the next effort.

I really enjoyed the Night Swim and although I was so excited for more Rachel, I was a little disappointed in this one!

It wasn’t a 5 star read for me due to the fact it was pretty slow up till the last 20% or so.

It was still a decent read but definitely not her best work!

Like crime? Listen to podcasts? Then this book series is for you! Dark corners is book number 2 for the Rachel Krall podcast and her investigative reporting. Follow along as Rachel helps solve cold cases and starts a new case of love for herself!