Rachel Krall, a famous true crime podcaster from The Night Swim, returns – this time, to search for Maddison Logan, a social media influencer who disappeared after visiting a suspected serial killer in prison. The FBI asks Rachel for help after the serial killer asks Maddison to bring Rachel to him during their jailhouse visit, right before Maddison Logan completely disappears. This puts Rachel in serious danger as she and FBI Agent Joe Martinez work to figure out where Maddison is before it’s too late.

There’s a lot going on in this book. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it comes together as a satisfying, suspenseful thriller. But it’s a lot to keep up with at times and there are a lot of characters, side stories, and red herrings. I missed the courtroom scenes and the podcast angle from The Night Swim; the closest thing the reader gets here is documentation of Rachel’s investigation, which will likely one day be used in her podcast. The story focuses heavily on social media influencers and how narcissistic and fake the culture can be.

The Night Swim was my favorite thriller of 2020, so I am glad that Goldin turned Rachel’s story into a series; I want to keep reading about Rachel’s investigations and I love that she wants to be a voice for the victims, who are often lost in both true crime and in thrillers.

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was so happy when I got approved for this book and I was not disappointed.

Such a fast paced and i enjoyed every bit of it.

A definite recommend and must read

Thanks Netgalley and publisher

All thoughts and opinions are my own

This was a highly addicting and entertaining read that was hard to put down at night, losing hours of sleep. I don't know what it was but I just needed to know what happened next and how everything connected. This author is very talented and knows how to capture her audience. The only reason I'm not rating it five stars is an inconsistency I noticed as well as throwing in some things that weren't necessarily needed and made it less to me. Otherwise, I definitely recommend this one and give it a solid Four Stars.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

This book is such a whirlwind and I found it impossible to put down -- I had to find out what happened next and see how it would all wrap up.

Fresh off the case that Rachel Krall covered on her podcast in Megan Goldin's previous book, Night Swim, Rachel is called by the FBI to come to Florida to talk to a man about to be released from jail. This sends Rachel on a wild chase for information as she tries to figure out what has happened to two women missing 6 years ago, and how they are connected to a recent missing woman.

This book was so fast paced and a total page turner. I enjoyed every bit of it, and really enjoyed Rachel's character. I liked this one better than Night Swim, and I don't think you need to have read Night Swim to read this one. There are no spoilers for Night Swim, and this was a more compelling plot in my opinion.

I will eagerly read whatever Megan Goldin publishes in the future -- I read quite a few thrillers and seldom am I so sucked in! My only complaint is that we do not find out what happens to the bird that Rachel had adopted in Night Swim. Who is watching the bird?!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Murder, abduction, FBI, exciting twists— step into the world of social media influencers with Megan Golding’s latest thriller, Dark Corners. Rachel Krall is a true crime podcaster that gets pulled into the investigation of the disappearance of a popular social media influencer. The reader follows along the current investigation while facts from previous investigations begin to be uncovered. I was immediately drawn into the story and picked up on the clues as they were uncovered. I felt fairly confident that I knew how the ending would play out, but I never saw the final twists coming. The ending was neatly wrapped up, and unlike many in this genre, the conclusion was not a let down. The characters are likable and I found myself rooting for them. This book is definitely a stand alone that is worth the read. I will be downloading the first book in the Rachel Krall series, Night Swim, immediately.

What a thrilling ride! The main character is a crime podcaster named Rachel Krall who goes to do a favor for the FBI, and she ends up intrigued by the crime. This thriller is told from multiple perspectives; I was hooked and struggled to put the book down. I am definitely now a Rachel Krall fan and look forward to reading Night Swim, the previous book which introduces this character.

I received this as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the book! This was great and I loved the twist! Can’t wait for more books from Goldin!

While I didn’t love Night Swim, I did really like the character of Rachel Krall so I was willing to give this one a shot and I am so glad I did!

Dark Corners was a fast paced thriller that had me guessing right up until the end! I could not put it down- I read it in 2 days. I loved the snippets of the podcast thrown in between chapters as well.

You do not need to read Night Swim in order to read Dark Corners, they are two very different cases and while there are a few references to the case in Night Swim, it’s nothing that adds to the plot of Dark Corners.

This is my third book by this author and I am so excited to read more! Megan Goldin is definitely now one of my must read thriller authors. Thank you netgalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really liked this book. Not 5 stars though because it was a little too much back and forth and confusing at times. I like Rachel Krall as a character but I thought this book was much better than the first one. That was a tad boring and took a while to get through but this one I read faster. Would love to see this series be continued.

@megangoldinauthor I really hope you’re working another Rachel Krall because I’m not sure I can wait 😍 Dark Corners kept me entertained from the very beginning - it was a quick , 5 star read that I D E V O U R E D in a weekend . If you loved The Night Swim then you will not be disappointed with this one ! It’s due for publication in August 2023 so make sure it’s on your TBR !
@netgalley and @stmartinspress THANK YOU for the opportunity to read and review prior to publication . I LOVED IT .

From @goodreads :: 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 Krall 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.

#arc #rachelkrall #crimepodcast #netgalley #stmartinspress #darkcorners #thenightswim #megangoldin #iamnevergettinginarideshareagain #bookstagram #tbr #booktok #booklover #bookreview #bookrecommendation #bookworm #influencer

"The Scariest Monster is the One Hiding in Plain Sight." Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster from Goldin's previous novel The Night Swim is back and the quote is a message she receives from a man she is asked to visit in a Florida prison. The prisoner is named Terrance Bailey, and Rachel is requested to meet with him by the FBI in connection with the disappearance of a video blogger named Maddison Logan . Rachel doesn't understand why the FBI contacted her, but when she is asked to return home she refuses and starts to investigate Maddison's disappearance on her own. She finds out that a serial killer has been kidnapping and killing women and the man sitting in prison may be the key to finding the killer.

Krall is a podcaster with a popular show called "Guilty or Not-Guilty" and when she finds out that the prisoner Bailey mentioned her name, she is intrigued. There also happens to be a big influencer convention in town where Maddison was supposed to appear and Rachel plans to attend and find out what she can about the missing young woman. There are a lot of characters in this book but the author does a great job of providing enough information so we can keep them straight. In addition to Rachel's chapters we see chapters from the viewpoint of a ride share driver who has some terrible secrets and other chapters from a future transcript from Rachel's podcast. .

Fast paced and exciting, this book lives up to the first one and I look forward to seeing Rachel Krall in future novels. Thank You to NetGalley and the publisher for a ARC in exchange for my review.

I consider myself a Megan Goldin FAN so I was beyond excited when I got an email to review Dark Corners, the sequel to the FIVE STAR thriller, The Night Swim.

Similarly to The Night Swim, Dark Corners is a page-turning thriller that follows a couple of different POVs and a podcast episode.

Unlike The Night Swim, Dark Corners:
is much more police/FBI procedural, which doesn't fall in my wheelhouse. I know that's just me, someone who enjoys a more investigative plot, you may enjoy this more than I did.
left me feeling unsatisfied by the end and with the way everything comes to a head and wraps up in the last 10%. There was so much ramp up so the "final confrontation" is a pretty major let down.
I saw most twists coming very early on in the book; where The Night Swim shocked me, there were only a couple of things that came as a surprise in Dark Corners.

I'm giving it a rating of about 3.5 stars - Megan Goldin is a great author and her stories are always addictive. I can't help but wonder if Dark Corners suffers because it can't help but be compared to The Night Swim, and, for me, it just doesn't measure up.

But I definitely recommend fans of The Night Swim continue Rachel's story and check this one out!

I was so excited to receive a copy of this book. The premise sounded compelling and creepy, so much so that I started this book even though I had two other books to read with earlier review deadlines. On top of that, I thought this author’s previous book, Stay Awake, was excellent. So maybe my expectations were too high, I don’t know. What I do know is I really didn’t like this.

The story got off to a promising start, giving me a good balance of questions I wanted answered combined with creepiness. I was intrigued. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there.

At first it took a while to get used to the multiple points of view. You get the perspective of three different characters, plus sections of the main character’s podcast about the case. This might’ve been fine, except chapters had a way of ending in the middle of something that seemed like it might be important, so you had to read your way through a chapter or two of someone else’s perspective before looping back around to what you were wondering about to begin with. This was compelling at first, but as the book continued it started to become frustrating. The perspective of reading back Rachel’s podcast also kills some of the suspense. The podcast is told in past tense, so you know that whatever happens in the story there’s no question that she’ll be fine since she obviously lived to tell the story.

The suspense was also lacking in that it was too easy. I loved the author’s previous book because I didn’t have the mystery figured out and kept questioning things all the way through. In this story, I quickly developed theories, enough information was given early enough in the story for me to feel confident I was right (in addition to the fact that the main character was obviously going to live), and the rest was just plodding forward to get through it.

I feel like I know what the author was going for with the villain as well. She really seemed like she was trying to press the point that the scariest people can seem so ordinary on the surface, but what started off as subtle and suspenseful eventually became plain boring. I’ve honestly never fallen asleep so much while reading a mystery/thriller.

All in all, if you want a compelling read and a great story, try the author’s previous work, Stay Awake. This one just doesn’t measure up to its predecessor.

Dark Corners is the first book I’ve read by Megan Goldin, but it definitely won’t be my last. As soon as I wrapped up reading this book I headed to my local library with a quickness to pick up two more of Goldins books including the prequel to Dark Corners, The Night Swim.

Rachel Krall is a true crime podcaster who has been summoned to Florida by the FBI at short notice. The reason why? Because a very popular and beautiful social media influencer named Maddison Logan has disappeared into thin air leaving behind nothing but her blood smeared camper van.

How does Rachel fit into the equation? One of the last people to have spoken to Maddison before she vanished was an inmate at a local prison named Terrance Bailey and the FBI have uncovered that during an inmate visitation with Maddison, Bailey had requested that she needed to summon Rachel Krall immediately. Now Rachel is determined to get answers and interviews Bailey, who is due for release in two days, only to receive a death threat from him, but Rachel isn’t easily shaken and she is determined to find Maddison.

Goldin presents a real page-turner of mystery/thriller and I recommend this book! My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Megan Goldin’s last book “Stay Awake” and this one was also good. Internet influencer Maddison goes missing and the FBI are called in to solve the case. I loved Rachel, a famous podcaster who the FBI called to help them solve the case. I enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book but then I found the book slowed way down and found myself bored. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance copy in exchange for my honest review. To be published August 2023.

An amazing read

It was educational, intriguing and a bit romantic. Rachel and Joe made a great team, not even meaning to. I received a free ARC of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

I was excited to receive this ARC since I enjoyed The Night Swim and getting to know the character of Rachel Krall. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was fast-paced and I read it in two sittings. It definitely kept me engaged and kept my attention, however, it was predictable. I guessed the plot twist almost immediately when certain characters were introduced. I do love the addition of a love interest for Rachel, I'm excited to see where that goes if the series continues. I would definitely recommend this book, but because I was not surprised by any of it, I'm giving it 3.5 stars. I really want to be shocked with a thriller and this just didn't do that for me, but again it was a quick and entertaining read. I would definitely read future Rachel Krall novels. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Dark Corners is the sequel to Megan Goldin’s highly acclaimed book, The Night Swim. This book has our lead, Rachel Krall in the swamps of Florida as she has become a person of interest in a missing person investigation. This book is full of twists and turns as Rachel tries to get to the bottom of the case, if for no other reason than it would make an interesting podcast episode.

I am a huge fan of Megan Goldin. I read The Night Swim shortly after it was released and was blown away by how different it was compared to so many other thrillers of that time. Fast forward to a few years later and the podcast element has become almost a trope in thrillers. So this book adds the layer of following around influencers which I think was very smart. As someone who is not an influencer, I enjoyed reading about the peak behind the curtain that this book offered. I know it will probably annoy some people but I really enjoyed it. This also has Goldin’s classic use of different perspectives that are used in such a way that nothing feels out of place or unimportant. I was engaged with all the perspectives throughout the story and they helped keep the pace up.

I don’t think the bigger reveals in this were anything spectacular but the tiny reveals that came up throughout the second half of the book were fantastic. The thing with both of the books in this series is that they have a very episodic feel. Like these two stories could be two podcast episodes. You aren’t left wondering about any loose threads and everything wraps up nicely. I think Goldin could easily keep writing books featuring this character of Rachel and people would keep reading them. They are almost like…cozy suspense? They are definitely higher stakes than a cozy mystery would be but there is also something comforting about being with the same character through more than one book. I think if you enjoyed The Night Swim, you would enjoy this one as well.

Megan Goldin knows how to write thrillers. She will always be an auto buy/read for me.
This follows Rachel Krall, however it’s not as focused on the podcast in this book, but there is still all of the adventure, with small snippets of podcasting! I enjoyed the storyline, which goes a little heavy in the influencer world. Part of this was a little predictable, but still overall enjoyable and would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good, fast paced & flip the pages to find out more thriller.

“Always know what you’re walking into. Dark corners can be danger points.”
4/5 ★
Rachel Krall is a true crime podcaster. She is summoned at the request of the FBI to Florida with very little information as to why. When she gets there, she is informed that her name came up in an investigation and she’s asked whether she knows a prisoner, Terry Bailey, who is scheduled to get out in a few days. She does not know him, nor does she know why her name would be coming up in this investigation. A young influencer, Maddison Logan, had visited Terry and Rachel’s name came up during their conversation. She doesn’t know Maddison either; but later discovers that Maddison had reached out to Rachel requesting she investigate the disappearance of her friend….and then Maddison disappeared.
Rachel and the FBI decide to work together to try to solve this mystery. The FBI gets Rachel into an influencer event, BuzzCon, to see if she can get any information out of the attendees. Rachel can gather information from other attendees that the FBI won’t be able to get. While she’s pursuing leads on her own, and including the FBI, when she can, she discovers that there may be other victims of disappearance. When one of the BuzzCon attendees is murdered, Rachel finds herself as a suspect.
Rachel first appeared in Night Swim, which is written mostly as a podcast. This book is not written as a podcast, although we do get a few chapters done in that style. The author did a very good job describing what could be the life of an influencer – narcissism, cliques, and influencer rivalries. While it was interesting to read all of this, I found it unrelatable as a non-influencer but it was relevant to the story.