Megan Goldin is one of my auto-buy, go-to authors! Stay Awake was definitely my favorite thriller by her but The Night Swim & her newest Dark Corners were good as well.

Dark Corners definitely had a different tone than The Night Swim- both follow Rachel- a true crime podcaster. I found Rachel to be a little negative in Dark Corners but the storyline was creative and I enjoyed the plot!

I really enjoyed this read. The twists were so well planned out. There were multiple view points and information that have you parts of the story but still not the full picture until the end.

I loved this book. I was hesitant at first as it is not my usual genre. I took the book slow even though it kept pulling me in I just felt that Thomas Mccoy character would be too dark to read and I usually read before bedtime. But I felt the author did really well by using his POV in a way that wasn't diabolical. I was guessing for while but it didn't take too long to figure out the story. Especially when they introduced Hailey I knew it would be predictable but I still loved this book. Really well written and definitely recommend. I'm gonna read the first book the night swim sometime this month!

I think these two quotes perfectly describe the way Megan Golding writes her books with dark topics:

"He'd liked the way Rachel brought humanity to an unspeakable crime, focusing on the grief and the quest for justice more than on the gory details."

"We're so desensitized to evil, so obsessed with finding out what makes the likes of [character name] tick, that we forget about the victims. Not just those they kill, but those they leave behind."

Goldin has a clear and concise compassion to her writing that focuses on the victims and survivors of such horrific crimes in a very sensitive way. The subject matter is of course difficult to read at times but Golding navigates it perfectly so as to not continue the glorification of true crime.

By far my favorite writer of "the podcast book" trend we're seeing right now.

4.5
Dark Corners by Megan Goldin
I would like to thank #NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eCopy of Dark Corners by Megan Goldin. This novel was a quick read- fast-paced, many twists and turns and allows Rachell Krall, a true crime Podcaster to return to the pages of this thrilling novel. In Dark Corners, Rachell's character is a strong, independent woman living in a dangerous world involving missing girls, prison, the FBI and the cut-throat and competitive environment of social media influencers. Rachell is called in by the FBI when an influencer goes missing and Rachel's own status as a podcast influencer may help solve this ever- expanding case. The case was eventually resolved, but I did not find the very ending satisfying. I like open-ended conclusions,but this ending just puzzled me.

I initially loved the premise of this book, but I felt like it unraveled too soon. Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison when he gets an unexpected visitor, an influencer with a mysterious past named Maddison, who goes missing shortly after her visit. The FBI's only lead is that Terence and Maddison discussed Rachel Krall, who is a true crime podcast host. There were a lot of subplots within this book, people going missing, mysterious symbols, etc. It was an enjoyable read; however, I feel like a lot of the big clues were revealed too early and ruined the ending.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy.
I really enjoyed Night Swim and looking forward to the second in the series. Once again I enjoyed a great book from Megan Goldin.

Hot topic thriller checks all the boxes.
Missing influencer. Check
Podcaster. Check
Van life. Check
Stinky man. Check. Wait, what?!!! This was probably my favorite part. What a twist to build the story around. Love the chutzpah of that.
Yeah, yeah, there are some problems that better editing could fix. But overall, an entertaining second outing for our girl, Rachel Krall, the voice behind fictional podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty, introduced in Night Swim (which I loved).

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for access to an early copy. All opinions are mine alone.

I love the mystery megan adds to all of her books & this one was no different. So many moving pieces and so many things that needed tied up at the end & they were!!! I'm so impressed.

Rachel is an interesting character to me in a lot of ways, but I like her. She does what she knows is right, she fights for people who don't have anyone else to fight for them, and she realizes Joe was a catch, so more points to her.

I didn't remember much about the night swim, so I didn't feel like I really needed it to enjoy this story as well.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, publisher and author, for the ARC of this fantastic story. I was glued to the story from the very beginning. I liked how the cop character (Martinez) and the podcaster (Rachel) interacted throughout the story. I liked the background stories from all of the main characters. I liked that everything was explained in tidbits as I read more. I really liked the author's storytelling style, it was never boring or confusing, just entertaining and addictive. This is not my first book from this author (I enjoyed Stay Awake!) and I plan to read more from her!

I have a confession to make -- I am absolutely obsessed with Megan Goldin books. Needless to say, I was absolutely THRILLED to see another Rachel Krall book, and it did not disappoint!

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?

I am an avid reader of murder mystery/true crime thrillers, but just like her other books, Dark Corners had such a unique premise. And it was so relevant with today's world of podcasters and influencers. There were some excellent plot twists -- things that were plausible but unexpected -- that kept me hooked until the very last page. A must read for 2023!

Found Megan Goldin through Net Galley and LOVE her. This book has a plot that is very 2023 - a true crime podcaster at an influencers contest? Very fun. This is a fun, quick read for those who love Goldin!

I have to admit that I picked this book solely based on it's cover. I had read Stay Awake by Megan Golden but I had not read the first book in this series, Night Swim. Once I started this book I was so hooked that I immediately went and bought a copy of Night Swim so I could read the books in order. This book was amazing. It kept my attention the whole time and I found the plot to be unique and perfectly twisty. Rachel Krall is the perfect female lead character and look forward to reading more stories in this series.

Okayyyy y’all! I loved this one so much. The cover is gorgeous. The story is so amazing! I highly recommend.

Hallelujah, not one single courtroom scene! 🙌🏼
I was nervous about starting this one as I wasn’t a fan of The Night Swim (Book 1). I was hesitant to pick this up thinking it was going to be another book where 90% of it takes place in a courtroom. I get that a lot of people like those books, but I realllllly have to be in the mood for one of those. I liked this one more than the first and am happy I read it!! ☺️
This can be read as a stand-alone as references to the first book are usually briefly explained.
This book was very very similar to Carol Wyer’s A Life for a Life. I rated that one about the same as this one which isn’t too shabby! So if you read and enjoyed that book you will probably enjoy this one too.
Although I mostly enjoyed it, my biggest criticism would be the unnecessary length as I felt there was a ton of filler as well as predictability. A few of the ‘twists’ weren’t twists at all to me since I spotted them a mile away and I feel most readers probably would too.
Overall, fun and entertaining enough read.
A big thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary advanced copy of this book. This book will be available on August 8th, 2023! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress, and @megangoldin for the opportunity to read this ARC 😊

Rachel Krall is back, still working on her podcast. This time she’s called to Florida and ends up assisting the FBI with talking to a suspected serial killer, who’s last visitor in prison has gone missing. This leads Rachel into the world of influencers and trying to figure out what’s real, what’s online, and what secrets the dark corners of the internet are hiding.

I shared how much I liked The Night Swim earlier this week. I’ll be honest, I think I liked this one more! I love podcasts, I listen to them almost all day while I’m working. So I think the podcast element of this really resonated with me. I liked the influencer aspect of this, it added some humor (is that that right term? 😅). I also really liked the addition of the semi-romance and I hope more books are coming so we can see more of them! The twists and turns were so good. I think the writing and cohesiveness was better in this one too! I can see Megan Goldin becoming an auto read author for me.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced copy of Dark Corners in exchanged for this review.

Popular podcaster Rachel Krall is back in her second thriller and is teaming up with the FBI to solve a missing persons case after a dangerous inmate, days away from release, has requested her presence at his maximum security prison. When Rachel sits down with the inmate, she says the wrong thing and the inmate leaves the visitors room, making threats to her safety on the way out. The race is on to keep Rachel safe, find a missing YouTuber and connect the dots on a six year old string of murders all before the prisoners release in 48 hours!

There were a lot of moving pieces to this puzzle, and in my opinion, some story lines that took away from the main storyline of the book. The ending felt rushed and crammed into the last 20-30 pages, wrapping up lose ends to all those small storylines. While I was excited about a sequel to The Night Swim, in the end it wasn’t necessary.

Decent read but a bit formulaic at times. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Many thanks to St Martin's Press and Netgalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love Megan Goldin and was very excited to receive the next installment of the Rachel Krall series! It's better than the first one and I really enjoyed Night Swim!!! This book is another riveting, twisty, unputdownable psychological thriller!

Rachel is a famous true crime podcaster that has a voice like honey and the instincts of a detective. In this installment, Rachel is asked by the FBI to talk with a prisoner, Terry Bailey, that is about to be released from prison. The FBI suspect Terry Bailey is a sex crimes / serial killer of women but just don't have the proof to prosecute him. The infamous, social media influencer, Maddison Logan is missing and the last time anyone saw her was when she recently visited Terry in prison. In that recorded visit, Terry told Maddison to contact Rachel. Rachel decides to investigate the missing women on her own despite the FBI telling her to go home.

There is plenty of suspense and mystery in this one. I love the character, Rachel. Megan has done an incredible job developing her characters as well as her prose that describes the scenes to a point that the reader can visualize what is going on. There was even a twist that I did not see coming!

HIGHLY recommend! Comes out Aug 8th and I will be buying this one!!!

Book Title: Dark Corners
Series: Rachel Krall #2
Author: Megan Goldin
Publisher: Saint Martin’s Press
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Pub Date: August 8, 2023
My Rating: 4 Stars!

I am a big psychological thriller fan: this is my fourth novel by author, Megan Goldin].
“The Night Swim as well as "The Escape Room" and "Stay Awake] were all 4+ or 5 Star reads for me.

This is second in the Rachel Krall series.
Rachel Krall is a reporter and is the true crime podcaster from [book: Night Swim].
In this story she is searching for Maddison Logan, a famous social media influencer who disappeared after visiting the jailed serial killer Terence Bailey: who is in prison for breaking and entering. Note: True it was his first offence and it would not have required prison time but what he stole was women’s undergarments. There just happens to be six women all sex workers who were murdered and all had personal things that had been recently stolen from them.
Thus Terence is believed to have been involved in killing them.
He is about to be released because of insufficient evidence to keep him there.

In hopes of finding Maddison, Rachel attends BuzzCon: a convention for influencers.
(Learning about this convention was certainly a unique experience for me!!)
At this convention Rachael learns that that there is big “ Influencers Award’ and the event is held in New York where the winner get a five-million dollar contract with a successful Streaming Company.
Hmm there appears to be plenty of these influencers who just might benefit from Maddison’s disappearance!!!

I read a lot of thriller and know that more than likely ~
 There will be twists and turns!
 Be suspicious of everyone!
 Typically the most obvious person didn’t do it!
 There will be many secrets!

Ha-ha I need to pay attention to my own theories as I missed all four!!
Perhaps I was taken by this story!!

Good one Megan Goldin!

. Want to thank NetGalley and Saint Martin’s Press for granted me the pleasure of reading this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for August 8, 2023