The Night Swim by Megan Goldin was one my first forays into the podcast trope and I loved it so naturally I was stoked to see the MC Rachel Krall return for book 2 in the series. The FBI brings Rachel in to help locate a missing influencer, Madison Logan. They soon uncover the seedy side of the influencer world. Overall it was a good thriller beach read for the summer and I'd pick up a book 3 in the series if there is one.

3.5 stars rounded up for goodreads.

Special thanks to @macmillanaudio for the ALC of Dark Corners. All opinions are my own.

Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison even though he is suspected of murdering six women. Maddison Logan, a popular young influencer, visits him in prison, yet hours later she seemingly disappears without a trace. Investigators are left not only wondering what happened to Maddison, and why she even visited Terence in the first place. When the investigation hits a dead end Rachel Krall is asked by the FBI to help out by going undercover at BuzzCon, an influencer convention, to see what she can learn about Maddison, a girl lacking in friends and family. At BuzzCon Rachel learns just how cutthroat the influencer community can be as they strive for numbers and popularity, and these influencers will do almost anything to obtain that social media fame. It is a race against the clock to find out what happened to Maddison before Terence is released, and when a body is found with a distinctive tattoo of a snake eating its tail, also known as a ouroboros, the police begin to worry that Terrance has an accomplice on the outside, especially when they come across a number of urobori throughout the investigation. Can the truth be uncovered and Maddison be found before Terence is released?

Dark Corners is a fast-paced thriller with a few twists and turns. While this novel is the followup to Night Swim, I never found myself lost or confused due to not reading the previous novel, although after reading Dark Corners I might have to pick up Night Swim.There are a number of interesting characters that made the novel rather entertaining, and I think that the way in which the influencer community was portrayed was very realistic and honest. While there are some twists and turns in the novel, there are also a lot of parts that were rather predictable but that did not take away from my enjoyment of the narrative.

The audiobook was simply ok and did not do the novel justice. At times I felt like the narration was too monotone and flat, although I did like that there were different narrators for some of the different characters. I think if I only had the audio for Dark Corners I would have liked the novel less than I did having a copy in my hands; I read more of the novel than I listened to.

I am enjoying this series, and this sequel to the night swim was compelling, suspenseful and an easy read. I enjoyed listening to the advanced audio copy of the novel.

Rachel Krall, a true crime podcaster and investigative reporter, is back. She's been enlisted by the FBI to help with an investigation into a suspected serial killer who may be behind the disappearance of a social media influencer. As Rachel goes undercover at an influencer conference, she learns of the twisted world of content creation and bodies keep turning up. Can Rachel figure out who is behind the deaths of the young women six years ago, and how they are connected to the current crimes?

This intricately plotted thriller worked well on audio with Rachel Krall's podcast episodes scripted to include additional voices and effects to set them apart from the main narrative.

Megan Goldin has a good thing going with these Rachel Krall books. In fact, I think she’s created a series that is remarkably recommendable. I’ve already made one recommendation, and it hasn’t even been a whole week since I started reading The Night Swim. Now that I’m two books in, I can see this being a very easy “series” for me to continue recommending and one that I'll want to pick up in the future.

Here’s what you can be sure you’ll get in a Rachel Krall book (by Megan Goldin… I realize calling these books by their series name makes it seem like the books are by the fictional character rather than by Goldin herself.) There will be a very intriguing mystery that Krall will investigate. The story will be summed up in a well-produced podcast season whose episodes will be interspersed throughout the book. These books are therefore perfectly consumed as audiobooks. In my opinion, it feels like audio is the way it is intended to be read. Finally, each book (at least up until this point) is essentially a standalone book. There was nothing one needed to know from The Night Swim to become fully immersed in Dark Corners. Personally, this means I will not feel overwhelmed when a new book comes out, knowing that Goldin is not going to require me to remember what happened in these previous two books. That’s a relief. Finally, the story you’ll get is good. The plot, the mystery, the characters, and the way it is all told make these books a safe and exciting book choice.

I'm going to get really picky and critical in the rest of the review. I often review the writing, the characters, the setting, and the theme, and I don't often get into the plot (because that's what you need to discover on your own.) But, while I can get critical about the things I normally review, the plot is incredible. This is a book that I REALLY enjoyed reading. I read it so fast, I didn't want to put it down, and I thought it was a great reading experience. So, keep all of that in mind. Because what really matters is how good the story is, and this is a really good story.

Set in Daytona Beach, this book didn’t have the same foreboding dark atmosphere that I experienced from The Night Swim. The book jumped through many settings: a resort/hotel, a backwoods camping situation, a prison, etc. There wasn’t really one tone that felt common between each setting, which isn’t necessary but meant that the atmosphere didn’t feel as strong as it did in the previous book in this series.

While it hasn’t even been a week since I finished The Night Swim, I cannot quite remember how the perspectives were written, but it felt different in this book. Dark Corners seemed to have a more omniscient narration, jumping away from Rachel’s point of view and giving us at least one other main perspective, but I believe others as well. From what I remember, I feel like The Night Swim contained the narration from Rachel’s perspective, giving us Hannah’s point of view through letters that Rachel read. Regardless, this felt like a big change to me when jumping from one book to the next. I wonder what Goldin could have accomplished had she sought creative ways to keep the narration to a single source. This isn’t really a big complaint at all, but it felt a bit jarring to me.

Otherwise, I have no real complaint about the writing. Except that, I wondered about the logic of Rachel’s experience at BuzzCon. While not explicitly stated, it felt like Rachel would have been older than many of the other influencers there. She would have well-earned respect with her name, Rachel Krall, but I wasn’t sure I believed that some of the participants would have opened up to her as much as they did with her alias, especially if they didn’t see her as an equal in age or status.

Rachel and Agent Martinez are the main characters in this story. The plot also revolves around Terrance Bailey who I liked a lot as a character. He and Madison were clearly written with some level of depth. The other characters we met were given very little depth. Their characterization was heavily influenced by their careers as influencers. In fact, it felt like the “influencers” were written as caricatures. If Goldin had given a little more care to be nuanced with these characters, her writing and her themes would have been stronger.

This book felt like it was loosely based on the Gabby Petito case, but I could be wrong, as there weren’t a lot of overlaps. It was however similar in that a young, beautiful, white influencer went missing and law enforcement paid attention. This seemed to be one of the main themes of the book: that some people go missing without law enforcement caring, and some (those who seem like the “right type of person”) receive a lot of attention from law enforcement. In fact, Goldin even writes an unambiguous statement to this effect in her book. It was like she was saying “LOOK! HERE’S THE POINT! YOU CAN’T MISS IT!” However, unlike the Gabby Petito case, it seems like only law enforcement has noticed Maddy's disappearance. Neither the public nor her peers seem to notice. Meanwhile, law enforcement only seems to notice because she connected herself with a dangerous criminal right before she disappeared. This completely undermines Goldin’s perspective. Her voice would have been stronger had she compared and contrasted the public’s interest in different kinds of missing person cases. Considering Goldin wrote a book focused on influencers, there was no real effort at all to show the effect of parasocial relationships.

From listening to Megan Goldin in interviews for this book, it seems like examining influencer culture was a big part of her purpose here. As a previous influencer myself, there was a lot I resonated with, in particular the exhaustion that comes with constantly hustling, and the need to always be thinking about the persona you curate for the world to see. However, Goldin didn’t take it further. Every influencer with the exception of one, was seen as nothing more than vapid, jealous, single-minded, and selfish. If an author wants to have a conversation about something, I think it’s important to explore the topic with a little more depth and care.

I have to get very picky to critique this book, and while I did seem to critique many parts of it, that’s simply because I want to engage with books in this way. I want to examine the writing, the themes, and the purpose of the book. That said, the plot and the intrigue were so good. I was even more caught up in this book than The Night Swim, and while I was able to piece some plot points together, I was still left guessing. I turned on this audiobook and didn’t want it to stop. This is a story to fall into and to ride through, and I really really liked it.

Sincere thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an Advanced Readers Audio Copy of this book. I cannot tell you how excited I was to be approved for this. I was so looking forward to it! And it did not disappoint!

Excellent audiobook. I thoroughly enjoyed the reader of this book and the plot moved along at an excellent pace.

Really intriguing premise, well executed plot. Maybe ran a little too long, but I really enjoyed the story and the characters.

This was a fun thriller. I enjoyed the podcast aspect, and this made for a great audiobook. The pacing was a little slow at times, but I found the plot easy to follow and a quick read.

Unfortunately I will not be rating or reviewing St. Martin’s Press books. I am participating in the boycott so unless SMP would like to address the book community, I will not associating with this publisher.

A traditional thriller with twists and turn and I love that it follows the same podcast host as in Goldin's book Night Swim. Rachel is incredibly brave or loves an adrenaline rush because some of the situations she finds herself in. Unfortunately Rachel will discover that the sociopaths of society hide in plain sight and then there's even more danger in the dark corners of every life.

I'm not entirely convinced it deserves such a high rating, but for me, the most important thing in this genre is to keep me entertained, and DARK CORNERS absolutely delivered on that front! I loved how the different threads of the plot came together—the historical serial murders, the current investigation of a missing woman, and the suspense surrounding Rachel. The pacing was spot on, and the resolution was incredibly satisfying. However, I did have some issues with the writing. While the podcast segments were brilliantly written, the dialogue felt a bit awkward at times, with too much repetition of names which became annoying. As for Rachel's characterization, I honestly couldn't recall her well enough from NIGHT SWIM to notice any significant changes, but that's just my take. Overall, DARK CORNERS gripped me right from the start and refused to let go. It's a thrill ride I couldn't put down, and it has definitely made me eager to read Megan Goldin's other books like The Escape Room and Stay Awake, especially since I also loved The Night Swim. The book concludes with a poignant message about shifting the focus from killers to their victims, which resonated deeply. Goldin's Acknowledgments page, particularly the final paragraph where she expresses gratitude to her readers, is the most heartfelt I've encountered.

I didn’t not finish this. I read this authors other book and really liked it but I couldn’t get into this. I think it was the audiobook. I’m sure if I read this book I would have liked it.

Dark Corners is the second Rachel Krall book, but you do not need to read the first to enjoy this book. Rachel is a podcaster of a true crime podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty, and solved a case in the previous book. A conviction was overturned and innocent men released from prison. Since then, she has received letters from those incarcerated, their family and friends and even legal teams to take on their cases. Terence Bailey is going to be released from prison soon. He was convicted of break and entry and kept in prison longer after a fight. Police think he is responsible for the murder of at least six missing women, but didn't have enough evidence. Just before his release, a social media personality, Maddison Logan visits him in jail, then she disappears. The FBI think she was kidnapped by an accomplice of Bailey's, but have no proof. They ask Rachel to help them solve the murder of the missing women, and hopefully save Maddison before Bailey gets released from prison.

I enjoyed this second Rachel Krall book. I liked that she was actually working for the FBI to solve a crime, and she goes in whole hog. Fist, she needed to infiltrate a social influencer convention. She doesn't like being in the limelight, but agrees. This brings her into close contact with people who are insecure, jealous and vindictive. Does this help with the case of finding missing Maddison Logan, maybe, maybe not. I liked how Rachel goes about figuring things out, and when she went to visit Bailey in prison, knowing that he was hiding something. This one kept me guessing right to the end and I was on the edge of my seat at times, not knowing if either Maddison or Rachel would be safe. She worked with Special Agent Joe Martinez, and he was not happy with her independent nature, taking her off without him. The story was told from multiple POVs, including a sinister, evil man. The climax was exciting and kept me listening long after I should have put this one aside. With some twists, unexpected actions from some characters, another death and a great well-developed plot, I thoroughly enjoyed the thriller. The trio of narrators, André Santana, January LaVoy and Samantha Desz so an amazing job with this story, adding voice to the characters that kept me gripped. All in all, I recommend this one in any format you enjoy, but recommend the audiobook if you like listening to your books.

I didn't realize this was a sequel when I had requested it and I was unfamiliar with the authors other book. While the story was pretty standard thrill for me the audiobook production was excellent and went very well with the podcast elements of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

When I picked this book up I did not realize that it was the sequel to Night Swim until I was already 20% into the book. It did not impede my reading at all. There are a few references to a previous case, but the beginning is set up well enough that it is not a big issue. I was interested in the case and who done it of the old cases. It has multiple POVs. The writing is well done. I'd go back and read the first one as well as a sequel if it came out.

Rating: 3.5/5

As a huge fan of THE NIGHT SWIM, I was so excited when its sequel, DARK CORNERS, was announced. I have been waiting patiently for it to become my family’s book club pick and I am so glad it finally did!

I love our MC, podcaster Rachel, and greatly enjoyed another story featuring her. The twists and turns were great and I enjoyed the overall plot. It was a quick read and I definitely wanted to know the answers. I liked the concept of this happening at a content creator event, but felt it was missing something. The alternating POVs were handled fantastically and the pacing was just so good.

There was an added romance story line that I actually enjoyed, but I’m not sure it really added to the overall story. I did enjoy the reveals and connections throughout and the inclusion of the podcast transcripts was so good. Highly recommend listening to this one.

I hope that we get more books of Rachel investigating crime in the future!

I soooo enjoyed this novel. I absolutely adored getting to know Rachel Krall in The Night Swim, and I'm so happy to see her series continued. This audiobook was so well done and hooked me from the beginning. I see some discourse surrounding the podcast trope being overdone, but 1) I disagree and 2) even if I didn't, you can't help but love Rachel. This book was different from TNS in that you knew who the bad guy was almost immediately from the start - what you didn't know was how or why or WHEN. This lead to an increase in suspense throughout the whole novel that made this a super quick and compulsive read. Overall, I loved it.

Dark Corners was an enjoyable read. I did however, find this slow and lacking the pop twists Megan Goldin is known for! I would still recommend this to my thriller friends! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Thanks for the review edition!

I love books that have an interesting format to them and this line is no exception. The podcast element makes choosing this on audio even better. I found this entire story very interesting and loved hearing the podcast along the way!

“Dark Corners” by Megan Goldin is an unpredictable and eerie thriller that keeps readers on their toes. Investigative journalist and true crime podcaster Rachel Krall is reluctantly drawn into a case involving a missing influencer, Maddison Logan. As Rachel delves into the world of influencers and online rivalries, she uncovers chilling secrets and faces danger lurking in the dark corners of the internet.

“Dark Corners” offers twists, suspense, and a creepy antagonist. Goldin’s portrayal of the digital age’s hidden dangers is both timely and spine-tingling.