I really enjoyed Dark Corners! I read the Night Swim awhile ago, so the details are a little fuzzy, but I didn't find it difficult to jump back into Rachel Krall's world. This story was unsettling, intriguing and I enjoyed the influencer aspect. I thought there was a great mix of characters, where I knew who was who, but everyone had their secrets so you weren't sure who to trust or what people's motives were. The ending twist actually surprised me, which I liked. I was a big fan of the original cast of the TV show Criminal Minds and I thought this was reminiscent of that so this felt nostalgic in a way, but also the story was new.
Listening to this on audio elevated the experience for me, especially Rachel Krall's Special Reports with the additional sound effects. The narration was easy to listen to and engaging.
Thank you Macmillan Audio for the copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Rachel Krall books. The only problem is that I may never read them as I love the audio. I have to hear the Rachel Krall Special Reports. I wish more audio books were like this with what sounds like actual footage. Great thriller, great audio book and loved the romance.

With how enthralled I was in the night swim I knew I needed to read the second book. It is an overall GREAT second book to the series and I was invested entirely. Rachel Krall could be the next Stephanie Plum for me at this rate.

Great book! I didn't love it quite as much to The Night Swim, but I still enjoyed it. The narration was superb, the story solid and original. Loved catching up with Rachel Krall, and secretly hope there are more stories lined up for her.

Dark Corners

Thank you netgalley, Macmillan audio, and St Martins Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I’m sure by now you have seen this one all over bookstagram, but I cannot get over how much I loved this book! I know there have been so many mixed reviews with this one and it seems like people either really like it or didn’t like it as much as the first book in the series, The Night Swim. I actually haven’t read the n first book yet, so that could be the reason for why I enjoyed this book so much. I will say that you don’t necessarily have to read the first book, as I feel like you are still able to understand the characters and what all is going on in the book.

I really enjoyed the influencer aspect of this book and I feel like that has been a hot trope that is being used more and more and I am totally here for it! There were some parts that didn’t seem as believable, such as the lead detective sharing sensitive case information with Rachel (I.e. showing her pictures of one of the victims).

I really enjoyed the narrator of this book and felt like I would reach more for the audiobook than the ebook. I felt like the narrator kept the listeners engaged and added special touches to various parts of the book. I feel like if you can suspend some beliefs about how investigations work, then this is a quick read that you might enjoy!

I loved Night Swim so I was so excited for the return of true crime podcaster Rachel Krall in Dark Corners.

Rachel Krall is summoned to Florida by the FBI to talk to suspected serial killer Terence Bailey at his request. Soon she finds herself in the middle of an investigation into a missing social media influencer who has ties to Bailey and attending a convention she wants nothing to do with.

I enjoyed the influencer sub plot. The people at the convention were pretty cut throat and when another influencer ends up dead, things really start to get twisty.

This was definitely an interesting mystery and I was there for the added romance vibes but nothing happened that really wowed or surprised me. I also missed all the fun extras from the podcast we had in Night Swim. Overall, this was good, just not as amazing as Night Swim was for me.

"Dark Corners" by Megan Goldin is a modern-day thriller that kept me engaged from start to finish.

Goldin weaves a web of intrigue and suspense that revolves around a podcaster's quest for truth for a missing girl. And in the meantime, sheds light on the super-gross "influencer" industry (but still kind of fascinating)...

The trio of narrators, André Santana, January LaVoy, and Samantha Desz, do an exceptional job in bringing the characters to life. Each bring a distinct voice that contributes to a dynamic and engaging experience.

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio for providing an advanced listener copy via the NetGalley app.

This was a solid thriller with some good twists and turns. I like that the book followed the same podcast host as Night Swim while providing a complete fresh mystery. With the podcast aspect, I would highly recommend this one on audio. While Night Swim read more like a piece of contemporary fiction, this one had a solid thriller plot. As a content creator, I loved the influencer angles.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This story does not disappoint! The world of influencers and the world of us regular people don't overlap often, but when they do, its an entertaining story. The way Megan weaves this story together using news clips, interviews, posts, and narrative keeps the reader engaged and guessing until the end.

I enjoyed this one. I feel like I might of gone into this one with my hopes a little high after the first, but it was still enjoyable. I love podcast chapters just like before and this made this one really fun in audio.

I found this book to be a bit slow for my liking and I didn’t feel like the story really lived up to its potential.

I was really stressed out when I started reading this book, because I had not read the first Rachel Krall book. I didn't know if I would miss a lot of the story even though everything told me it could be read as a stand alone. Let me put your minds at ease, this can indeed be read as a stand alone. I liked that we jumped in kind of assuming you knew a little bit about Rachel's world but still giving a refresher in case you did not. So world building didn't take up a lot of the beginning of the book. The book eluded to events that occurred in book #1 but mostly in vague events that were not too relevant in this book, but it explained that Rachel was a very popular podcaster. After reading the second book will I go back and read #1? Yes ,absolutely.

Rachel is contacted by the FBI to look into a presumed serial killer that is behind bars asking for her by name. He gets out of jail in a few days and the FBI want to tie him to some murders. Terence, amongst other prisoners, want her to clear their names. Then the only person who has visited Terence in jail goes missing. Madison is a popular vlogger who happens to be in town for BuzzCon. Rachel will infiltrate BuzzCon to discover more information on Madison and if anyone knows what happened to her. In all of this a budding romance occurs, secrets are uncovered, and mysteries are solved.

The narration was great, I loved that they had different actors coming in to be interviewed in Rachel's podcast segments. It gave it so much more depth, and all of the actors did fantastic jobs! I loved the little intro music to her segments as well as we are given a clue that we have something different happening in the story.

With the two POVs everything was pretty interesting. It gave the reader more knowledge than the characters in the story, which can take out some of the shocking elements of a suspense or thriller. Mostly because we know who the bad guy is and when they are going down the wrong rabbit holes. I loved the health conditions of our bad guy, you don't see that everyday and gave the story a bit of a unique twist. I also loved the red herrings that were thrown in, because it gave some interesting information and threw a few wrenches into everyone's mindset. Overall, everything was really enjoyable, I didn't want to stop listening because I wanted to see how everything was tied together. I think that true crime is so popular as entertainment right now that Megan Goldin was able to put a fresh spin on a trend that you see quite often. Definitely worth the read.

This second book in the Rachel Krall series was another winner. I think if I HAD to compare, I liked the first one SLIGHTLY more than Dark Corners, but they were both solid 4-star reads for me. I enjoyed the plot being around the world of social media influencers and how followers' perception of who those influencers are differs so much from the reality.

Something I find as a common complaint for me when reading series is that character growth is not demonstrated like I would hope to see if they were real people....which makes me seem a little crazy, but that's ok. Rachel is not a character I really relate with in many ways, so maybe that is why she seems less emotionally intelligent to me than she would to someone who better relates with her. She just seems a little petulant and impulsive for her stage of life, which results in me not loving the book as much as I would if I really liked Rachel more. Again, that's a "me" issue, and I still think 4 stars is a great rating overall.

I got an advanced ecopy of this book and still went out and bought the hardback so I could influence friends to read it. I am looking forward to whatever Megan Goldin publishes next, and definitely will be adding it to my TBR list.

Novels about true crime podcasts can be so hit and miss. I think that this one was a hit in part because of the fact that I both read and listened to the book back and forth. I found myself especially enjoying the way the audiobook handled the podcast portions of the story. They were very well done. Without the narration, these were still my favorite part of the book. You are listening to the main characters take on what she experiences and it was interesting to see how she put together what she discovered.

Novels about influencers are also a hit and miss with me. I liked the balance of ridiculous and serious amongst the different podcasters. That's not to say there were equal amounts of each, just that there was a view of them that offered some variety.

The story itself took a lot of twists and turns and I was pretty satisfied by the outcome. The action was pretty evenly paced throughout. The only thing that made me slightly cringe was the love affair. It felt forced and unnecessary.

This book is a follow-up to the night swim, which absolutely blew me away. This one, while still good, was not as amazing.

The world that Rachel inhabits this time is the world of influencers. While Goldin last time showed us multiple perspectives and gave us multiple opinions to chose from, the narrative in this book did not reflect that same unbiased opinion. Goldin tells us how influencers are all fake, they are vain and self-absorbed, and incredibly willing to stab their friends in the back. Rachel is supposed to be a journalist- unbiased and reporting only the truth, but Goldin certainly does not write her like that this time.

Started this one over at least 4 times and each time I’ve made it to almost 12% still don’t have a clue what’s happening. This makes me sad because i loved the first one but i am dnfing.

If it weren't for the audiobook, I would have DNF this. It was disappointing to me after reading and loving The Night Swim. I think part of why I was so disappointed was there was too much going on and also I felt like it was kind of cheesy? I'm also not terribly interested in social media influencers so that was hard for me to connect with. I had to kind of force myself to finish it. The last thing that was challenging to overcome was the lack of revealing who the killer was at the end. You kind of were given that information from the beginning and that sort of stole a lot of the suspense for me.

I thought the audiobook production was very good. I enjoyed each narrator and the addition of "podcast" episodes. I'm not sure I will try a next book in this series. Rachel the character and the romance aspect of the book made me think that if I didn't like this book then I probably won't like the next one.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan audio for the gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: 08/08/2023
Review Date: 08/16/2023

Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Rachel Krall is back! This time she is in Florida, helping the FBI search for a missing person while simultaneously help keep a man behind bars all while doing a bit of her own investigation on her own for her podcast.
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Once again, this was a fun read. This was once again in the format where we are reading the story through Rachel’s podcast but also through the present as to what Rachel was doing with the FBI and her own investigation. I liked how one piece of the puzzle always led to something more significant.
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There was definitely a bunch of filler in this one in my opinion, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book. I liked the aspect of Rachel doing her own thing, I liked the “undercover” aspect if you will and I found the ending satisfying. I definitely figured out part of the major twist, which basically means I am certified detective now… or just that it’s moreso eluded to throughout the novel. Either way, I did figure out part of it.
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I was able to listen to this one and read via ebook. The narrators were incredible, the podcast parts were superb. Andre Santana, January LaVoy and Samantha Desz were incredible making this one such a fun listen. I highly highly highly recommend the audiobook if you’re looking into this one!
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This was a solid sequel to The Night Swim, and I would love to see if we get another installment to the Rachel Krall series. I would definitely like to see where life takes her next.
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Dark Corners released yesterday 8/8, be sure to check it out! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, St Martins Press and Megan Goldin for the ALC and eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Title: A Mediocre Thriller

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

"Dark Corners" by Megan Goldin had all the makings of a gripping thriller, but it fell short of my expectations. The premise was intriguing, promising a tangled web of secrets and suspense. The author's writing style was decent, allowing for easy reading, and the pacing kept me engaged throughout.

However, where the book faltered was in its character development and plot execution. The characters lacked depth, often coming across as one-dimensional and predictable. I struggled to connect with their motivations, which hindered my investment in their fates. The plot had potential, but it often veered into clichés and convenient resolutions, robbing the story of genuine surprises.

Despite these shortcomings, I can't deny that the book did manage to maintain a certain level of tension that kept me flipping the pages. There were moments of genuine intrigue that hinted at the author's ability to craft a compelling narrative.

In the end, "Dark Corners" is a book that offers a moderate level of entertainment for readers looking for a quick thriller fix. However, if you're seeking a more immersive and thought-provoking mystery, you might find yourself slightly disappointed by this book's lack of depth and originality.

Dark Corners
Megan Goldin
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This was a Total page turner for me. I was hooked from the very beginning. I enjoyed the characters, story, suspense, & how it all came together.
It was interesting with different twists that you don't read time after time.
I hope there will be another book in the series. This was my first book with the Author. I can't wait to read The Night Swim next month.
I didn't want to put Dark Corners down. I hope Agent Martinez returns in the next book.
Thank you Netgallery for the opportunity to read this great book.
Thank you Megan Goldin. I will catch up on your other books.