Dark Corners

Megan Goldin books are always a ride. I received an early review copy of Dark Corners from the publisher and immediately blocked out hours of my weekend to devour it. Lovely to say I was not disappointed one little bit.

Dark Corners explores the world of influencers, as a true crime podcaster becomes involved in and investigates a past and potentially future crime. It kept me on the edge of my seat. At one point you definitely realize who is most likely the killer, and then it’s a suspense leading up to a slow reveal.

Recommend to all those true crime lovers out there.

I loved this book! I have been a fan of Megan Goldin’s ever since I read her first book “Escape Room” so I dropped everything to read her latest book as soon as I received it, and I’m so glad I did!

Rachel is such a compelling leading character, and the case she was pursuing in this book was interesting, unique and with plenty of twists and turns! Also was pleasantly surprised by the romance element that was included. The interspersing of the podcast episodes throughout is a great addition as well! I wish I didn’t have to wait so long for this to come out to recommend it to friends, and I really hope that we continue to get more Rachel Krall books in the future!

I am so sad this book is over!!! It’s technically the second in the Rachel Krall series, of which the first I’ve never read. This book can absolutely be read as a stand alone but I loved it so much I’ll be going back to read The Night Swim! I lovedddd the characters, every single one of them. It made me feel all the feels, I even teared up at the end. I loved the writing, I loved what a badass Rachel is. I loved everything! Seriously sad this book is over, Megan Goldin is a QUEEN!

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review-
Six w9men have been murdered and investigators think Terrence who is soon to be release fr9m prison is involved. Maddison visits Terrence in jail and disappears. Is her disappearance connected to her visit? Is Terrence in cahoots with someone on the outside?
Rachel, a true crime podcaster is called in to meet with Terrence to see if he will tell her anything about Maddison’s disappearance, But how dangerous is this for Rachel? Will she be the next murdered?
Grab this book for a thrilling read!

One of my favorite reads is Night Swim so when I got a widget for a follow up I was super excited. Rachel is a podcaster who became more famous then she ever imagined after she helped a man overturn his guilty verdict. The book begins shortly after night swim ends where Rachel just wants to go home to recoup but instead is summoned to Florida to meet with the FBI regarding unsolved serial killings. The book is told thru a view point of views which I personally am a fan of. The author did a good job of leading the reading to who the killer was and why without a huge twist. Despite no big twist I found myself thoroughly enjoying this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read "Dark Corners" in exchange for my honest review.

In this story we meet up with Rachel Krall once again. She was introduced to the readers in "The Night Swim". This time she travels to Florida to help the FBI with a prisoner who is about to be released. Her name having come up in the investigation. This is a wonderfully crafted story where you are not quite sure until the end if the good guys are really good and are the bad guys really bad. It all starts with a family making a gruesome discovery on a camping trip.

Terence Bailey is the prisoner about to be released from the Central Florida Correctional Facility. He's apparently a huge fan of Rachel's podcast "Guilty or Not Guilty". Special agents Joseph Martinez and Mark Torreno meet Rachel at the prison where they ask her to speak with Terrence.

There are 3 stories being told from different perspectives. Rachel's story is told and then we have Thomas McCoy who is a ride share driver. Owen Bragg is a park ranger who happens upon a body in the woods. There are missing and murdered women and the police were not taking some of the reports seriously because they claimed that the girls had been runaways prior. Rachel and Joe take all the threads and realize that the police didn't notice that some of these women knew each other. We find that someone is hiding in plain sight.

The ending is left quite open so perhaps we will have another Rachel Krall story soon. Maybe we will see Special Agent Martinez again too. As with Ms. Goldin's previous 2 books this book was hard to put down and I practically read it in one sitting. The pages just kept turning themselves.

“Always know what you’re walking into. Dark corners can be danger points.”

This book brings us back into the world of true crime podcaster Rachel Krall. Instead of taking place in a court room like the previous Rachel Krall book ‘Night Swim’, this one has us following Rachel as she goes undercover to assist the FBI on a case.

Terence Bailey was arrested for breaking and entering. However, police also suspect him of multiple murders even though they have never been able to dig up enough evidence to charge him. These suspicions become stronger after a prominent social media influencer, Madison Logan, goes missing right after visiting Bailey in prison. Now Terence Bailey is set to be released in just a few days, Maddison Logan is still missing and since Maddison is a ghost outside of her social media persona, the FBI is lacking leads. The FBI doesn’t want to see Bailey released so they reluctantly call in Rachel Krall to help with the investigation. Now it’s a race against the clock to find Maddison and to also try to find proof that Bailey was connected to the murders that took place prior to his jail sentence. One more thing the investigators need to find out: who is working with Bailey because he definitely isn’t working alone.

Rachel uses an old Instagram account to imbed herself in the heart of an influencer conference to learn more about Maddison Logan’s world and the people who had contact with her last. Things are definitely darker when the cameras aren’t on. Rachel discovers rivalry, betrayal and secrets lurk in this world of influencers. Who is telling the truth? Who can she trust?

Rachels acuity, attention to detail and keen sense of intuition her helps her uncover truths and facts that many others were unable to discover. The fact that she has this uncanny ability to engage people in conversation and make them want to spill their guts to her certainly doesn’t hurt her investigation.

Rachel seems to be a bit spicier in this one, often having clipped answers when someone puts her in a position that makes her uncomfortable. Even with that, I still found her to be a lovable character. Her overall kind nature and want to help is endearing and her inquisitiveness and demeaner just makes her likeable. She is smart and sees things that most others don’t. And she is very brave-maybe to a fault in this one!

I liked the addition of the FBI agent Joe Martinez. He was a great supporting character and I really enjoyed what he brought to the story. The chemistry between him and Rachel was great. I hope to see Joe in future Rachel Krall stories!

Critiques- I don’t really have many!

There were some duplicative statements throughout the book that I felt was unnecessary. One example of that is Fringe… ‘a man with a floppy fringe and horn-rimmed glasses’; a few pages later ‘her boyfriend with the floppy fringe and eyeglasses’; one page later ‘her boyfriend, sporting a floppy fringe and Clark Kent style glasses’; and yet again a handful of pages later the fringe is mentioned once again. Very repetitive and definitely not needed on back-to-back pages. We get it…. He has floppy fringe and glasses! =]

There was a spot where it appears the wrong pronoun was used. ‘Another had photographed herself sipping a whiskey in a snifter glass as he floated in the lagoon-sized pool’. I would think it should be himself/he or herself/she or themself/they.

Praise- Overall-another great book by Megan Goldin.

I was hooked from chapter one. “I’ve been looking for a predator. It turns out that a predator has also been looking for me”. Powerful statement and really drew me into the story. I just wanted to know what happened next. I am not super big into influencers personally, but even with that said I found the world of influencers in the book a great location for betrayal and deadly competition.

I loved night swim. I thought being in the court room was a fun way to amplify the drama. But I also loved the new perspective of Dark corners. Having Rachel involved in the investigation was a different approach that added excitement in totally different way! Megan has a way of making you want to keep reading to find out what happens next.
“The scariest monster is the one that hides in plain sight.” If you truly think about this statement and what it means- it’s truly horrifying. Monsters can be anywhere. They can be anyone. You might cross paths with them and not even know how close you were to danger. A brilliant depiction of how ‘unseen’ monsters can be-at first glance.
Rating

5 stars-I absolutely would recommend Dark Corners. It’s a great, fast read that keeps you engaged from the first chapter. Hope we get the privilege of more Rachel Krall books in the future!

~Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this fantastic book!~