Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

34 reviews

justmasyn's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Child death, Death, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Car accident, and Sexism

Minor: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

alex_mabel's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

While this book was very hard to read due to the topics at hand, I thought it was done very well. The story of the trial was told in a brutally honest way.

The dual perspectives were both very engaging and the ending came together well. I definitely wanted to keep reading to see how it all wrapped up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Bullying, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Cancer

maddiie046's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Child death, Child abuse, and Murder

haleysversion's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, Blood, Mental illness, Sexual content, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

grettypop's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

4/5 stars

Rachel Krall is a famous true crime podcaster, known to uncover information better than the bureaucratic justice system allows. For this season of her podcast, she decided to cover the controversial rape case of K, by an up and coming rich swimmer. Murder is easy to judge - it's wrong. We all know that. But when it comes to rape, people love to victim blame. And there is someone leaving notes for Rachel on the windshield of her car.....

I will say this right now, do NOT read this if you can't stomach description of rape, sexual assault, and violation of minors. The book is very descriptive, and I found myself having to take breaks after certain parts.

The story runs of 3 lines:
#1 - Rachel's POV and what is happening to her right now - aka going to trial and getting creepy notes from a stranger
#2 - The actual podcast episodes covering the rape trial of K
#3 - The notes, written by someone named Hannah, covering the alleged murder of her sister from 25 years ago

I did NOT see a lot of twists coming. The book kept me engaged, excited to read on. I loved the audiobook version, because the podcast chapters are actually recorded like an episode. A very VERY good thriller for spooky season!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Child death, and Child abuse

kaylamarch's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Rape, and Child death

kerrygetsliterary's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

erin_knor's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I liked how this story was told in a partial podcast format. It was an intriguing story. It just didn't hook me as well as other thriller type books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, and Child death

Minor: Death of parent

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The Details:
Narrated by Bailey Carr, January LaVoy, Samantha Desz
Unabridged 

One of my late netgalley arcs, I decided to listen to via my library app.

This was riveting and harrowing read following a dual sexual assault case, one in the present day and one set in the mystery of a cover up that happened some years before. 

We follow a podcast presenter investigating both cases and it was interesting to see the perspective of varying characters of what, to me, is an obviously awful crime.

The acts done to the body was so graphic and really hard to read, so please bear that in mind.

Overall, I'm glad to have finally read this, but it was a heavy, difficult read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Car accident, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Rape, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

lpdx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Misogyny, Murder, Alcohol, Grief, Rape, Violence, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, and Blood