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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
This book was such an enjoyable one to listen to. I love the podcast aspect of it. The end was very neat and I rolled my eyes a few times at parts of it but overall I really enjoyed it. It would be fun if the author wrote another book using the same main character but with a different story.
4.5 stars. This book kept a really good pace as it worked through 2 primary storylines. I started reading as a physical book, but switched to audiobook early on. 10/10 recommend listening to it as an audiobook because the podcast chapters have added elements to make it sound like a real podcast. This added a great dynamic element to it.
The whole book was heavy, but wow that last hour or so was heart wrenching. Fair warning, this book is not for the faint of heart.
The whole book was heavy, but wow that last hour or so was heart wrenching. Fair warning, this book is not for the faint of heart.
Fast-Paced. Good Writing. Important Commentary on Rape Culture in the US. But ultimately, in terms of thrilling escapades- predictable and slightly disappointing.
Maybe this book did something groundbreaking when it came out five years ago, which would go some way towards explaining the general consensus. But reading it in 2025, I feel like I've read this exact same book before, except better.The Night Swim is middling at best — drab, awkward writing; flat characters; and one third into the book, there's no trace of suspense. Nah.
DNF @ 30%
DNF @ 30%
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
Book-tok strikes again. It’s smart for publishers to have tiktokers advertise their shit. I fall for it every time. This novel was based on/inspired by the Brock Turner rape case. It weaves two storylines—both about teenage girls who are raped with different outcomes. One is from the POV of the younger sister of a girl who is raped/murdered 25 years before the trial. The other is told by the true crime podcast host covering the modern day rape case in the same town. I’m not a fan of rape storylines in film/literature, simply because of the unpleasant things it does to my brain. And this covered a trial about a rape, so it went into the kind of specific details of the crime that would be dragged out in court. I had to break up my reading of this because it was too heavy to binge. Would I recommend it? I’m not sure. I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from reading it, how about that?
This was intense! I definitely want to listen to the audiobook, because I think it’ll bring the story to life a little more. Definitely a good read for anyone interested in true crime!
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
this was an interesting read…