Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - The Night Swim

I listened to the audio book and I highly recommend! There were three narrators hired to read the book and they all did a remarkable job. I love how the chapters alternated between Rachel’s POV (the podcaster), Hannah’s letters (the sister of a tragic incident), and Rachel’s podcasts. Hannah’s letters had me at the edge of my seat every time. I loved how the two cases were tied together and the whole time I was thinking “who was Jenny’s murderer?”.

I can’t wait until the next book!!

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kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

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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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bookshelf_al's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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dianapiskor's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.0

It's been a minute since I read a thriller, but I found this one to be enjoyable. I definitely didn't know where this was going. The premise of a true crime podcaster covering a sexual assault trial in real time, while also investgating the death of Jenny Stills in the same town was really interesting. It had true crime, multiple POVs, and alternative timelines that kept me guessing throughout.

The writing was more efficient in style, which I appreciated since the subject matter in this one is HEAVY. While the subject matter is heavy, the author does a great job in making the reader think about the how women are treated within the criminal justice system when it comes to crimes like sexual assault and it made me think, which thrillers don't often do. I will say this is not a light read and you definitely be aware that this entire book is based around on a sexual assault case. This may be an issue to some and please do not read this book if it is a trigger for you.

I think the biggest issues for me with this one was that I wish the stories were interconnected a bit more. The author tried to connect them more at the end, but it just felt like in each of the cases, they didn't converge as much as I was hoping. It felt like the author was trying to do too much. Additionally, because of the emotional investment within this one due to the sexual assault trial, I felt that the author, while tying it up, was too brief. I wanted more information and more of a conclusion.

Overall, it was an interesting thriller and I was invested within the story, but wished the cases were connected more. Be aware that sexual assault is almost constant throughout the novel.

Content Warnings