Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Night Swim

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

147 reviews

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this novel! I decided to listen to this as an audiobook since a big plot point of this novel is that one of the main POVs has a podcast. I think listening to this book really added an additional layer of enjoyment. I will caution anyone that wants to read this book that it was very hard to read at times because of the graphic depiction of sensitive topics such as: rape, murder, blackmail, alcohol use, and toxic friendships.
This novel follows two different woman. The first is in town because she hosts a podcast and has decided to cover a rape trial as it is happening. The second woman is trying to seek justice for her sister's murder from many years ago, and she is seeking the podcaster's help to uncover the truth. I felt like this book did a great job highlighting the hardships of being a victim, especially when people do not believe what happened to you. I also really enjoyed the mystery in this book. I felt like it was very believable and I was very satisfied with the ultimate ending of this book.

Content Warnings

mayeeta's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

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

4.0

wow this hurt me so bad
ow

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jennylovesbooks14's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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martachbc's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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jelliclecax's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

sparetimereader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Rachel Krall hosts a true crime podcast. Her newest season features the trial of a possible rape of a young teenage girl by a Olympic swimming hopeful. As Rachel goes to the small town of Neapolis to sit in on the trial, and provide up to date information for her podcast, she finds a somewhat disturbing letter stuck under her windshield wiper. The letter is signed from someone named Hannah, and is begging Rachel to investigate further into the murder of her sister Jenny.

Rachel quickly realizes that “Hannah” won’t leave her alone until she agrees to look into the case. The people of town insist Jenny drowned, but Hannah believes otherwise. As Rachel is digging into the past she soon starts to question if there is a connection between the two girls, 25 years apart.

I’ve seen such high praise for this book, and went in completely blind. I thought the author did a great job at keeping the book suspenseful and kept me flipping pages. I really enjoyed the multiple time lines and different point of views. I also thought it was a fun idea to include the podcast episodes in the book to help tell the story. Highly recommend this one if you’re a fan of true crime (even though this is fictional).

⚠️ Trigger Warnings ⚠️

This book does discuss a case of rape (but does not go into detail), murder, and death.

Content Warnings