Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

68 reviews

robin_reads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Grief, Rape, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Car accident, Bullying, and Death of parent

___'s review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Meh, predictable. There's a multitude of very cliche elements here - a small town where everyone knows everyone, the scary homeless man covered in scars, the son of a prestigious man, parallel and seemingly unrelated stories/events that can't possibly be connected, et cetera. Also, this is not a thriller. It's just a mystery. 

There's nothing really wrong with the book (though, poor editing got quite distracting at one point). There just wasn't anything new, thrilling, or exciting being offered.

(...Is the protagonist being a true crime podcaster a trigger warning yet?)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Bullying, Death, Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Physical abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Cancer, and Drug abuse

meeklovestoread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Honesty, there's not much to say about this book. I flew through it. I think this book, despite its themes, was very bingeable. And weirdly enough, I found myself highly immersed in the story. Whenever I'd put it down I'd get a mini wave of whiplash because I was so into the story that it felt so weird to be out of it. I cannot comment on the accuracy of criminal law practices (the lawyers and their arguments) or the validity of the autopsies. However, for a thriller, I was very surprised at how good the insight was on the issues of rape and sexual assault.

Especially that scene where Kelly had to testify and she was succumbed to the pressure at the beginning of cross. I'd never seen that in a book before and I applaud the author for thinking about the victim first. It would've ruined Kelly to be put on cross and would've traumatized her all over again.

Although, I'm inclined to side with the "alleged" victim first unless there's evidence to the contrary, I think the book (and the podcast) did a great job demonstrating both sides and just how ambiguous rape cases can be. Also when reading this book, I highly HIGHLY recommend you put yourself in the victim's shoes; imagine you're feeling the things she's feeling. When I did that oh my gosh it just made things so real for me. It really takes courage to say something let alone pursue a criminal case so I genuinely admire ANYONE to has the courage to take action. I'd like to note that the audio for the podcast was phenomenal. I definitely recommend the audiobook!

The twist of Bobby seeing the whole thing and testifying was fine, I guess. The ending did confuse me though. I thought the whole gun scene with Dan and everything was cool. Not surprised it was him. What was the purpose of that nightingale>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Grief, Sexual violence, and Rape

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Cursing

justmasyn's review against another edition

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

judassilver's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Child abuse, Car accident, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders

alex_mabel's review against another edition

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

savannahrose01's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

nicksalex's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Car accident, Bullying, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Cancer, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

vj_thompson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A thought provoking story that depicts why sexual assault cases next see the light of a court room. The process is time consuming, lawyers can brutal, and it may do more harm than good. 

Megan Goldin is an auto-buy author. The first book I read by her was Stay Awake. She does an amazing job at character building and touching on subjects matters like sexual assaults or mental health conditions. These topics are normalized in Megan’s stories. I found myself both times rooting for the main characters, and the side characters, wishing them all a happy and successful outcome.

I am looking forward to reading the sequel, and I hope our main character Rachel continues to fight the good fight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Grief, Bullying, Violence, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Alcohol, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Stalking, and Gun violence

haleysversion's review against another edition

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