Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Night Swim

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.

Content Warnings

nessy's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

danajoy's review against another edition

Go to review page

I want to restart this book from the beginning. Not a typical dnf.
I never sat with this book properly to get into it.

Content Warnings

haleysversion's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

dawndola's review against another edition

Go to review page

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? No

2.0

This is more of a crime procedural with some mystery than a thriller. It had simple writing, editorial errors galore, ridiculously short podcast episode chapters, and didn't have any 'edge of your seat' aspects that I would expect from a thriller.

Content Warnings

pibblemama17's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

reillya's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

3.75

Content Warnings

grettypop's review against another edition

Go to review page

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!

Content Warnings

More...