A review by chelseyas
The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

It wasn't a bad book, per se, but there were a couple things I found unsettling/bothersome. The first was the heralding of Rachel as some sort of investigative genius. Not to say that the cops can't mess up, but in light of the Idaho murders (specifically the mob mentality towards the living roommates and the boyfriend) the idea that cold cases can be solved by a random person on the internet is iffy. Secondly, the book threw me off from the start by describing Rachel's podcast as "sultry" and stating that it "makes murder sexy." I'm paraphrasing here, but I couldn't get past this exploitive, romanticizing view of true crime. This is also problematic as the story is basically a fictionalized version of the Brock Turner/Chanel Miller case. Lastly, the writing itself is very meh. I predicted the reveal about halfway through the book. The author also has a large vocabulary that shows up throughout the book. This is justified when characters like Rachel and the lawyers are speaking, but sounds disingenuous on the rest of the cast. The characters are very underdeveloped, and all have similar voices. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings