A review by brinoverbooked
The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this book is hard to rate.

the representation of sexual assault survivors and the trauma they must endure during a rape trial are incredibly important and difficult topics, which i think were handled very well in this novel, especially in a genre where sexual assault is usually (unfortunately) used as a cheap plot twist. the podcast aspect was also very fun, especially on audiobook.

on the other hand, we didn't really get the chance to become attached to the characters. we were directly dropped into a court case (which don't get me wrong, i loved) and didn't really get the chance to see the characters as humans, instead of just witnesses and defendants. the only character i felt was even vaguely fleshed out was hannah.

the ending was also predictable, though that does tend to happen in mysteries. if there's only five people who could possibly be the bad guy, you're bound to guess correctly. the social commentary was definitely more valuable to me than the actual mystery itself.
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