The Night Swim
Ratings83
Average rating4.1
In this new thriller from the author of The Escape Room, a podcast host covering a controversial trial in a small town becomes obsessed with a brutal crime that took place there years before. After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name—and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help. The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating—but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered—and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved. Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?
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2 primary booksRachel Krall
Rachel Krall is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2020 with contributions by Megan Goldin.
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I thoroughly enjoyed The Night Swim, both in its artful storytelling and commentary on the way rape culture has infected our society. Although some of the big reveals and mysterious elements of this novel were quite predictable for seasoned thriller-readers, I still feel that this was an exemplary read. The non-biased perspective of Rachel, our main character and the producer of a crime podcast, added a grounding element to the story. Her voice, both in the chapters from her perspective and the podcast chapters, sought justice and spoke volumes beyond the storyline. One of the most important sentiments of the podcast chapters was Rachel's confusion as to why murder can be seen as objectively bad, but rape is muddled in shades of gray. Overall, this book takes a nuanced and important view on rape culture, our justice system and much more, all behind the guise of a well-written fictional mystery. The enthralling nature of the story certainly makes the content more digestible, and I hope this novel can help open readers' minds to the sexism that pervades every inch of our society.
Some of the writing was a bit overdone. The podcast is an interesting addition, but on the audiobook, it isn't a great podcast. The mysteries that she is uncovering are horrific and the author does a good job making us feel the horror of it. I have to admit some parts were hard to listen to and I skipped them. I figure that makes for a good thriller mystery.
An all around stellar book. Interesting points of view and very intense topics explored well, in my opinion. I don't necessarily find problem in upsetting topics being used as plot points IF they are done and executed well. There is potential for failure here, but when it's done well, it's poignant, raw, and important to include. Steering away from heavy topics as parts of a plot is something I'm against because I think it stifles our ability as readers to digest a myriad of emotional and darker issues that have the capacity to make us think, reflect, and discuss, even if they are part of something fictional. All this to say, when it is done well, I am not averse to reading it, and Goldin handles these more upsetting topics well, and when combined with the plot as a whole, it is a book I enjoyed reading, even if heavier at points.
