Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: August 2020
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.
I was so looking forward to reading The Night Swim. I loved The Escape Room and was hoping I wooed love this one as well. I'll be honest, I didn't love it and I'm not completely sure I liked it. In The Night Swim, Rachel is a True Crime pod-caster who is in town to cover a rape trial of a high school student. While she is there, she gets letters from someone who wants Rachel to look into a death that happened years before.
There was a twist at the end that I didn't guess, but it wasn't enough to save the book for me. Rachel was just kind of a boring character. She felt generic to me. I was more interested in the story that is told to us through the letters Rachel received. The other thing I wasn't a fan of was the way author wrote every male in this book. I understand what she was trying to do by making the rape trial a parallel to a recent real life trial of a college student who got a slap on the wrist , but it was just over the top. Every single male in this book was either a pig or woman abuser. Really? Not all men are like that and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous. It was annoying and got old.
It's an OK mystery, but not thrilling. I found this one slow paced and not all that interesting. I didn't even really love the podcast excerpts that were included. I think I'm in the minority when it comes to this one. So, give it a try and see for yourself.
I really enjoyed this one and liked it a bit better than Escape Room, but I can certainly see why you didn't. Goldin may have been a bit heavy-handed with the way she handled the men.
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