
The Night Swim
Table of Contents
The Night Swim
The Night Swim is the latest novel to be checked off my to be read list. It has been staring at me from my bookshelf for a while now, and it finally demanded that I read it.
The Night Swim is the first in a two-part series (so far) from Megin Goldin that follows Rachel Krall, a true crime podcaster.
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“In loving memory of Jenny Stills, who was viciously murdered here when she was just 16. Justice will be done.”
Megan Goldin, The Night Swim
Have you read The Night Swim? Come on in and let me tell you about it!

About The Night Swim
Ever since her true-crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall has become a household name―and the last hope for 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 new season of Rachel’s podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season 3 a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation―but the mysterious letters keep coming.
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 insist she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody in town wants to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases―and a revelation 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?

Thoughts on The Night Swim
I started reading this book with my wife recently. We had read and loved The Last Time I Lied, then tried two others that we gave up on pretty quickly. So I had to redeem myself by picking a good one again.
What sucked me in was the “creepy” factor of Rachel finding notes from Hannah and actually following them. Who follows notes left by what looks like a crazy stalker? And one who is clearly watching you?
This part sucked me in, but it also annoyed me at the same time. Why follow some crackpot leaving you notes and following you around town while lurking in the shadows? Seriously, some of the stupid stuff that Rachel does in this book could get her kidnapped or killed, and no one would even notice because she has no connections there. It’s kind of infuriating when she puts herself in obvious danger. Her producer would notice soon, but what could he do, and where would he even tell the police to start looking?
The Night Swim follows two cases at the same time. One from years ago where a sixteen year old girl drowned, and her sister firmly believes she is murdered. Hannah, Jenny’s living sister, is the one who is following Rachel around and leaving her the creepy notes talking about Jenny and her murder. We get snippets of Jenny’s history through Hannah’s letters to Rachel.
The second case is the one Rachel is focusing season three of her podcast on, a current trial of a swimmer accused of rape and sexual assault. The small town is very much divided on how they feel about it all before the trial, and it is a heated debate.
How are the two cases connected? I’m not sure yet, and at the halfway point in the book, it still doesn’t feel like they are. Which is why I’m interested in finding out, and what is keeping me reading. I am honestly finding the lack of connection to be annoying, and I hope it is revealed and questions answered as the book goes on.
I feel like this book had potential to be amazing, but it just didn’t quite make it there. If Megan Goldin had left out Rachel’s podcast completely besides it being her career, it would have been a much faster read. Because the podcast episodes were included, it became repetitive.
When I read Everything We Didn’t Say, I loved that Nicole Baart went back and forth with each chapter between the past and the present, until it all came together in the end. I really wish Megan Goldin had achieved that same level of cohesive story telling in The Night Swim. If she had gone back and forth between Rachel and Hannah with every chapter and left out the podcast, it would have read much faster and easier.

Final Thoughts on The Night Swim
The Night Swim is decently written, but I am disappointed in the fact it has the potential to be so much better than it is, and I found myself wanting to see it happen.
The ending was so anticlimactic that it didn’t justify how the story was dragged out. Which is infuriating to me. If it was better, it could have at least justified the story by redeeming it and making it worth the time it took to read.
It is also a thought-provoking book, talking about rape and sexual assaults, and how these are treated both in actual courts as well as the court of public opinion. I thought she handled such a sensitive subject really well.
I’m calling The Night Swim a three star book. It absolutely had the potential to be a five star book, but it just fell short. I didn’t hate it, but it felt like a tedious read, and I wanted so much more. I wanted to be sucked in, on the edge of my seat, wanting to read more and needing to know what happened. Sadly this one will likely be forgotten by the time I start my next book.
At some point, I’ll read Dark Corners, but it’ll be a little bit. Mostly because I need something far more exciting to read first. I can’t handle another book where it feels like I’m stuck driving in the slow lane at ten miles an hour under the speed limit. I’m not ready for that again just yet.

Discussion
Have you read The Night Swim or any other writing from author Megan Goldin? Are you a fan? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
About the Author

Megan Goldin worked as a correspondent for Reuters and other media outlets where she covered war, peace, international terrorism and financial meltdowns in the Middle East and Asia. She is now based in Melbourne, Australia where she raises three sons and is a foster mum to Labrador puppies learning to be guide dogs. She is the author of The Escape Room, The Night Swim, and Stay Awake.

Purchasing The Night Swim
If you are interested in buying the paperback version of The Night Swim, click here.
For the hardcover version, click here.
Click here for my favorite Kindle I currently own.
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