ARC Review: The Night Swim

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself. 

So here's a bookworm fact to know about me-I am immediately drawn to a book if it is a mystery/thriller centered somehow around a true crime podcast. I love listening to true crime podcasts, and something about a book that includes transcripts of a (fictional) one (the mixed media? the use of another something I love?) hooks me right away. A lot of the books on my TBR shelf and Kindle are this exact type of book.

That's what got me excited about The Night Swim. I had enjoyed Goldin's previous book, The Escape Room, but had also felt a little let down by it, and was very curious to see how her second book went. 

The plot is definitely intriguing-a true crime podcaster famous for solving cold cases, heads into a small town for a trial, and finds a mysterious note on her windshield from someone she has never met, pleading with her to please solve her sister's murder. The way these two plots intertwine is clever, and there's such a sense of foreboding in the way even just the town itself is described. The use of podcast transcripts I of course loved, though they did seem a little short if they were being presented as full episodes. I found the ending definitely a surprising twist, and I thought it was well done.

This is not a book that shys away from material that can be hard to stomach, in particular sexual assault and rape. But because of this, this book also has a lot of important things to say. 

While not my favorite in the book with a fictional podcast genre, I found Goldin's second book did not disappoint.