Review: The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a tough book to get through. If you have triggers for SA, I'd steer clear of this one. This follow Rachel Krall, a popular true crime podcaster who has successfully solved a cold case and uncovered evidence to set an innocent man free. Her skills as a journalist come in handy when she is investigating and researching new information for her podcast.

In her latest season she finds herself in a small town as a divisive court case is about to kick off. The local golden boy has been accused of assaulting's a local girl after a party. In addition to investigating the trial for the podcast, Rachel keeps getting mysterious letters about another girl who was assaulted and murdered 25 years ago. The letter writer is the younger sister who wants justice and closure for her sister Jenny. Jenny was slandered and painted as troubled, but her sister knows that there is more to the story and she hopes that Rachel can help uncover the truth.

I listened to the audiobook of this and it was so well done. We get chapters of Rachel's podcast as the trial unfolds and she does a good job staying objective, presenting the facts for both sides as she uncovers them. We also get chapters about Rachel's time investigating the trial and what happened to Jenny as she receives more letters and becomes invested in what truly happened all those years ago.

As I mentioned this is a tough read. The author does a wonderful job brining the emotion of a trial like this to the front while also hitting hard on the truth of assault cases like this. She brings forth facts about women who are assaulted and why they don't report. She goes into detail about the shame the victim feels about being attacked, reporting the attack, being examined, and going to trail. In the end it is he said she said, and at the hands of 12 people that may or may not believe her despite the evidence and the laws of the state she lives in. The defense will do everything it can to undermine her. Unfortunately this is factually accurate, I was an assault advocate and the things these women have to go through is awful and traumatizing. They are traumatized multiple times in their quest for justice and Goldin captured that. I also really liked how the two timelines finally came together as Rachel investigated both cases.

I picked this up because I have an ARC of Dark Corners and I wanted to read this in the event that there is any related content. I'm glad I did because despite the tough content, the execution was spot on. I'm looking forward to reading Dark Corners and seeing what Rachel gets up to next. As I sit down to write this review, I've just finished Dark Corners and you can read them in either order. Rachel investigates a completely unrelated case but the storytelling style is similar.

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