The Night Swim was a dark and harrowing story of a podcaster investigating two rape cases that occurred twenty-five years apart. Check out my review and also my Spoiler Review of The Night Swim.
Jen’s Quick Take: The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
- The Night Swim has a past-present narrative
- The story involves two crimes: one covered in a sexual assault trial and the other the death of a young woman over two decades before
- The Night Swim has podcast elements
- The Night Swim includes graphic depictions of sexual assault
- Published on August 4, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press.
- Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Review of The Night Swim
First off: The Night Swim contains multiple, graphic descriptions of sexual assault, as well as a depiction of a rape trial.
Rachel is the host of a successful true crime podcast. She’s just arrived in the small town of Neapolis to cover a the trial of an Olympics-bound swimmer accused of the rape of a young woman in town.
As Rachel begins interviewing people connected to the case, she’s puzzled (and a little creeped out) to begin receiving anonymous letters.
The letter writer is Hannah, a fan of Rachel. She wants help investigating the death of her sister, Jenny, who drowned after allegedly jumping off a jetty near town twenty-five years before.
The narrative alternates between Rachel’s third-person point of view, the letters to Rachel from Hannah about her memories of her sister and what happened to her, and transcripts of Rachel’s podcast episodes.
The Night Swim took a bit of time to get going – at first I found Rachel’s narrative to be a lot of telling and it seemed odd to me that Rachel’s podcast was so seat-of-the pants. She’d just record her stream of consciousness thoughts and the episodes went up immediately. I would think that you’d do all your research and interviews before putting episodes up, but what do I know?
However, once things really got underway, The Night Swim was a gripping book that I found hard to put down. I do like courtroom thrillers, though. If they are not really your thing, this might not be the book for you.
The ending was … interesting. If you are finished reading and want to talk spoilers, please come over to my SPOILER POST FOR THE NIGHT SWIM HERE.
If you’re a fan of courtroom drama (and true crime podcasts) definitely give this one a try.
This is an adult book. If you are looking for YA books with similar themes, check out my list of YA Books About Sexual Assault and Rape Culture
Sounds like an intense read! I don’t think I’ve ever read a courtroom thriller, so I would be willing to give one go. Thrillers are usually hit or miss for me, but gripping books usually win out at the end!
<a href=”http://www.doyoudog-ear.com/”>Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬 </a>
I’m kinda hit or miss on courtroom thrillers, but if they’re done well they can be really gripping! While it does sound like this might be a tough read at times, due to the subject matter, I’m glad to hear it was good and it does sound like a good one. I might have to get this.
I’ve never read books involving a podcast. I really like the sound of this one especially since it’s also a thriller. And although I’ve never really tried a courtroom, I’m still somewhat curious.