The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

Star rating: 3.5/5

Goldin's highly-anticipated new novel is a courtroom thriller that follows a rape trial and a mysterious death from decades ago. 

Summary:

Rachel runs a very successful podcast called Guilty or Not Guilty, in which she dives deep into criminal cases. This season, she is focusing on an upcoming trial for the alleged rape of a young girl by the son of the wealthiest man in town. While following the case, another case is brought to her attention - the mysterious death of another young girl decades earlier, ruled as an accident. Full of shocking events and twists and turns, the book alternates between the past and present stories and eventually reveals how they are shockingly linked. 

Review: 

I have to say, I was pretty let down by this book. I have heard nothing but rave reviews of it, and it just didn't live up to the hype for me. This book is first and foremost about rape. Graphic, brutal, detailed, shocking, repeated rape. And I just think that if a book is going to revolve around rape in this way, it needs to be for a purpose other than shock value. This book did not do that. Furthermore, I was quite honestly bored by the first half of the book and rolled my eyes every time one of Hannah's mysterious notes was left for Rachel. How was this girl so sneaky that she could keep finding Rachel literally no matter where she went, without Rachel noticing she was being STALKED, to get her these notes, and why was Rachel not thoroughly creeped out?! That said, about halfway through the pace really picks up, and at that point I was pretty hooked.

The final twist was frankly upsetting, albeit unexpected. The bottom line I was left with is that you literally cannot trust anyone, and especially when it comes to rape and sexual assault, that is not the world I want to live in as a woman. 

Overall, this book is very triggering and ultimately unnecessary. I think there are much better thrillers out there. Please proceed with caution if you want to read this book.