The Night Swim By Megan Goldin - A review

 I picked up a library challenge. That means my book has to come from the library in some form. My choice was The Night Swim by Megan Goldin. Please know this book comes with trigger warnings, all of which are related to heinous sexual crime. Let's get into it. Spoilers below!

So, I need to tell you all the trigger warnings now, as this book is quite full of them. See this link to look at all of them. If you can't handle the discussion of rape and assault, or true crime, put the book back and move on. It's just the reality of a book about a true crime podcaster covering a rape trial, and a true crime podcaster discovering a buried case of gang rape and murder. 

I was reading this for about three hours until I had to stop and take a break. We have a gang rape case included in this book. Jennie was gang raped and some of the town seems to think she was promiscuous. Meanwhile, our main podcast season covers a rape trial. This trial is being talked about all over town, mostly because the alleged rapist was a prominent member of the town and rich. Neapolis plays favorites and Jennie's family was not one of them, based on what you hear. The more our main character dredges up, the more she's told to shut up. The current rape case is already favoring the man because the family hired a promoter to make the alleged rapist look good in court. Both cases blame the victim. It is atrociously angering. 

Most of the story is Rachel's podcast, her interviewing or gathering information, and the letters from Hannah (sister of Jennie). We learn what happened in both cases as we read the letters or as Rachel gets the information. Hannah is stalking Rachel and leaving letters everywhere for her, telling her sister's story because she is desperate for justice. That is the core of our novel. I would not expect this to be light reading; I was mistaken to expect that. I couldn't finish it. I got thirty percent into it before stopping. 

Overall Thoughts

It pulls you in immediately. Read it as an audiobook and you'll really get into the podcast episodes themselves. Rachel is sort of freaked out about Hannah's stalking, but can't resist the extra case she's picked up. She starts looking into it and the locals start telling her to stop. There is clearly something going on locally that she doesn't know. The cases themselves are interesting. The town is biased toward and against specific families. Money talks here. 

Again, I have to remind you this is not light reading. Don't hand this to anyone less than 18 years old. Please, I'd even advocate being in your 20s to read this. It's heartbreaking. True crime should be your cup of tea if you pick this up. If not, put it back. It discusses victim blaming at length and doesn't shy away from rape discussions. She's even feeling out the town, discovering their favoritism towards some families and scorn toward others. Jennie's family definitely sat at the bottom of that totem pole. Some boys who gang raped Jennie actively got away with it by the time we see Rachel look into it. 

I was mentally distressed already. I looked up other reviews to see if I needed to stop. I'm not even to the trial thirty percent into the book. I might be a chicken for doing this, but I'm stopping. I'm linking another few reviews so you can gauge what you can handle. I decided this was too mentally distressing for me. 

Megan Goldin | The Night Swim - Bookends

Summary, Explanation + Review: The Night Swim by Megan Goldin - The Bibliofile

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I wrote a book! I am delighted to say that I have 5 five-star reviews up on Amazon now, which is amazing. I hope you like it, too. If you're interested in buying a paperback, hardcover, or ebook version go to my website link in this blog or click here to go straight to my Amazon page. 

Jack Thomas is running from a past case. He's hiding in Wrenville. Is his past case catching up with him? 

Find out in my first book, Wrenville, a stand-alone suspense novel.