Ever since her true-crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall has become a household name – and the last hope for people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognised for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a mysterious note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging her to investigate the death of Jenny Stills twenty-five years ago.
The new season of Rachel’s podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. Scott Blair, a local golden boy and swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping Kelly Moore, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation – but the mysterious letters keep coming.
Someone is following her, and they won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to Jenny. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered. When Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases, past and present collide. What she finds will change not just the course of the trial, but the lives of everyone involved.
After reading Megan Goldin’s heart-stopping thriller, The Escape Room, I had high hopes for The Night Swim, and believe me, I was not disappointed. But don’t go into The Night Swim thinking it’s anything like her previous novel – it’s an entirely different beast. Where The Escape Room was a fast, pacy thriller, The Night Swim is a confronting and thought-provoking read that explores a number of loaded topics associated with rape culture, such as victim blaming. Goldin handles these topics with sensitivity and respect, but she still gives us an honest representation of how victims are treated both within the court system and by the wider community.
One of the things I appreciated most about The Night Swim, was that unlike other crime novels I’ve read – and there have been a lot of them – rape isn’t a plot point within the story that’s thrown in purely for entertainment value. Instead, Goldin uses it to educate her readers on society’s treatment of rape victims. The courtroom sequences work well in this respect; as the ugliness of the Scott Blair trial unfolds, we’re able to see the length that victims have to go to seek justice, if they receive any at all.
The Night Swim is certainly a welcome respite from reading thriller after thriller that glorifies sexual violence against women without asking any deeper questions about how society perpetuates the problem. Compelling, raw and gripping from start to end, The Night Swim is a must-read that I struggled to put down. I can’t wait to see what Goldin delivers next.
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