September 2020

THE NIGHT SWIM by Megan Goldin is a book that I missed when it first came out in August. In it, Rachel is a true-crime podcast reporter heading into a town to report on the trial of a local athlete who is accused of rape. While she is there, a woman reaches out to ask her to investigate her sister’s death, which had been written off as a drowning accident when it happened decades ago. Something never felt right about this. Both stories have Rachel on her toes. Who is lying? What is the truth?

Whoa, there is so much going on in this small town. And what happened 20 years ago? With the advent of so many true-crime podcasts, and the sophistication of the forensic technology today even compared to 20 years ago, there’s a lot to unravel here. And it’s handled really well. There is enough tension, not to mention intrigue.

I enjoyed Goldin’s THE ESCAPE ROOM last year, but I think this one is much stronger. It has two plots, and it works.