Book Review: The Night Swim
Synopsis (taken from Goodreads):
After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.
The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.
Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?
*Content warning at end of review*
3.5/5 ⭐️
The Night Swim follows Rachel Krall, a true crime podcaster who travels to a small beach town in North Carolina to cover a rape trial for the third season of her hit podcast. She arrives in Neapolis, where an elite swimmer is accused of raping a 16 year old girl after a party one night and the town is completely polarized by the trial. While Rachel is working in Neapolis, a woman named Hannah leaves her a series of letters about an eerily similar event that took place 25 years earlier in the same town – the rape & murder of her sister, Jenny. Told through alternating points of view between Rachel and Hannah, these stories become tragically intertwined and end up having more in common than you would ever think.
At first I was super into The Night Swim. It was set up to be a perfect thriller. Then, when I learned what kind of case Rachel was covering, I just couldn’t see this as a thriller anymore. Nothing is wrong with that, but the beginning definitely threw me off and I wish it would have started differently.
As for the plot, it was captivating and thought-provoking, albeit dark. I found it hard to keep track of the different characters since they weren’t all introduced in detail, but that’s my only complaint about the writing itself.
Overall, I wasn’t super impressed but I’d still recommend it for someone looking for an engaging read.
*If you’re interested in reading it you should know the entire plot centers around 2 situations of traumatic sexual assault and it’s a pretty dark read.*
Read if you enjoy:
➝ True crime documentaries
➝ Crime Junkie or similar podcasts
➝ Courtroom movies/books
You can purchase the book here or read for free on if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription (as an Amazon Associate I may earn commission from qualifying purchases)!
