Showing posts with label megan goldin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label megan goldin. Show all posts

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Audiobook Review: Dark Corners by Megan Goldin

 

Dark Corners (Rachel Krall #2) by Megan Goldin
Publication Date: August 8th 2023 by Macmillan Audio
Pages: 352
Audio Book Length: 10hrs 45min
Narrator: January LaVoy, Samantha Desz, André Santa
Source: Publisher
Rating: 
Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:
Rachel Krall, the investigative podcaster of Guilty or Not Guilty, is brought in by the FBI to interview a prison inmate, Terrance Bailey, who is about to be released in just a few days. He was convicted of breaking and entering but suspected in the killings of six women. More puzzling is that Terrance just had a visit from a popular influencer, Maddison Logan, and she’s now gone missing, which makes them think Bailey has an accomplice on the outside.

Much to the dismay of the FBI, Rachel decides to stay in town to help find Maddison who was in town to attend BuzzCon an influencer gathering. Rachel goes undercover to see if anyone knew Maddison, and any information that might help track her down. I loved the addition of Joe Martinez, the sexy FBI Agent! Rachel and Joe butt heads initially but end up working together. Rachel is adept at getting information where Joe’s guys haven’t had success, and the clock is ticking for Maddison. Rachel’s efforts don’t go unnoticed, which puts her in danger, as well.

The story was told from Rachel and Joe’s POV, but also the killer’s which was a chilling addition! I was on the edge of my seat worried about the characters and ended up listening to this exciting story in one day!

I read and loved Megan Goldin’s The Night Swim back in 2021. I hoped the author would bring back Rachel Krall and her investigative podcast in more installments. I got my wish here with Dark Corners and it did not disappoint! She’s a smart cookie and a determined investigator. I’m hoping for more Rachel Krall mysteries!

I listened to the story and the audio was fantastic! It’s narrated by January LaVoy and Samantha Desz, a combo from the last Rachel Krall story and narrators I’ve enjoyed from the past. January LaVoy performs Rachel in her “Special Reports” and has a rich, sexy voice, and Samantha Desz performs Rachel and all other characters as the story goes along. She has smooth, serious voice, one that I really enjoyed, as well!  André Santa performs voices in the interviews in Rachel’s podcast chapters. There were sound effects as well, making it feel like a real crime podcast. I liked the additional feature! I highly recommend the audio version! I listened at my usual 1.5x-1.75x normal speed. I’d speed up if things were getting intense!

4 Stars



Book Description:

Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster star of Megan Goldin’s acclaimed Night Swim returns to search for a popular social media influencer who disappeared after visiting a suspected serial killer.

Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison for breaking and entering, though investigators have long suspected him in the murders of six women. As his freedom approaches, Bailey gets a surprise visit from Maddison Logan, a hot, young influencer with a huge social media following. Hours later, Maddison disappears, and police suspect she’s been kidnapped—or worse. Is Maddison’s disappearance connected to her visit to Bailey? Why was she visiting him in the first place?

When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems only to exist on social media; she has no family, no friends, and other than in her posts, most people have never seen her. Who is she, really? Using a fake Instagram account, Rachel Krall goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference, where she discovers a world of fierce rivalry that may have turned lethal.

When police find the body of a woman with a tattoo of a snake eating its tail, the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krell herself. Suddenly a target of a monster hiding in plain sight, Rachel is forced to confront the very real dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the internet.

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Review: The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

 

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
Publication Date: August 4th 2020 by Macmillan Audio & St. Martin's Press
Pages: 352
Audio Book Length: 9 hrs 59 min
Narrators: Bailey Carr,  January LaVoy, Samantha Desz
Source: Library
Rating: 
Link: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:
Rachel Krall runs a popular crime podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty. Her newest assignment takes her to Neapolis to cover a controversial rape trial.  As the story begins, we don't know who is telling the truth, the accuser, Kelly, a sixteen-year-old high school student, or the accused, Scott, the local golden boy, an Olympic hopeful. But we know for sure that Kelly’s character is definitely on trial. 

When Rachel arrives in town, she finds a letter left on her windshield begging for help in solving the murder of Hannah’s older sister, which also happened in Neapolis, twenty years earlier. The account is disturbing and as the story is revealed I was both angered and horrified.

Both mysteries were riveting! The difficulties of a rape accusation come into sharp focus. In the case of a “stranger” rape case, consent isn’t an arguable issue. But when the parties are known to each other, consent is at the heart of the case. When one side says it was consensual and the other says no, how do you know who is telling the truth?  And why is some amount of blame assigned to the victim in most cases? As the author pointed out:

“When school kids are shot by a random shooter, nobody asks whether the victims should have taken more precautions. Nobody suggests that maybe the victims should have skipped school that day. Nobody ever blames the victims. So why is it that when women are attacked, the onus is on them?”

As a woman the story really resonated with me.  I hate the feeling of being uneasy or vulnerable in situations with men, how things can turn bad so quickly. Just running or walking on a secluded path can be dangerous. It really angers me that as a woman, I’m not automatically safe. I've had some strange things happen (I now always carry pepper spray), but thankfully nothing as terrible as the events in The Night Swim. My heart ached for the victims as the story unfolded!

The audio was fantastic! The story was told from Rachel and Hannah POV's in alternating chapters, but there was also the addition of Rachel's podcast "Guilty or Not Guilty" as it aired while covering the trial.

Powerful and thought provoking, The Night Swim is a story I won’t easily forget! I hope we get more of Rachel Krall and her investigations in the future!

 5 Stars



 
Goodreads Description:
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?