Rachel Krall is a successful true crime podcast host, after season one of Guilty or Not Guilty set an innocent man free. She heads to the small town of Neapolis to film the next season. The town is being torn apart by a local rape trial. Devastatingly, a female student was raped by the town’s swimming prodigy, just as he is destined for success. Rachel begins the investigation with interviews – but strange notes keep popping up pleading for Rachel’s help with their sister’s disappearance twenty-five years earlier in this same small town.
As Rachel interviews people about the present case, she uncovers things about the past and the two cases begin to intertwine. Solving both cases will cause chaos and change the lives of everyone in Neapolis.
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Calling all true crime lovers, this is the book for you!! Bryan and I are always listening to true crime podcasts, especially on road trips so this book pulled me right in. This was a great fast-paced read with some very heavy elements.
There are so many layers to this story – so many. There’s the obvious entanglement with two controversial cases twenty-five years apart, but there is so much more. We have Scott Blair, potential Olympic swimmer and his pompous attitude. His family and their “grieving” disgusted me and it all reminded me of a case all too similar, Brock Turner. Scott’s father was just as horrifying as Scott himself, with comments like “Scott has so many girls coming after him. He doesn’t need to rape an unwilling teenager when there are plenty of attractive young women who are more than willing.” …gross.
We have our anonymous victim K, who is the granddaughter of the police chief. This begs the question, would this case be taken seriously if there wasn’t a powerful influence to hold this young man accountable?
And then of course, we have Hannah, our second POV in the story. She’s grieving and ready to find out the truth to her sister’s suspicious death. The police have long ruled this as an accidental drowning but Hannah knows there is more to the story and she will get to the bottom of it.
I appreciate the depth that the author gave to this story. It truly felt like the unraveling of a true crime story. The way in which these cases overlap was so shocking and mind-blowing. Ultimately, I enjoyed this book so much. Good mystery books aren’t the easiest to come by, so if you’d like to pick up a book you won’t want to put down, I recommend The Night Swim.
PUBLICATION DETAILS: MacMillan Publishers; August 4th, 2020; 125021968; Fiction/Mystery
