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40x40

Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Night Swim: A Novel in Books

Aug 4, 2020  
The Night Swim: A Novel
The Night Swim: A Novel
Megan Goldin | 2020 | Mystery, Thriller
7
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

Having worked in the criminal court system for years, I was looking forward to The Night Swim by Megan Goldin. The premise that you follow along with a podcast to reach your own verdict of a current and controversial trial sounded intriguing. I found myself angry by the main character's obvious slant on her podcast. If her role was to present an unbiased reporting of the events in court, she failed at her job. Her reporting of the case proceedings and the investigation taken are accurate, detailed, and complete. Goldin successfully captures the emotions involved in sensitive cases such as the one podcaster Rachel Krall covers for the third season of her podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty.

Goldin's story of the trial, the people involved, and the overlapping, interconnected tale from the past are woven into a clever novel narrated by Bailey Carr, January LaVoy, and Samantha Desz. All three narrators are accomplished voice actors. LaVoy narrated books by Patterson, Deaver, Grisham, and Goldin's New York Times Bestseller, The Escape Room.

The narrators' voices matched the story well, but the speed in which they spoke was too slow for me, and I listened to the story at a faster rate.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 8/3/20.
  
40x40

BookInspector (124 KP) rated The Distant Dead in Books

Jul 1, 2021  
The Distant Dead
The Distant Dead
Lesley Thomson | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonist in this novel is Stella, but there are multiple storylines going on in this book. Stella is a quite complicated character, she has a lot of things going on in her life. It does not help that while running from her past life she stumbles onto a murdered true-crime podcaster. And once again she gets involved with another investigation. The characters of this book are very interesting personalities, and I was very curious to know more about them. And there is a very wide variety of characters, so sometimes it can be a little difficult to remember who is who.

The beginning of the book was quite slow and confusing for me. This book carries two separate investigations, the one going on in 1940 during WWII, and another investigation happening at the present day. I would have liked more suspense in this book, the culprits were quite easy to guess, but I enjoyed the interactions between the characters while solving both of the crimes. I especially liked the investigation that happened in the 1940ies, I loved reading about that era and the description of West London was very intriguing and educational to me. Also, I really liked to see how different police work was compared to the present day, and I did feel annoyed with the police ignoring the obvious. 😀

The writing style of this book was very enjoyable and well researched. I liked the different settings and atmospheres as well. The chapters have medium length, but it did not leave me bored. As I mentioned before, the ending of the book was quite predictable, but I liked how this book was rounded up. Even though this book was part of the series, I was able to read it as a stand-alone.

So, to conclude, it was a cleverly written crime story, filled with a very wide variety of different and intriguing characters as well as the murder stories that were different but very entwined.