Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Night Swim

I like the idea of a pod cast from the speaker's perspective. The Podcaster, Rachel, covers a trial on a teenage rape case. A note appears on her car while she's traveling down to cover the trial. The note speaks of a case that happened decades ago that went unsolved in her sister's death.

There is no character growth. But, the book is essentially about two different cases in two different timelines. This case be confusing, but I learned pretty quick to read the chapter header (Rachel or Hannah).

I already have the second book, Dark Corners. I will eventually read that. But, this isn't my favorite line of writing

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lilawsahar's review

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I listened to the audio book and I highly recommend! There were three narrators hired to read the book and they all did a remarkable job. I love how the chapters alternated between Rachel’s POV (the podcaster), Hannah’s letters (the sister of a tragic incident), and Rachel’s podcasts. Hannah’s letters had me at the edge of my seat every time. I loved how the two cases were tied together and the whole time I was thinking “who was Jenny’s murderer?”.

I can’t wait until the next book!!

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bookshelf_al's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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kashcraft's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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kkoeller7's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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cassielaj's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

I cannot give this book a star rating. While the writing was good and the mystery compelling, this was a really challenging book to read, and it deserves more nuance than a 1-5 rating. This story is heavy. It is graphically detailed at times. It is tragic and disheartening and just the tiniest bit hopeful. And I honestly think it’s important. This book treats rape and sexual assault victims and trials in a way I haven’t seen enough in popular media, especially in the thriller genre, which often sensationalizes tragedy. It explores the challenges and injustices of the justice system when it comes to trying a sexual assault case. It explores class differences and politics in a small town and shows how power can be abused. It explores the guilt that can come with doing nothing to help someone in a time of need, and it explores redemption from the horrors of the past. I want to recommend it because it’s a good book, but I don’t want to because it was heavy. If you choose to read this, go in with as much information as you can, and be kind to yourself while you read it.

From a thriller perspective, I did find it a bit predictable, but overall I thought the mystery was well paced.

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minimicropup's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Cathartic, critical, indignant.

We follow a podcast journalist as they cover an ongoing rape trial in a small-town while dealing with a potential stalker convinced their sister was murdered after being sexually traumatized and wanting our MC to cover the case on their podcast.
🇺🇸 Set in a fictional coastal town in North Carolina, USA

Narration 🔇: The narration was expressionless and monotone, so I switched to text. However, the text was also expressionless and monotone, so I don't blame the narrator.

Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐺🐕:

Realistic in how survivors of sexual crimes are re-traumatized by the black-and-white approach to legal proceedings.
Simplistic, robotic writing style. The dialogue is flat because we have no context. Did someone say "no comment" angrily, smirking, begrudgingly etc? It reads like a script with a textbook, flat writing style.
Potentially lacklustre commentary on sexual crimes. We get the worst-case scenario (obvious evidence of rape occurring + legal loopholes that entirely depend on what the jury believes). This story isn't new to you if you are a regular true crime consumer. The legal system is broken, but how can we fix it? This isn't touched on in this novel. Instead, everything that could go wrong does. That is okay and a meaningful, realistic narrative. Still, it was diluted because our MC was so distracted to avoid the depth of the issue. We are just told that it's awful instead of experiencing it for ourselves.
The podcast trope fails for me. Given in snippets that were anecdotes of the MC's life and not related at all to the case she was covering. But it's not like the case she covered was told to us from her POV earlier, either. She barely paid attention, and we didn't get much in the way of testimony; we were just told someone did well or didn't do well (lawyers, witnesses etc).
Frustrating MC. She has a critical job giving her listeners the details of crucial evidence in the trial. Still, she walks out of the court when a NURSE WHO EXAMINED THE VICTIM IS TESTIFYING to take a call on a side case instead of letting it go to voicemail.
Maybe just me, but it seemed like Rachel was trying to find a way to be as traumatized as the victims instead of reporting their stories.
Frustrating stalker. Hannah - who invested so much time and energy to get Rachel (our MC) to cover her sister's mishandled case - suddenly disappears and becomes uninterested once Rachel is willing to cover it. Hannah sends her self-centred memoir to Rachel instead of the evidence and background on why she believes her sister was murdered.

Mood Reading Match Up:

Direct commentary about the problems with the court and legal systems handling sexual crimes
Contemporary fiction with touches of courtroom attendance
Journalism (podcaster) investigation drama

Content Heads-Up: Rape (descriptions on page), Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death of a parent (terminal illness)

Format: Scribd Digital

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