Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Dark Corners

This thriller combined serial killers with an Influencer conference and a true-crime podcast. I enjoyed the combination of serious crime with the absurdity of influencers.

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

“Always know what you’re walking into. Dark corners can be danger points.”

This book brings us back into the world of true crime podcaster Rachel Krall. Instead of taking place in a court room like the previous Rachel Krall book ‘Night Swim’, this one has us following Rachel as she goes undercover to assist the FBI on a case.

Terence Bailey was arrested for breaking and entering. However, police also suspect him of multiple murders even though they have never been able to dig up enough evidence to charge him. These suspicions become stronger after a prominent social media influencer, Madison Logan, goes missing right after visiting Bailey in prison. Now Terence Bailey is set to be released in just a few days, Maddison Logan is still missing and since Maddison is a ghost outside of her social media persona, the FBI is lacking leads. The FBI doesn’t want to see Bailey released so they reluctantly call in Rachel Krall to help with the investigation. Now it’s a race against the clock to find Maddison and to also try to find proof that Bailey was connected to the murders that took place prior to his jail sentence. One more thing the investigators need to find out: who is working with Bailey because he definitely isn’t working alone.

Rachel uses an old Instagram account to imbed herself in the heart of an influencer conference to learn more about Maddison Logan’s world and the people who had contact with her last. Things are definitely darker when the cameras aren’t on. Rachel discovers rivalry, betrayal and secrets lurk in this world of influencers. Who is telling the truth? Who can she trust?

Rachels acuity, attention to detail and keen sense of intuition her helps her uncover truths and facts that many others were unable to discover. The fact that she has this uncanny ability to engage people in conversation and make them want to spill their guts to her certainly doesn’t hurt her investigation.

Rachel seems to be a bit spicier in this one, often having clipped answers when someone puts her in a position that makes her uncomfortable. Even with that, I still found her to be a lovable character. Her overall kind nature and want to help is endearing and her inquisitiveness and demeaner just makes her likeable. She is smart and sees things that most others don’t. And she is very brave-maybe to a fault in this one!

I liked the addition of the FBI agent Joe Martinez. He was a great supporting character and I really enjoyed what he brought to the story. The chemistry between him and Rachel was great. I hope to see Joe in future Rachel Krall stories!

Critiques- I don’t really have many!

There were some duplicative statements throughout the book that I felt was unnecessary. One example of that is Fringe… ‘a man with a floppy fringe and horn-rimmed glasses’; a few pages later ‘her boyfriend with the floppy fringe and eyeglasses’; one page later ‘her boyfriend, sporting a floppy fringe and Clark Kent style glasses’; and yet again a handful of pages later the fringe is mentioned once again. Very repetitive and definitely not needed on back-to-back pages. We get it…. He has floppy fringe and glasses! =]

There was a spot where it appears the wrong pronoun was used. ‘Another had photographed herself sipping a whiskey in a snifter glass as he floated in the lagoon-sized pool’. I would think it should be himself/he or herself/she or themself/they.

Praise- Overall-another great book by Megan Goldin.

I was hooked from chapter one. “I’ve been looking for a predator. It turns out that a predator has also been looking for me”. Powerful statement and really drew me into the story. I just wanted to know what happened next. I am not super big into influencers personally, but even with that said I found the world of influencers in the book a great location for betrayal and deadly competition.

I loved night swim. I thought being in the court room was a fun way to amplify the drama. But I also loved the new perspective of Dark corners. Having Rachel involved in the investigation was a different approach that added excitement in totally different way! Megan has a way of making you want to keep reading to find out what happens next.

“The scariest monster is the one that hides in plain sight.” If you truly think about this statement and what it means- it’s truly horrifying. Monsters can be anywhere. They can be anyone. You might cross paths with them and not even know how close you were to danger. A brilliant depiction of how ‘unseen’ monsters can be-at first glance.

Rating

5 stars-I absolutely would recommend Dark Corners. It’s a great, fast read that keeps you engaged from the first chapter. Hope we get the privilege of more Rachel Krall books in the future!

~Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this fantastic book!~

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