Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Dark Corners by Megan Goldin

9 reviews

brookiet1220's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

Compared to the 1st installment of this series this book fell flat for me.  The element of the story that was most lackluster was the podcast.  While it was nice to hear the nature sounds when she was in the wilderness with the park ranger, there was no catchy tag line that drew you in to that part of the story. The influencer angle of the story did not bother me that much.  I can see where the discussion surrounding this aspect of the story could be redundant after a while.  The romantic subplot with Rachel and Joe was unconvincing.  The ending was the best part of the novel.  The balance between a tense situation and a happier one made the pacing compelling.
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crbowman's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

Good book!  Also, a good author to read.
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haleysversion's review against another edition

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

3.5

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foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is the kind of book you want to bring to the beach with you. It’s a pop thriller that’s easily bingeable and keeps your interest throughout. With a Daytona Beach setting, you can feel the sand beneath your toes and the humid heat seep through the pages. I think this book really shines on audio, as there are multiple narrators and interesting musical stings to delineate the podcast Rachel from present Rachel’s internal monologue. January LaVoy I is one of my favourite narrators, so it’s always a pleasure to hear her do her thing.

While I liked this book, it wasn’t my favourite of Megan Goldin’s. So much of this book seems so unrealistic, so you really have to suspend your disbelief for some of the plot points, including the inciting incident. It’s also missing some of the journalistic intrigue that she brings to the earlier book in the series, The Night Swim. And I really didn’t like the parts about the content creators. I felt that the scenes came across as just moments to judge those who make a living on social media, which were shoehorned in without really adding much to the story.

I’d recommend this book to those who enjoy 
  • Books with podcast elements
  • Thrillers filled with red herrings
  • Beat the clock police procedural’s

Thanks Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for an advanced listeners copy of this one. Overall, I liked it, and it kept my attention throughout, having read it in under a week!
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bookshelf_al's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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kimveach's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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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ktdakotareads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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nrogers_1030's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Rachel Krall is back again! Dark Corners is a crime fiction thriller set in Florida. The audiobook is interestingly formatted  - multiple narrators, background music, etc. Those extra features made it a bit more realistic. The pace felt pretty slow until the last hour. That being said, the story was intriguing and it was hard to put down. I liked the additional drama that came with the influencers. Nice twists and turns. I recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an advanced reader copy of the book for an honest review. Any quote(s) used in my review have been uncorrected.
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julienicole1106's review against another edition

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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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