The Night Swim: An absolutely gripping crime thriller you won’t want to miss (A Rachel Krall Investigation Book 1)
£0.90
She is the last hope for people seeking justice.
True crime podcaster Rachel Krall has come to Neapolis, a small seaside town being torn apart by a devastating trial. A local golden boy – a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness – has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief.
Used to being recognised for her voice, not her face, Rachel is unsettled when she finds a note on her car windshield, begging for her help. Twenty-five years ago, Jenny Stills drowned. Her sister insists it was murder.
Rachel throws herself into covering the trial, but the letters keep coming. As the past and present start to collide, Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases. The truth will change the course of the trial, and the lives of everyone involved.
An absolutely gripping thriller, featuring a true crime podcaster. Perfect for fans of Ashley Flowers and Riley Sager.
Praise for The Night Swim:
‘A blistering plot and crisp writing make The Night Swim an unputdownable read’ Sarah Pekkanen author of The Wife Between Us
‘You get the courtroom drama, a front-row seat to an influential true crime podcast, and the uncovering of decades-long secrets buried within a small coastal town. Read this book, you won’t regret it!’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Expertly written’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A slow burn, character driven thriller… horrifying, heartbreaking and brilliantly written. I can’t wait to read more books by this author’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I really enjoyed the dual timeline and thought using the different formats of podcast episodes, letters and first person narrative was very clever. This book tackles a lot of big issues within a gripping plot. Powerful reading.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review
‘Gripping and heartbreaking with an undercurrent of unease running through it… I couldn’t bear to put it down. So tightly plotted you don’t see the twists coming!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review
‘I absolutely loved it! If you love legal thrillers, secrets and podcasts, you need to read this.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review
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Additional information
| Publisher | Canelo Crime (13 Nov. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 4653 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 348 pages |
by MM Reviewer
The Night Swim is an unforgettable and unsettling psychological thriller involving the sexual assault and rape of 2 girl’s decades apart, but in the same small town of Neapolis. Although time has moved on, we see an imperfect justice system, but outside it we witness a society shackled with all the same prejudices, predicaments, and polarised opinions.
Rachel, a true crime podcast host, covers the controversial trial of Scott Blair, golden boy and Olympian hopeful, but finds herself drawn into solving the rape and murder of Hannah’s sister, Jenny, 25 years before.
In the present-day trial, a sixteen year-old girl, Kelly Moore, is being asked to describe, in detail, in public every violent, traumatic, and gruesome moment of that night on the beach, in the hope that maybe, just maybe, she will get justice.
In the case of Hannah’s sister, years before, the case is much more difficult. For it has been ruled as accident / suicide. Even Hannah has struggled to come to terms with what she witnessed that dreadful night on the beach. For she “.. didn’t know how to explain things that I was too young to understand” . Now she will not be silent, but no one will even acknowledge that a rape or murder had taken place. We learn that detectives at the time failed to acknowledge that the bruising on Jenny’s body was consistent with an attack, and no one sees the need to reopen the case.
We are drawn to the comment by one of the key people in the case “I might not look like much. And I may not have much. But there are a lot more dangerous people than me in this town. They wear suits and looks respectable, but there ain’t nothing respectable about the things they are willing to do to get what they want. Nothing, and no-one will want to take on one of the most influential families in Neapolis but “… sometimes a man has to speak up or be responsible for the repercussions of his silence”.
It takes a brave author to undertake a subject so sensitive, but exceptionally rewarding when they get it right. Because this novel cannot fail to open peoples eyes to the torment endured by the victims of sexual abuse and rape and the harrowing process of the court trial that ensues. For those cases that make it to trial. This novel reminds us of the ongoing violation that rape victims must endure to bring the guilty to justice. The actual rape, the rape kit test and then what they are subjected to during the trial – not forgetting an unforgiving public that might not agree.
It also highlights the dilemmas of not wanting the wrong people accused and how the power of the public can easily render the wrong person guilty. The presumption of innocence is a legal principle, dating back to the 18th Century, that guilt must be proven beyond reasonable doubt. “For it is better that ten guilty people escape than one innocent one suffer”. So, whilst we live with an imperfect system for rape victims, the author reminds us that at least we have a system, albeit one that needs to progress.
A thoroughly deserved and easy 5 star from me for an author that perfectly navigated their way through the trauma, the emotions, prejudices in such a sensitive way to create a superb and balanced work of fiction, whilst dealing with a delicate, emotional and sometimes controversial subject.
by Mr. S. E. Johnson
I recently accepted a challenge on Facebook to “read a book that was a Goodreads top read of 2020”. Now, I was going to use this as an excuse to read ‘The Guest List’ by Lucy Foley, which has been on my ‘to read’ list for a while and which was the overall winner of the ‘Mystery and Thriller’ category with a massive 73,605 votes. But there seemed no harm in having a quick look at some of the other nominations …
‘The Night Swim’ was the only other book I clicked on. I have no idea why. It was by an author I had never heard of, and this is only her second novel. It was voted into 13th place out of 16 nominations. Admittedly the cover is eye-catching, but no more so than some of the others. And whilst I did skim some of the other reviews, if I’m honest, I think that by that time I had made my decision already.
Call it instinct, then. Or providence, or divine intervention or anything you like. All I know is that I’m glad I listened. Because, oh, holy mother of Mary, this book is a blinder.
I read a lot of crime fiction. So this is by no means the first book I have read in which the story is centred around a courtroom drama, or one that features an investigative journalist as its main character, or one that deals with the difficult subject of rape. But I don’t think I’ve ever come across a book that combines all of these elements as well as this one does.
Rachel Krall is the author of “Guilty or Not Guilty, the podcast that puts you in the jury box”. She has set herself the challenge of attending a rape trial and broadcasting podcast episodes after each day’s court sessions. The accused is a successful swimmer with a promising competitive future. The accuser is a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl. The setting is a small town, where it isn’t quite the case that everybody knows everybody. But the chances are that any two people have at least one mutual connection. Which means that just about everybody in the town knows either the alleged victim – and even though she can’t legally be named, her identity is really no secret at all – or the defendant, and is quick to take sides. And with the aid of the internet and social media, their opinions can be shared with the world at broadband speeds.
We quickly learn though that actually, Rachel’s reporting isn’t entirely unbiased either. She has personal reasons for wanting to broadcast from this trial. And phrases such as “the victim – sorry, alleged victim” give away whose side she’s really on. Now if her role was as a police investigator, or a member of the jury, or even a reporter for an official news channel this could be a problem. But because she’s producing a podcast, she can get away with it.
And get away with it she does. Coupled with some beautiful writing, the result is a really, really powerful connection to both the storyline and the characters. Through the pages, I was sat in that court next to Rachel, listening to everything she heard and feeling everything she felt. Through her, I found myself looking for answers to some of the questions she asks. Why is the rape of a woman one of the few crimes where people question whether the victim should have taken more precautions? How is it fair that for a ‘fair’ trial to take place, the accuser has to live through every part of her ordeal all over again, but the defendant doesn’t have to say a word? And why would anyone choose to put themselves through this if their accusation was not true?
It also meant that I completely understood why, when Rachel finds a note left on her car windscreen, she took it seriously. The note was from ‘Hannah’, who claims that her elder sister Jenny was murdered in the same town 25 years earlier. It turns out that Jenny was the victim of a historical rape, and that there is a connection to the current case. Through further letters, and Rachel’s enquiries, the old case became every bit as real to me as the current one.
There’s another benefit to telling parts of the story via podcasts and letters. It means that some graphic content can be spared, without the story losing any of its power. Because the reader’s imagination is more than capable of taking the information given and filling in the horrific detail.
The setting is perfectly suited to the book, too. The town of ‘Neapolis’ is fictitious and I have never been to North Carolina in which it is based. Yet I could see the beach, the jetty, the boathouses and the footpath through long grass that are key to the story. I have also previously lived in a similarly-sized town in the UK, and know that if a crime such as this happened there, the attitudes and reactions of the residents would be exactly as Megan has described.
I have – luckily – not been personally affected by rape, and would not therefore want to suggest how reading this book might make you feel if you have. But I would understand if you found some chapters too much to bear.
I certainly didn’t find it a comfortable read. Yet I downloaded it to my kindle at about lunchtime yesterday and finished it within 24 hours, quite literally putting it down only to eat and sleep. The topics are dealt with sensitively, and yet are still raw. Some parts are brutal, yet overall it is – and this is an odd word to use, but I can’t think of another that will do – beautiful.
If this hasn’t conveyed how good I think this book is, there can only be one of two reasons. Either your tastes differ from mine to the extent that you probably won’t have read this review at all, or – and this is more likely – I don’t have the vocabulary. But if I enthused about it any more I would lose the power of coherent speech. I’d start to stutter and spout gibberish, and you’d probably think I was on drugs.
I can easily give a one-line summary, though. This is only the third book I have read in 2021. But I’m going to stick my neck out and say that it will probably feature in my top 5 at the end of the year.
by Steffiwinkle
All the feels with this book. Difficult subject to cover, and in this instance was done beautifully and very effectively.
As a woman, I felt outrage. As a mother, I felt terrified. As a human, I felt very sad.
The way the two parts of the story come together was very well done, I had already come to some conclusions and put some pieces together, but that took nothing away from the twists or the story as a whole.
I think this book is worth a read, but I am personally unsure who I would recommend it too… I think this kind of story is important and should be written about and read by the masses, but I know plenty of people that read for fun and would absolutely hate to read something this hard going!
For me, one of the plus sides was how quickly I completed it, this was not a book that sat around for long – (I think it took about 4 hours in bits and bobs to read, every time I had an opportunity I was reading a bit!) – if the book had dragged it would have been nearly as effective as the speed read I found it to be.
Written in an interesting way, in parts through the podcast, blog and letters, which I found kept it all quite factual and didn’t give the reader too many characters to really connect with – the old story involving the Stills family was moving, the Jenny Stills tale made me very sad, but because it was a story being told so much later than the events took place it was a sad nostalgic type feeling. The ‘new’ victim was described as K so much of the time that while you sympathized, you didn’t really connect on a deep level.
Good book. Read it!