Release date: August 8, 2023
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Synopsis:
Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison for breaking and entering, though investigators have long suspected him in the murders of six women. As his freedom approaches, Bailey gets a surprise visit from Maddison Logan, a hot, young influencer with a huge social media following. Hours later, Maddison disappears, and police suspect she’s been kidnapped—or worse. Is Maddison’s disappearance connected to her visit to Bailey? Why was she visiting him in the first place?
When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems only to exist on social media; she has no family, no friends, and other than in her posts, most people have never seen her. Who is she, really? Using a fake Instagram account, Rachel Krall goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference, where she discovers a world of fierce rivalry that may have turned lethal.
When police find the body of a woman with a tattoo of a snake eating its tail, the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krell herself. Suddenly a target of a monster hiding in plain sight, Rachel is forced to confront the very real dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the internet.
Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster star of Megan Goldin’s acclaimed Night Swim returns to search for a popular social media influencer who disappeared after visiting a suspected serial killer.
Review:
I was really excited to be back in this world, the first book in the series was a solid read for me and I was looking forward to seeing what Rachel was up to. One of the things I liked most about the first book was the podcast aspect, it was really well done and I wanted more of that than what was given here but that’s a minor gripe. The first quarter of this one was really good for me, strong pacing and an intriguing plot but things did slow down for the middle sections quite a bit. Normally that would bother me but it actually didn’t this time, maybe it was because I enjoyed the influencer plot line or maybe I just liked seeing the growth of Rachel’s character but it did work pretty well for me. The suspense part of the story was great and some of the smaller twists came as a surprise to me, definitely higher tension in the very ending that bumped up my rating. If you liked The Night Swim I think you’ll like this too.
Overall rating: 4/5
Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.
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