PK the Bookeemonster: Don't go there

Monday, August 28, 2023

Don't go there

Monday

Over the weekend I read THE NIGHT SWIM by Megan Goldin. 1st of 2 in Rachel Krall series.

Ever since her true-crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall has become a household name—and the last hope for people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help. The new season of Rachel's podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season 3 a success, Rachel throws herself into her investigation—but the mysterious letters keep coming. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insist she was murdered—and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody in town wants to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases—and a revelation that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved. Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?

Published 2020; 351 pages. 4.5 stars. I have the second one on hold at the library.

Currently reading HAWKE by Ted Bell, 1st of 12 in series featuring Alex Hawke, British Lord, jet-setter, and free-lance secret operative out to save the free world.

A direct descendant of a legendary English privateer, Lord Alexander Hawke is one of England's most decorated naval heroes. Now, in the Caribbean on a secret assignment for the American government, Hawke must disarm a ticking time bomb --- a highly experimental stealth submarine carrying forty nuclear warheads that has fallen into the hands of an unstable government just ninety miles from the U.S. mainland. But Hawke's mission is twofold, for he has returned to the waters where modern-day pirates brutally murdered his parents when he was a boy --- after a lifetime of nightmares, will vengeance be his last?

Published 2003; 596 pages.

Also currently reading MURDER AT THE ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS by Andrea Penrose. 5th of 7 in series featuring The Earl of Wrexford, a scientist, and Charlotte Sloane, a satirical cartoonist working under her dead husband’s name, in Regency London.

One advantage of being caught up in a whirl of dress fittings and decisions about flower arrangements and breakfast menus is that Charlotte Sloane has little time for any pre-wedding qualms. Her love for Wrexford isn't in question. But will being a wife--and a Countess--make it difficult for her to maintain her independence--not to mention, her secret identity as famed satirical artist A.J. Quill? Despite those concerns, there are soon even more urgent matters to attend to during Charlotte and Wrexford's first public outing as an engaged couple. At a symposium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, a visiting botanist suffers a fatal collapse. The traces of white powder near his mouth reveal the dark truth--he was murdered. Drawn into the investigation, Charlotte and the Earl learn of the victim's involvement in a momentous medical discovery. With fame and immense fortune at stake, there's no shortage of suspects, including some whose ruthlessness is already known. But neither Charlotte nor her husband-to-be can realize how close the danger is about to get--or to what lengths this villain is prepared to go...

Published 2021; 353 pages.

Reading update:

The schedule for my reading sprints has changed starting this week. I was contacted by Sarah from The Bookish Knitter to swap a day. So mine are now Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoon.