#MacmillanAudio Review- Dark Corners + an exclusive chat with author Megan Goldin

I'm totally fan-girling here and excited to tell you that I got to interview the FAB Megan Goldin as well as sharing my review. 
Enjoy!

ASIN: B0BJLC6NBJ
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release Date: 08-08-2023
Length: 10 hours-45 minutes
Source: Publisher for review
Rachel Krall #2
Buy It: Audible/ Chirpbooks

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:

This program features multicast narration.

"Narrators ... Samantha Desz and January LaVoy are ... perfect [in] Megan Goldin's latest thriller involving a true-crime podcaster and her coverage of a rape trial in a North Carolina town. Desz and LaVoy ensure that Rachel Krall and her podcast unfold in an authentic manner that depicts her as powerful and tenacious." —AudioFile on The Night Swim

"A gripping story that is equal parts shocking, unnerving, and thrilling. Goldin takes the ‘true crime’ trope to new and unexpected territory.” —Karin Slaughter, New York Times and #1 international bestselling author of Girl, Forgotten

Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster star of Megan Goldin’s acclaimed The Night Swim, returns to search for a popular influencer who disappears after visiting a suspected serial killer.

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 release date 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? And why was she visiting him in the first place?

When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel Krall’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems to only 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 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—identical to a tattoo Rachel had seen on Bailey’s hand—the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krall herself. Suddenly the 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.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

Interview with Megan Goldin:

 

Megan, Hi!
Welcome to The Reading Frenzy, I am a big fan and have read all your novels and I absolutely LOVED Dark Corners.
Thanks so much for your questions. I'm excited to be on The Reading Frenzy! I'm thrilled that you loved Dark Corners.
Here are my answers to your questions:

 

This is the second novel that you’ve featured true crime podcaster Rachel Krall
a. When you finished Night Swim (which was also FABULOUS by the way) did you know Rachel would star in another of your thrillers?
I didn't know for sure that Rachel would star in another thriller but I really liked her as a character and I felt like I wanted to go on a journey with her.  So I had at the back of my mind an idea that I'd feature her in another novel although I had no idea at that point what I'd write.

b. Do you think she could be back again?
Yes, Rachel will definitely be back again. I think she has a lot more to accomplish as a podcaster and in terms of her own life and goals. One of the things that I love about Rachel is that she is fearless but she also has a strong moral compass.

As with all of your novels when I started Dark Corners I could NEVER had imagined how it ended.
When you start a novel do you already know the end or is it sometimes a surprise for you too?
It depends on the novel. With some novels, I have no idea what's going to happen in the next chapter let alone at the end. With Dark Corners, I had a vague idea of how I wanted to end but without the specifics. Usually I try to let my characters lead me through the story. That was certainly the case with Stay Awake.

 

The plot of Dark Corners and your last thriller Stay Awake while are very different could both easily be front page news articles.
Where do your novel ideas come from?
Sometimes they come front page news articles! No, but I do read a lot of news. And I mean a lot of news. I was a journalist for many years and I am still something of a news junkie. Reading newspapers and magazines as well as substacks and blogs from all over the world certainly exposes me to people, places and issues  that I have not encountered in my own life/ This sometimes gives me ideas for my own writing.

  

While reading Dark Corners I was about to get whiplash with all the twists and turns.
How do you keep everything that’s going on in your novels straight during the creation process?
Mostly I keep it in my own head but occasionally I have to write it down on sticky notes just to keep track of everything. So I'll have a sticky note flow chart on the doors of my office so I can keep track. It's especially hard keeping track when there are multiple narrative threads.

 

There were some major sparks flying between Rachel and FBI agent Joe Martinez.
Since Rachel was a returning character was she more predictable to write than Joe?
 I hope that Rachel will never be too predictable but I certainly have a handle on who she is as a character. It was great fun building up Joe Martinez as a character and getting those sparks flying!

So Megan, do you have a set writing schedule while you’re working on a project or are you more a seat of your pants author?
 I tend to be a seat of the pants author but I think there's a lot to be said for planning and I am trying to do more of that when I write. The fun with writing by the seat of my pants is that I really don't know what's happening next so it makes the writing of the novel as suspenseful for me as it is for my readers. 

Thanks Megan for letting me pick your brain
Good luck with Dark Corners!

My Macmillan Audio Review:

Dark Corners
Megan Goldin
Rachel Krall #2

  

Megan Goldin’s latest thriller, Dark Corners, is creeptastic- disturbing and frightening, full of unexpected twists, dangerous turns and rollercoaster emotions that will keep readers/listeners interest from page one until the jaw dropping end and featuring Rachel Krall, the star of Night Swim.

Rachel is back and better than ever helping to solve another crime(s). However, in this read Rachel is more defensive than she seemed in Night Swim, now she’s got plenty of good reasons to be put-out, and one big reason is the cryptic fed Joe Martinez. As the story progresses the audience will once again see the kinder gentler Rachel and even experience some sparks flying between Rachel and the FBI agent. As usual Megan gifts her audience with one heck of an edgy and spellbinding tale this one is told from two POVs, Rachel’s and a rideshare driver named Thomas McCoy that is interspersed with a haunting Rachel Krall podcast of murder and mayhem.  Megan will make her audience wait a long time until she leaves enough clues for readers to reach that ah-ha moment that will finally make every monstrous piece fall into place. Fans of Lisa Gardner, JT Ellison and this fabulous author will find it impossible to put this novel down.

Narration:
Samantha Desz and January LaVoy take this novel to new heights by giving a realistic voice to every emotion and scene. Brava!

 

When, Terence Bailey, a suspected serial killer is due to get out of prison and his only visitor in six years is a social media influencer who then turns up missing the feds are up against a wall and out of ideas, but FBI special Agent Joe Martinez has one trick up his sleeve and her name is Rachel Krall the star of the popular true crime podcast, Guilty or Not Guilty. But Joe isn’t aware of the Pandora’s Box he’s about to open.

Rachel Krall had plans for a short break between projects, that was until she was literally woken up by the FBI who had a small favor to ask. With little explanation Rachel is asked to fly to Florida and interview an inmate who’s about to be released. And oh by the way she’ll need to sign a non-disclosure before they’ll talk to her; now her interest is really piqued so Rachel agrees to the terms and learns that while Terence Bailey is in prison for robbery he’s always been suspected for a string of serial killings and that a few days ago social media influencer Madison Logan visited Bailey and then disappeared without a trace. And they need Rachel to try and get Bailey to spill some beans.

 However, when the interview doesn’t get agent Martinez the answers he wants, he simply thanks Rachel and tells her to go home and forget the whole thing.

There are a few things that get Rachel’s craw and one of them is to pique her curiosity then shut her down. And it seems luck is on her side because Rachel’s been invited to the same influencer conference that the missing influencer came to Florida for. So, win-win she can investigate Madison’s disappearance and look into why the cops seem to think that Terence Bailey is a killer. And oh another win is that agent Joe Martinez is NOT happy.

 

 

About the author:
MEGAN GOLDIN worked as a correspondent for Reuters and other media outlets where she covered war, peace, international terrorism and financial meltdowns in the Middle East and Asia. She is now based in Melbourne, Australia where she raises three sons and is a foster mum to Labrador puppies learning to be guide dogs. She is the author of The Escape Room, The Night Swim, and Stay Awake.