This is probably a three, three and a half star read, objectively (if there even is such a thing). It’s a little rushed, a little flawed, a little incomplete-feeling. But it hit me at the exact right time and mindset, so I had a great time and I read it super fast.
The second book to feature Goldin’s podcasting reporter, Rachel Krall, Dark Corners kicks off when she is summoned to Florida by the FBI to meet with Terence Bailey, who is 48 hours away from being released from a six-year stint in prison. Rachel is the FBI’s only lead for the disappearance of influencer Maddison Logan, who visited Bailey only days earlier and then went missing. The catch here is that policy believe that Bailey is a serial killer responsible for the deaths of many young women in the Daytona area, although they could never pin the deaths on him, so in light of this his getting out of prison soon is a problem. The book is framed by a podcast special report that Rachel is recording after the events of the book, sort of ruining any suspense that Rachel will be in any kind of danger, but also at this point who expects the titular character in a series to bite it two books in? No one. So the framing device really worked for me.
This was an incredibly fast read; in classic thriller fashion I just kept turning those pages to see what would happen next. I liked that there were multiple POVs and that Goldin used the killer’s POV to create suspense in the narrative, since we already knew he was the guy. My two main takeaways here are that I thought the first Rachel Krall book, The Night Swim, was a much more impactful and meaningful story. First, this book was much more of a traditional thriller without the focus on anything like the rape culture the first book explored so well, and that is the book that will stick with me emotionally, whereas this one will probably be in and out fairly quickly. And second, the climax was over SO QUICKLY. This is a problem I noticed in her last book as well. I’m all for an efficient climax that doesn’t overstay its welcome, but you’ve got to wallow a little. You just spent a whole book getting to this place, live in for a while! And this book doesn’t, at all.
All in all, a fun thriller and I will read more books in the series, but not a favorite.