true crime podcast – Pleasant Nights

Title: Beneath Devil’s Bridge

Author: Loreth Anne White

Genre: thriller

I gasped out loud at one point in this book. And in a good way. Anytime that happens, you know it’s a good book. I’ve been a fan of Loreth Anne White’s for awhile now. So far, I’ve read A Dark Lure, The Dark Bones, and In the Dark. I have a few others on my Kindle that I’m look forward to. She’s one of my new favorite authors. When I saw my library had this one on order, I knew I had to request it, and boy, was I pleased with this one!

From Goodreads: True crime podcaster Trinity Scott is chasing breakout success, and her brand-new serial may get her there. Her subject is Clayton Jay Pelley. More than two decades ago, the respected family man and guidance counselor confessed to the brutal murder of teenage student Leena Rai. But why he killed her has always been a mystery.

In a series of exclusive interviews from prison, Clayton discloses to Trinity the truth about what happened that night beneath Devil’s Bridge. It’s not what anyone in the Pacific Northwest town of Twin Falls expects. Clayton says he didn’t do it. Was he lying then? Or now?

As her listeners increase and ratings skyrocket, Trinity is missing a key player in the story: Rachel Walczak, the retired detective who exposed Pelley’s twisted urges and put him behind bars. She’s not interested in playing Clayton’s game – until Trinity digs deeper and the podcast’s reverb widens. Then Rachel begins to question everything she thinks she knows about the past. With each of Clayton’s teasing reveals, one thing is clear: he’s not the only one in Twin Falls with a secret.

I am a true crime podcast junkie, so this plot was right up my alley. And even though Pelley confessed to the crime, some things just didn’t add up back then, leaving Rachel always to wonder what really happened. But with a confession…..how do the police ignore that? I really loved how all this came together. The story is told in past and present timelines. The ones of the past are from Rachel’s perspective, and the present ones are from both Rachel and Trinity’s perspectives. You follow the case as it unfolded back then, but those reveals are unraveled in the present day. Alternating timelines is a hard way to write, but this book handled it perfectly. And yes, the gasp was from a plot twist/reveal that I didn’t see coming. What a great book. I’ll definitely be recommending it to fellow thriller fans.

The Night Swim

I’m loving The Book of the Month. (feel free to use my code to join. https://www.mybotm.com/da1c17916444?show_box=true I’ve gotten some really great books that might not have ended up on my radar. Books like The Shadows, The Sun Down Motel, A Good Marriage, and The Guest List have been a lot of fun to dig through. The Night Swim joins that list.

From Goodreads: After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of 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 small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. 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 insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases 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?

This book is a “ripped from the headlines” type. Popular swimmer (think Brock Turner), nearly unconscious girl, true crime podcaster, etc, but the dual storylines of past and present were really what made the story interesting. Neither one really could have stood alone, but how they intertwined was great. There were a few plot points that were implausible (notably that a high school girl who was mostly sober not noticing that the soda she was drinking was heavily spiked with vodka) but overall the story was really good, and both plots left me guessing.