Megan Goldin writes psychological thrillers in two modes: a two-book Rachel Krall series (order matters for the lead’s ongoing context) and standalones (any order).
If you just want the cleanest experience, read the Rachel Krall books in sequence and treat everything else as mix-and-match.
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Your simplest options
If you want a returning lead and “true crime” framing: start with The Night Swim (2020).
If you want a corporate, high-concept pressure cooker: start with The Escape Room (2019).
If you want a memory-gap, “I don’t know what I did” thriller: start with Stay Awake (2022).
The Rachel Krall series (read in order)
The Night Swim (2020): A true-crime podcaster covers a rape trial while anonymous messages pull her into a second, buried case, setting the series’ blend of public narrative and private danger.
Dark Corners (2023): A viral-true-crime story turns predatory in real time, forcing Krall to chase what the internet amplifies while protecting the people it targets.
Continuity note: You can read Dark Corners without The Night Swim, but Krall’s professional and personal baseline makes more sense if you start with Book 1.
Standalone novels (read in any order)
The Girl in Kellers Way (2017): A woman’s life tightens into suspicion and control as danger creeps closer than she expects, driving a domestic-noir story where the threat is both intimate and escalating.
The Escape Room (2019): Four coworkers enter a team-building “game” that becomes a locked-in reckoning, turning corporate ambition into a revenge engine with shrinking room to hide.
Stay Awake (2022): A woman wakes with no memory and handwritten warnings she doesn’t understand, pushing a breathless manhunt where her own mind is the most unreliable witness.
Date note: The Girl in Kellers Way is commonly listed with different years depending on region/edition; it’s broadly placed as her earliest novel.
Publication order (everything in one straight line)
The Girl in Kellers Way (2017): A woman’s world narrows into a domestic trap, where control and fear arrive in everyday moments before they turn violent.
The Escape Room (2019): A corporate revenge scenario locks four colleagues into a deadly “test,” forcing old choices to become present consequences.
The Night Swim (2020): A true-crime podcast collides with a courtroom case and a second hidden story, turning public attention into a weapon.
Stay Awake (2022): A memory-loss spiral becomes a race through the city, where clues are literal messages from the version of you who knew more.
Dark Corners (2023): Online obsession and real-world violence intertwine, forcing a reckoning with what “audience” can do to a case and to the people inside it.
Reading plans that actually match different moods
Plan A: Series-first (best if you like a continuing lead)
The Night Swim → Dark Corners → then any standalone.
Plan B: High-concept first (best if you want a quick hook)
The Escape Room → Stay Awake → then the Rachel Krall books.
Plan C: Calm completionist (least thinking, least whiplash)
Use the publication order list above.
Latest release status
The most recent widely listed new novel is Dark Corners (August 8, 2023). As of February 24, 2026, no later, reliably confirmed new Megan Goldin novel title and publication date is consistently listed across major public bibliographies.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.