Good books not only present thrilling plots and relatable main characters, but they also provide readers something additional to consider. Books like Megan Goldin’s “Dark Corners” shine a light on the fake world of social media while engrossing us in a desperate attempt to stop a serial killer before he can kill again.

Fans of Megan Goldin have met Rachel Krall, a true-crime podcaster, before, in Goldin’s book, “The Night Swim.” But if you don’t remember that one, or haven’t read it, no worries. There are references to Rachel’s past successes, but there is absolutely nothing that is missing for first time readers. In this gripping novel, Rachel is asked to fly to Daytona Beach, to the state prison there, to meet with one of the prisoners who is suspected of being a serial killer. One of the FBI agents asking her to drop everything and do this is Special Agent Joe Martinez, and they carefully provides just enough information to hook her as they reel her in. Rachel and Joe meet at the prison, where he gives her more information.

At the same time, there’s a conference in town for social media influencers, and one of them, Maddison Logan, has disappeared. Just before her disappearance, she had visited one of the inmates at the prison, Terence Bailey, who was convicted of burglary but suspected of several killings. He is due to be released in just a few days. The FBI and Rachel know that if a kidnapped person isn’t found in the first few days, her chances of being killed are far greater, so there is an urgency to their actions.

Goldin is a master puppeteer as she presents false flags and red herrings galore. But each one serves to illustrate something important in this very clever mystery. At the heart of the story is what social media influencers will do to get their audience and keep their audience. Through the clever setting at the conference, Goldin is able to show how those influencers, or “content creators,” as she says they prefer to be called, get those perfect shots and stunning videos. Suffice to say, those beautiful posts are not candid but rather carefully curated and meticulously planned both pre- and post-filming.

While the lifestyle of an influencer might seem to be simply amazing, there’s a lot of work that goes into those perfect posts. And there’s the real fear that any negative press or responses might cause a loss of followers, which will, in turn, lead to a loss of income. And really, who knew that some of the most followed influencers make a LOT of money? Enough to support a very lavish lifestyle. But it’s all fake. The professional photographers, the retakes, the planning. One photographer/boyfriend of an influencer complains to Rachel that he hasn’t eaten a hot meal in years.

Rachel attends the conference to find out what she can about Maddison, and it’s through her narrative that we see the tin foil reality of the glittery diamond posts on social media. She uses an old account that isn’t connected to her current persona as the podcaster. She wants people at the conference to open up to her, which they very well might not do if they think she’s investigating.

The story is told in three parts. There’s the narrative with Rachel and her investigation, there are chapters which are cleverly written as the transcript from Rachel’s podcast as she shares the information she’s collected in a surprisingly informative and emotional format, and there are the shorter chapters, a narrative that centers around Thomas McCoy. We aren’t sure who Thomas McCoy is, and we don’t know where he fits into this whole mystery, but he’s certainly an unpleasant character, to say the least.

Goldin keeps the suspense at peak tension as we grapple with the question of serial killers — are there one or two — and missing influencers and wanna-be influencers, and mothers grieving over their missing daughters. That’s still another important theme in this expertly plotted novel — the families of the missing. At one point Rachel comments, “We’re so desensitized to evil…that we forget about the victims. Not just those they kill, but those they leave behind.” The mothers, the fathers, the siblings, the friends who all grieve for the person they loved who is now either dead or missing. Goldin also points out the missing white woman syndrome as she demonstrates that it’s a real thing. “When a young middle-class or upper-class white female went missing, it was front-page news. That wasn’t the case when the missing woman was a person or color, or poor. It also wasn’t the same for missing boys and men. Those missing people didn’t capture the imagination of the public or the media in the way that a missing blond-haired white girl from an affluent family did.” And ain’t that the truth?

Read “Dark Corners” for the wonderful plot, the relatable characters, and the suspenseful twists. Think about the issues that are presented in these pages regarding social media and the expectations that all the perfect posts create; the fact that when people of color or foster kids or children of low “status” go missing, the police wait before investigating even though they know that in missing person cases the first few days are the most important. They wait, often with tragic results as Goldin so ably points out. I plan to keep this book for use in future book clubs because I think so many of the issues that are presented are real and important. They must be discussed and considered. And doing so while reading this wonderful thriller is the delicious icing on the cake.

This book was first posted on Bookreporter.com.