This was the first book I have read from this author and I did enjoy the story. The book is about Jia, a divorced single mom, whom is in the middle of a hurricane warning and goes with her son to stay with her sister and brother in law, along with other family, to ride out the storm. While the storm rages on, people start dying, and Jia is trying to figure out who is the murderer and how is she going to survive to get her son and herself to safety.
This was a good book overall, however, some of the twists were predictable and I had wished it was faster paced and a little darker than it was. Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to those who enjoy a thriller with mystery, family drama and secrets, along with trying to survive a natural disaster.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and author fir the ARC of this book!

This book had me panicking and second guessing myself! A claustrophobic mystery/thriller set during a hurricane where a family must shelter together and try not to kill each other. Until someone actually does.

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The title and cover reeled me in. The beginning was promising, but it fell flat and the shock factor wasn't there. It was very predictable. It had storms, murder, family tension, but it did not grab me. I hated everyone.

The Night of the Storm by debut novelist Nishita Parekh takes place in Texas during Hurricane Harvey. The book follows Jia, a recently divorced mother of a 12 year old son Ishaan. Jia is just trying to make ends meet and make sure Ishaan stays out of trouble. When Jia recieves word that they must evacuate their apartment due to possible flooding from the strom. Seema, Jia's older sister wants her and Ishaan to bunker down at her house in Sugar Land. Against her better judgement Jia decides to go. As the flood waters keep rising and Vipul, Seema's husband keeps making advances at Jia she knows that she must tell Seema the truth or leave the safety of the house with Ishaan. When one of the guest's suddenly dies everyone in the house is a suspect, including Ishaan. This book had an unbeilvable twist at the end that I didn't even guess. Nishita Parekh gave an beautiful history of of the Indian cultural and how even living in America, women are seen with less worth. That surprised me the most. If you liked the the following books then you will love The Night of the Storm. The Guest List by Lucy Foley, Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson, The House Across the Lake and The Only One Left by Riley Sager, The Guest House by Robin Morgan-Bentley, and She Started It by Sian Gilbert.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

1.5 stars rounded up

This was marketed as a locked-room mystery/thriller. While yes, the characters were technically locked-in, it was more drama than either mystery or thriller. It had a really interesting layout and setting for a good mystery where all the characters are trapped and unable to leave due to a hurricane, and there were really interesting family dynamics that came up. However, due to the time jumps and fact that there was only one POV where it was clear Jia wasn't revealing necessary information (which can be fine if done well), I never felt connected to any of the characters and instead found myself annoyed by Jia and her actions. She was very judgey, yet hated that everyone was judging her.

Characters aside, I also found the writing style a tad annoying as well. Every chapter ended the same way, with a big suspense only for no payoff in the next chapter. There was so much tension in the house amongst the characters but nothing really seemed to happen. Even when there were murders it was over characters that weren't built enough to care about so it didn't seem like a big deal either. And the pacing was very slow. I feel like this book could have been at least 50 pages shorter because there were so many chapters that didn't have impact on the overall story. In the end, if this book was marketed as a family drama or something in that realm, it would have been more accurate.

The writing for this one was a little choppy at times, so it took a little for me to get hooked. The last half was exciting and suspenseful. The twists were sort of predictable (even the very last one, I predicted early on) and I found the idea of no one evacuating for the storm somewhat unrealistic. There was a lot going on beyond the murders and it was interesting to read about the Indian culture and expectations of women. Everyone being stranded in the house definitely added to the suspense and wondering who you could trust. For a debut novel, definitely recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! Review live now on GoodReads.

An enjoyable domestic thriller! A locked room murder mystery set in Houston during Hurricane Harvey. This debut novel, featuring an Indian extended family, touches on divorce, motherhood, family dynamics, and cultural pressures/expectations. The conclusion made perfect sense without being too obvious, my favorite type of thriller ending! The ending had me on the edge of my seat. A solid, entertaining thriller with a standout setting!

Thank you NetGalley and Dutton for the review copy.

I am a big fan of locked-room mysteries and loved the idea of a family trapped by a massive hurricane and facing the prospect that one of their number is a murderer. I was also drawn in immediately by the author’s warm introduction of believable people, an aspect that is often missing from such mysteries. It is bad enough to be caught up in a Category 4 hurricane, even worse when the family squabbles make being confined together so difficult, and adding a murder to the mix is REALLY tough!
I am not a big fan of family dramas, though, and as the book progressed I became a bit impatient as it was obvious that the family’ s many issues, like divorces, adultery, and parenting, were the focus rather than the mystery.
I guessed the solution to the mystery halfway through the book and was disappointed in the denouement.
As a result, I cannot recommend The Night of the Storm for dedicated mystery buffs, but the family drama was very well done and likely to please those who enjoy books about family dynamics.
Many thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN for this advance review copy.

3.75 rounded up to 4
First off, thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group/Dutton for the ARC in exchange for my review.
This is a debut author, it will be released January 16, 2024 and I found it to be a solid read. Was it this shocking thriller? For me, no. I figured out a bunch of it fairly early on. That being said, I did enjoy seeing the family dynamics and learning about the Indian culture. I enjoyed the “locked room” aspect of this as well, as it always adds more suspense to a thriller. One thing that I did notice, and it is probably due to the author being from Mumbai originally, was the use of British words for certain items-boot for trunk, mobile vs cellphone-but that may be me being nit picky! Most of the characters in this book, like most thrillers, were just awful! So don’t go into this thinking you will like the characters, or feel bad for them. Again, solid debut-enjoyed the setting and the fact that it was during a real event. Wish it were a bit more developed but I would check out her next book for sure!

DNF at 11%. I wasn't invested in the story enough to continue although I do like a good locked room story.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this opportunity!

I can’t believe this was a debut novel! It had such a professional vibe to it. I’m just so sad that the story wasn’t my favorite. I love locked room books but the story wasn’t enough to keep me interested, unfortunately.
But it was still a 3.5 stars read. I’m sure the right audience would fall in love with it.

A hurricane is heading for Houston and Jia's family is about to unravel more than she ever thought it could. Already feeling like a failure for divorcing her husband, she is convinced she is about to lose custody of her child. She is keeping secrets that are weighing on her and when she and her son take shelter from the storm at her wealthy sister's house, everyone's secrets are about to be exposed. A dead body, nowhere to go in the storm and too many secrets make for an interesting read.

Thank you to Dutton publishing for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was sent this ARC back in August and my biggest regret is that I did not have time to dive into it right away. But reading it during the fall and rainy season here added a little something that reading it during summer may have lacked.

This thriller slowly builds in tension to its surprising conclusion so perfectly. Is the killer in the house, out of the house? Is the threat the level 4 hurricane barreling towards them or the lies they have all been telling each other.

Put this on your reading list for January and preorder it now.

Once I started reading I could not stop and had to see if Jia and those closest to her would make it through The Night of the Storm.

This book wasn't for me, but I think the author does have a promising career ahead of her. She did such a good job at really expressing her main character's feelings. I felt genuine concern and claustrophobia when following Jia's story. She felt so trapped in her life, and no matter what she did, it just got worse. In addition to good character work, I thought the depictions of and explanations of Indian American culture were great. There was enough exploration of Indian culture and colonialism without it being distracting or acting as info dumping. It really served to inform the characters' motives and emotional states.

It's hard for me to pick just one thing that didn't sit well with me about this book without giving away the plot. But I'm going to try. I hate miscommunication tropes. A large part of this book could have been solved if at any point Jia had communicated properly with any single person. She is supposed to have a good relationship with her sister, but she never attempts to tell her how bad it was with her ex or any of her fears.

She was also so quick to jump on her son and believe the worst of him. Jia wanted to believe she was a good mom but never seemed to have faith that her son was a good person. Some of this could have been cultural, and I may be misunderstanding, but to me, it just made Jia really neurotic. And don't get me started on the relationship between Jia and her sister's husband. That guy was a huge creep, and Sheema knew it. Jia was a victim of his unwanted advances and it was icky.

The main thing I didn't like is a huge spoiler. I'll say this: there are no redeeming qualities for Jia's ex. I wouldn't let someone like that around my kid. The fact that Jia can offer any sort of redemption for him made me want to throw my book.

Overall, it was an okay book, and I loved the last chapter. There could have been some softening of Jia's character and better communication. This one just wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC!

First of all, if you don't like family drama there's a chance you won't like this book. For me, I found it added to the plot and I enjoyed casting suspicions on practically every character. I do wish there was more of a thrill from the locked room approach to this murder mystery. I liked the ending, especially the very final part where it's revealed who murdered who and why. I didn't see that coming. I also enjoyed reading about the culture within the family and how someone tries to fit in and what challenges they might face. All in all I enjoyed the book, I rated it five stars because I was eager to turn the pages to find out what happened next.

I FLEW through this one!! I loved everything about it. The locked-room style, the characters, the twists, the turns! This is one of my favorite books I've read this year. I'm recommending it to everyone!

Everyone has a secret tonight.

This is a good solid 3⭐️ thriller.

Jia and her son are taking shelter with her sister and her family while hurricane Harvey is raging outside but it’s not only the storm they need to worry about.

This was a good medium paced thriller. I was very intrigued with where this story was going. You could feel the internal struggle with this family trying to keep their Indian culture while living in Texas.

I did not get the twist which wasn’t a big shocker but still good. What was a shocker was that last chapter 🤯 Nishita Parekh knows how to write an ending!

This book just wasn’t for me. I’m really not sure what it was about it but I just could not connect with it.

It must be incredibly hard to write a book, especially for a debut author. It also seems like this novel would have been better pitched as a family drama with some suspense elements, than as a mystery. Readers who enjoy interactions between characters will like it but, as a mystery lover, I wasn’t impressed. There is too much information about the characters’ lives, feelings and experiences and, even then, I didn’t connect with anyone enough to root for them. All the details about Indian culture and cooking made me think to myself, wow, that’s fascinating, but took my attention completely away from the plot. The few twists were predictable and I wasn’t impressed by the ending. As mentioned above, readers who are looking for these types of plots with tons of family drama will enjoy this book but, unfortunately, it didn’t catch my attention as a mystery.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#PENGUIN GROUP Dutton.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dutton and Nishita Parekh for this arc for free in exchange for an honest review.

I tried really hard to get into this. I just couldn’t finish it, I was not invested in the characters or the plot. The writing didn’t feel right, like something didn’t click to keep me on the edge of my feet. DNF at 48%