*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review*

Great locked room mystery - highly recommended!!

The Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh is a thriller novel filled with some suspense and a lot of family drama. The story in The Night of the Storm is a stormy take on a classic locked room mystery featuring a multigenerational Indian American family.

Jia Shah’s life has been uprooted quite a bit lately after going through a divorce and becoming a single parent. Now just as Jia is having problem’s with connecting with her son they both must pack up and evacuate from the incoming hurricane.

The last place Jia wants to be heading is to her sister Seema’s massive house in Sugar Land but the hurricane is giving her no choice if she wants to keep herself and her son safe. Jia is worried that Seema’s husband has been a little to forward lately and with enough on her plate with her ex the close quarters with the entire family may be a bit too much to take.

The Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh is one that certainly started off pulling me right into the setting and story and I wish that I could say I kept up that excitement all the way through. I think this one was just layered with a little too much of the drama and not enough of the thrill for me. It almost felt as if it was all just a little too too much if that makes sense at all without me going into details. By the end I just felt this was an ok novel but not one that totally wowed me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

The Night of the Storm is a locked room mystery with elements of family drama, a few twists, and an atmospheric setting. I did enjoy parts of this book more than others. I really liked the unsettling atmosphere that was developed and the look into the dynamics of an Indian-American family. However, I found most of the characters to be totally unlikeable, even the main character, Jia. I just felt like she made a lot of decisions that didn't make any sense, and, as a mother, I felt that some of her parenting choices were a little out there. I did enjoy trying to figure out who the murderer was and how it was all going down, but this wasn't my favorite book. I will pick up more from this author in the future, however, as I think this book showed a lot of promise for any future books she writes.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC!

I had high expectations for this book but unfortunately, I guessed the twist and that kind of ruined it for me. I did enjoy the authors ability to tie together the mystery and family relationships. Overall, this was a good book.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book as an ARC.
What a great book and idea to base this story in the midst of one of the big hurricanes in Houston. Living in Houston myself, this book brought the story so much closer to me.
I especially also loved the author's explanation of some cultural background and tendencies/beliefs that I am aware of as I have friends from India, but for someone unfamiliar with the culture, this was a great eye opener!
The story itself built up just as the storm was gaining strength. I loved seeing the protagonist become more confident throughout the story and actually take advantage of that confidence.
The story itself had very interesting and unexpected twists and turns. When I thought I had things figured out, the story took a different direction and surprised me.
I totally loved this book and highly recommend it! 5 🌟 for me.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. I was looking forward to this locked room thriller, but it wasn't quite for me. I was expecting a few more thrills and chills than it delivered. It seemed the family was more intent on bickering with each other than anything interesting happening.

What would you do if you were not only trapped with your family, but found one of them dead? This nightmare situation becomes a reality for recently single mom, Jia Shah. In this locked room mystery with a focus on family, she must find the killer before they destroy everything she holds dear. A thrilling mystery with family at the center, The Night of the Storm is action packed. The characters were well done, even if I did want to yell at them and bang their heads together sometimes. The mystery itself was a little easy to figure out, hence 4 instead of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

This took a little while to pick up pace, but once it did, WOW. I couldn’t put it down and flew through it. The family drama, the suspenseful setting….it all worked well with some good twists. There are a few major typos (wrong character’s name in a huge reveal that had me really confused) but I’m sure that will be addressed before publication.

Thank you to Dutton and PRH Audio for the copies to review!

Set in Houston on the night that Hurricane Harvey blows through, this was a locked room thriller that I could not pass up. I really enjoyed this one, it kept me guessing for most of the book and the hurricane was a nice element thrown in that only added to the tension already building within this multigenerational Indian American family. Jia Shah is a single mom that is forced to evacuate, and really has no choice but to go with her son Ishaan to her sister, Seema’s house for safety. Except it’s the last place she wants to go. Vipul, her brother-in-law has been a little too friendly with her lately, and then Vipul’s brother and his wife show up there also, just making things worse. Grandma is there too, further helping to escalate tensions in the house and then oops someone ends up dead. No one is coming to help anytime soon, so they have plenty of time to sort things out, OR hide before someone else is dead.

This is a little on the slower burn side, but I did not mind, I loved the suspense building and it culminated in a very satisfying ending that is for sure. The audio was great, I thought it captured the elements of what the narrative was intending to do. What a great debut and I am definitely looking forward to seeing what this author writes next.

I wanted to like this more than I did. I love a locked room thriller and this had all the parts, but there was a lot of telling, and not a lot of showing. I didn’t understand the motivations of our main character, so I wasn’t sure if her actions were believable, naive, or over the top.

There were quite a few things that irritated me about this book...the wrong statements made about hurricane Harvey (I'm from Houston), and worrying about the grid going down again (which didn't happen until 2021...years after Harvey). Since all of this happened in the very beginning of the book, it might have caused me to judge the book harsher going forward, because I did not like the way everything played out. The characters weren't relatable, the reasoning for the events that take place weren't believable, and I found myself just wanting the book to be over.

Omg!!!! 😱 I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! It was very very very interesting and twisty!! I liked and would recommend it

The Night of the Storm centers around an Indian American family taking shelter at a family home during Hurricane Harvey in Houston. This is a thriller murder mystery with lots of family secrets. The book is told from Jia’s perspective, a disgraced divorcee staying with her sister’s family to keep her and her son safe. Her head is so full of worry about her ex-husband and whether he will take her son away from her that it was distracting from the other family secrets. And there were a lot of family secrets. The author kept me wanting more. I needed to know what was happening with this family, and I didn’t guess all the twists at the end.

⛈️ REVIEW: The Night of the Storm ⛈️

SUMMARY: Recently divorced single mother Jia Shah has had a bad year. After uncovering the truth about her husband, she flees to Houston with her 12-year-old son to be closer to her sister. But when Hurricane Harvey forces her to flee her apartment and take shelter with her sister’s extended family in a suburban McMansion, she soon realizes that the danger is closer to home.

This was an interesting one.

I feel like a lot of highly publicized domestic thrillers focus on white people and their problems, so it was refreshing to explore the genre from the perspective of a family of Indian immigrants. Money, class, and familial expectations were interwoven with the typical domestic thriller tropes of infidelity, isolation, and greed.

I am also a fan of locked door mysteries and enjoyed the dramatic tension of the rising water in the abandoned neighborhood.

One struggle I had was that I couldn’t sympathize with the narrator. Her situation sucked, but it felt like she just kept making it worse. She truly loved her son and wanted to do what was best for him, but instead of demonstrating that, I felt like she was kind of on his case all the time and it made it hard to like her. Also, one of the big reveals felt like a big red flag to me. If you have read this one, I want to discuss!

There were things about the book I liked and things that weren’t my favorite, but if you’re a fan of domestic thrillers, it’s something new and possibly worth checking out!

⭐⭐⭐.5

Great story line, I didn't have issues with trying to remember the characters or get names mixed up which can happen when someone is playing another person. I loved how upset Shannon was when the others were rude to people it showed she wasn't interested in being them but rather teaching them a lesson. I was loving the back and forth and how nasty the girls were it really let you feel for Shannon and made you feel like they deserved it. Hoping for a second book!

For a debut novel, this was pretty good. The ending was unpredictable, I didn't really know how it was going to end and there were multiple plot lines going.

All in all, this was a good debut novel. If you enjoy a locked room mystery, family drama, a whodunit, and secrets, then give this one a try!

As the flood waters of Hurricane Harvey creep higher, so does the tension in Nishita Parekh's new thriller, The Night of the Storm. A phenomenal debut thriller that will have readers hooked from the very first chapter, Parekh writes with a skill that belies her first-time author status. She skillfully weaves together an intergenerational story where the threat of the impending flood and the general pervasive air of fear that arises in the face of a natural disaster. The idea of being physically unsafe compounded with the growing realization that someone you thought you could trust is a killer, creates a sense of unease that will resonate with readers. It is so easy to imagine yourself in Jia's shoes as she fights to keep herself and her son safe. Seeing her work through the mystery and the clues presented to her despite her growing fear made for a compelling read of a flawed, but resourceful main character. Mystery or not I would be happy to read another story with Jia at the helm.

A newly single, Indian mother, Jia Shah, finds herself an outcast in her small community as she works to build a new life for herself and her teenage son, Ishaan, in the face of a bitter divorce. Jia works a job she hates, to pick up a son that feels increasingly distant, and keep an overbearing ex-husband off of her back. When a petition for a custody hearing arrives just as Hurricane Harvey is bearing down on Houston Jia feels every decision could be the one that cements her parental status as a failure. Desperate to avoid the overcrowded women's shelters, she accepts an invitation to stay with her sister in her hilltop suburb, hoping to ride out the storm in safety. She had no idea that the real danger she would face would come not from the torrential rain and winds of the hurricane, but rather from the very people she sought refuge with...

The Night of the Storm is the perfect pick for a spring book club read. As we ease into hurricane season across the southeast, especially. A read-alike for fans of Sarah Pearse's The Sanatorium, and Megan Goldin's The Escape Room, The Night of the Storm has all the makings of an instant classic. This novel will also be an excellent addition to any collection looking to diversify its collection of thrillers. An intergenerational Indian-American suspense novel represents an underrepresented niche of the thriller community and Parekh will catapult to the top of my "must purchase" list as she continues to write and release subsequent novels. Special thanks to NetGalley and to Dutton Books for providing an Advanced Reader's Copy of The Night of the Storm in exchange for an unbiased review. This is a must-read!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was filled with delightful twists and turns. Every time I thought I knew what was going on another twist would come. The characterization was perfection. This is definitely a can't put down book!!

Jia is a single mother who takes her son to safety as a hurricane threatens their town. They escape to their family in another city. Family drama ensues because of infighting and favoritism. Soon there is a murder and Jia becomes a prime suspect. An impressive suspenseful thriller, with exciting plot and witty characters.

Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Unfortunately this one did not work for me. I liked the initial set up of the book with the impending doom of the storm. However as it continued it became very muddled with the many different characters being introduced at the home. The author tried to add suspense by alluding to secrets over and over again and I think it could have benefitted from some of the secrets being revealed a little sooner throughout the book to keep it engaging. It got to a point where I just wanted to skim and speed read just to get to the end. The pay off didn’t seem worth it in the end.