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.

The Night of the Storm is a solid debut by author Nishita Parekh. A family shelters together during Hurricane Harvey in Houston, and in addition to dealing with a life-threatening storm, they are dealing with a murderer as people start to die. We see the events through the eyes of Jia Shah, who has moved herself and her son Ishaan to her sister Seema's large house in Sugarland, to ride out the storm. Seema and her husband Vipul and their daughter Asha have asked Vipul's brother, his wife, and mother to join as well.

I knew several people who lived through Harvey and some were devastatingly impacted, so I had great interest in reading the story. The author does a good job of showing some of the stresses within an American Indian family, combining the traditions with a more modern way of life. I also thought the story of Jia's divorce was navigated skillfully, giving various revelations which you will just have to read to understand. I did think the mystery itself was a little muddled and unbelievable at points. Having said that, I found the ending pretty satisfying.

The author shows promise as a mystery writer and she certainly picked an interesting point in history in which to base her book. I can imagine that with future tellings her stories will become even more polished and nuanced. I rate this a solid three stars and I enjoyed reading it.

I went into The Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh with zero expectations and I have to say that what I got was a very pleasant surprise! This was a slow burn to be sure, but the end more than made up for it, and that last chapter?! Honey. 👀 I didn't mind the slow build, and I had a nice time getting to know the various characters in the novel and a few of the slimy things some of them were up to. Not all is easy to read no matter how vague, so I do recommend checking out triggers before you head in.

The audiobook was well executed, and though there wasn't anything super special about it, I did love the narrator Soneela Nankani. This is not the first time I have heard her narrate, and I have never once not loved her narration for a single thing. The majority of the story is told from Jia's viewpoint, and Nankani was completely perfect for her and the book as a whole. There is plenty of family drama and surprises to be found in The Night of the Storm, and I thought this was a fabulous debut novel. I will definitely pick up whatever Parekh writes next!

A delicious slow burn. Jia is stuck at her sisters house during hurricane Harvey when a stranger dies. Was it a mistake or is there a murderer in their midsts?

This was a great mystery! I definitely suspected everyone! I do think I don't love how dev and Jais relationship got wrapped up at the end. He is after all a pedophile and that was weirdly glossed over but other than that liked it.

I'm always down for a locked room thriller and The Night of the Storm is just that. I enjoyed this one and found all of the cultural information really interesting as well.

Usually, I wouldn't say I like mysteries but I loved this one. It was amazing. Thank you to the author for making this book

This was a great debut for a new author in the Thriller genre. I loved the storm premise of the story. The family drama was juicy. The ending packed a last-minute surprise that I didn’t see coming.

**Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to review this book in exchange for an honest review.**