This started out promising - single mother, Jia, is in the middle of a custody battle over her troubled adolescent son, has money issues, and is being harassed by her brother-in-law. All of this is happening as a catastrophic storm is getting ready to hit, forcing her and her son to seek shelter at her much more affluent sister’s house. With the brother-in-law, of course.
Unfortunately, it went downhill pretty quickly. Jia seemed to make one stupid decision after another, until it became almost impossible to sympathize with her. Then the plot (which seemed good enough in the beginning with the dysfunctional family dynamics) started getting more and more ridiculous - murder, scheming, backstabbing; pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.
Ultimately, a disappointment.
Thanks to #netgalley and #duttonpublishing for this #arc of #thenightofthestorm in exchange for an honest review.

** spoiler alert ** This locked-room mystery is the debut effort of Nishita Parekh, and a solid outing.

Jia Shah, newly divorced, has moved to Houston with her son, Ishaan, to be nearer her sister's family. As Hurricane Harvey bears down on the Texas Gulf Coast, the sister, Seema, urges Jia and Ishaan to leave their apartment and come shelter at her large home in a fancy suburb.

Also in the house are Seema's husband and daughter, her mother-in-law and brother-in-law and sister-in-law. As the storm waters rise, this extended Indian-American family (and one stranger) are stranded together. Is Jia's ex, Dev, lurking about, causing trouble? What's up with the stranger?

The pace of this novel is brisk, and I enjoyed the author's insights into the extended family dynamics and immigrant experience. With not one but two murders by the end of the book, I thought the plot got a bit over-complicated. But it was a fun read.

I received an early review copy from NetGalley.

This was the first book I have read by this author and I will be looking for more! I loved this book and the twists and turns!! I have considered this book one of my top reads in January! I would definitely recommend this book.

The Night of the Storm is a super tense read that focuses relationships gone awry, cultural tension, and lots of drama. I enjoyed the "lock-room mystery" trope, but I was disappointed with the characters, particularly Jia. I found her logic questionable, and she overall appears very weak (but will suddenly have a moment of strength or confrontation, and then go back to being relatively weak). I did appreciate the complexity of her situation and tension created for her internally as a mother with the pressure to always make the right decision for her son. Overall, this was a solid 3-star read for me.

The Night of the Storm is a thriller that you have to read for yourself to truly experience. I did find that the dialogue was a bit stiff- particularly at the beginning but the further I read, the smoother and more realistic it became. As Nishita Parekh is a debut author, I think this is a fair part of development and growth. I was able to look past this and continue the story and the little pieces of mystery kept me hooked. Thank you Netgalley for my eARC copy!

I was so intrigued by the unique setup of a locked room mystery set during a hurricane! unfortunately I left the book quite underwhelmed - I feel like a lot of it has to do with the marketing of it being a mystery. it mainly focuses on the family dynamics and drama and despite its shorter length it still felt super repetitive.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙-𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙢𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝘼𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙃𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙮.

I love a good claustrophobic locked room thriller so I had such high hopes for this book. It sounded so interesting with the story being set during Hurricane Harvey. Unfortunately, I have such mixed thoughts about this book.

I looked at the reviews on Goodreads before going into this book and they weren’t the best, but I still went into this with positive thoughts. The story starts off so strong and had me intrigued, so I was hoping maybe I would’ve loved this one and been in the minority.

Unfortunately, I feel like the story lost me somewhere in the middle and I didn’t love the direction it took, it felt too predictable.

I did, however, love that we follow an Indian American culture, I was immediately emerged in the story and the drama with this family. It did seem like more like a mystery with a huge side of the family dynamics, there’s topics in here that I didn’t really vibe with.

The twist at the end was such a disappointment. I feel like the story had a good pace up until that twist. It wasn’t too much of a shock as it’s way too predictable.

Overall, this was a solid thriller with its pros and cons. The mystery behind this family had me intrigued, I just didn’t love the way it ended. I loved how the hurricane affected the story and the concept. I’ll be checking out more from this author in the future!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Dutton for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!

Reading this book is a roller coaster, there are so many subplots in this book that at times it was hard to keep track but they kept me on the edge of my seat.

I will fully admit it took me some time to get into this one, our main character Jia is a little bit annoying in the beginning if I'm honest but by the end, I had a much better feeling of why she was the way she was and it all made sense.

Imagine being in the midst of a nasty divorce and an even nastier hurricane and you get the setup for this book filled with mystery, murder, and enough questions about who did what to fill an encyclopedia.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for providing a copy of this E-Book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton & Nishita Parekh for the ARC of The Night of the Storm.

Jia & Ishaan make the move from Chicago to Houston after Jia gets a divorce from her cheating husband. Houston is where Jia’s sister Seema lives with her husband Vipul & their daughter Asha.

Jia & Ishaan live in an apartment which is no place to be with the hurricane coming. Jia reluctantly takes up her sisters offer to stay at her house, but things go terribly wrong while they’re there. The new neighbor across the street, Rafael, shows up with a story that throws up red flags.

When Rafael & Vipul wind up dead, you already have an idea of who did it due to the clues earlier in the book. The story tends to drag on and is rather slow in the beginning so it’s one that’s harder to stick with and finish reading.

A very well done, disturbingly atmospheric thriller. I'm not the most culturally diverse individual out there so I sometimes struggle with stories deeply ingrained with cultural references, but the Indian customs referred to were very easy to follow and quite interesting. The background of a "storm of the century" scenario really added to the tension. Every character had the potential to be the "whodunnit" and misdirections and reveals did a great job of keeping you guessing.

Yet another reviewer favorite locked room mystery/thriller, Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh. With moving pieces to the puzzle, many characters to love or be outright suspicious of, all in the center of an almost world-shattering hurricane, who is the killer?? You barely get into it and already become cautious of who to trust. Plot pieces including divorce and suspected infidelity throwing even more doubt into the mix.

I find I really only had issue with the ending, and not so much about how rushed it appeared to be compared to the rest of the novel, but the characters’ ability to too easily forgive those who truly should not be trusted. Family does not constitute blind faith, but it may also speak to the difference in culture in this instance.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the chance to read this fantastic eARC!

In The Night of the Storm, Jia and her son are trapped in a house during a hurricane with several generations of family members. Chaos ensues, people die, and secrets are revealed. It's your typical locked-room mystery.

Overall, I thought this was a good debut thriller - it kept my attention (I listened to the audiobook) and was interested in the story. At times it was confusing keeping track of everything happening - it seemed like everyone was hiding 3-15 secrets, but I got the hang of it. I also liked learning more about Indian culture and the Hindu religion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a gifted e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book, but I guessed what would happen from the very beginning. I found the characters quite unlikable and they made very poor choices. The premise of the book was a family trapped in a house during a hurricane. However, they were told multiple times to evacuate before the situation got bad. Then of course, they ignore the warnings and assumed that they knew better. The main character, Jia, talks about making the right decisions for her son, but does the exact opposite at any given moment. I wanted to yell at her so many times and tell her to get it together! Especially with the whole ordeal with her brother in law, Vipul. That whole situation was entirely avoidable and she made some really bad decisions that directly affected her son. Overall, I was too frustrated with the characters to even begin to enjoy the story.

Being a resident of southern Louisiana, I am very aware of how intense hurricanes can be, and how that alone is a nightmare. This book coupled that with a double homicide though, and whoa! That ending! My anxiety increased the further I read into the book as the tension just built and built. I enjoyed the background scenes—flashes from the past and what happened with Vipul, or her son at school. Also that there was a character commonly talked about, the father Dev, who seemed to be a threat from afar when the real threat was nearby. The book coupled dealing with Mother Nature in a hurricane and your own people in a murder, and combined for one intense thriller!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the arc!

In yet another locked room thriller in Nishita Parekh's debut novel, this one involves a multigenerational Indian American family who find themselves stranded due to inclement weather. That is rather putting it mildly, as they are all under hurricane watch.

However, there’s a killer in the house. One of the family members is Jia Shah, who is six months divorced and is in danger of losing custody of her son. They take refuge at her sister-and-brother-in-law's house and Jia has to face her brother-in law Vipul. The two have an uneasy relationship, and this keeps Jia quite nervous.

Meanwhile, there is a death in the house, A murder, actually, and the number of people who could have been responsible is rather limited. Then factor in the tension between Jia and Vipal and readers have quite an interesting story.

Many thanks to Dutton and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

This locked room murder mystery is a nail biter! Jia is waiting out Hurricane Harvey in Houston at the large home of her sister Seema and Seema's husband Vipul. There is so much going on under the surface. Jia has left her husband and has taken her son Ishaan with her. Vipul has been calling on Jia, much to her dismay. Her fear of her ex husband taking her son is the main reason she is hunkering down with her sister's family. Jia is afraid of everything. I think a lot has to do with her Indian heritage and how she was brought up but she is afraid of her own shadow! Maybe she should be afraid. When a neighbor comes over, she suspects something is wrong. Then there are two deaths and nowhere to go with her own family even thinking she is the murderer. As the flood waters rise, so does the paranoia and suspense.

I have to say that I did figure out a major plot point early on but I kept thinking maybe I was wrong. I was into it. Great tension built throughout the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dutton Books for an advance copy for review.

Maybe because I had just read The Guests by Margot Hunt, which was a nearly identical premise, I was underwhelmed by this. Right away I suspected there would be trouble during the hurricane and I guessed who was bringing it. There was a twist near the ned the did bring some surprise. I definitely think this would be an enjoyable read for anyone looking for a closed door thriller.

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and Netgalley for the complimentary ebook.

I am a sucker for a locked room, isolated mystery/thriller with great atmosphere so I was very eager to check out THE NIGHT OF THE STORM, but unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations. While I understand that it's very realistic for a single mother who's concerned about losing custody of her child to be thinking non-stop about the possibility of losing custody and what she can do to stop it, that's not really what I want to be reading about in a locked room mystery. I wanted to get to the thrills, but even when those started to come, I didn't feel engaged with these characters and their reactions to presumed danger didn't feel realistic to me. Unfortunately this one didn't work out for me.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
Who doesn’t love a good locked-room mystery?! This was a fun debut that is centered around a family as they are all bunkered down together during a hurricane. The storm is not the only thing brewing as tensions rise between the different family members, and become increasingly toxic. Things continue to escalate between the family as they are stuck together riding out the storm, and someone ends up dead. This book leaves you asking yourself what would you do to survive?
This was a fun and bingeable read and I really enjoyed the characters and the dysfunctional family dynamics, although at times they all got on my nerves😅 There were a few twists, but they were rather predictable. Despite this, I had a blast reading this book, getting to know the characters and all the chaos that each family member brought to the table during the storm.

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞?
For fans of locked-room mysteries with some family drama, dysfunctional characters and plenty of chaos.

𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, Dutton and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was very drawn to this book by the cover and the blurb but unfortunately I could not get into the book so I DNFed it. It felt to me like the story never got going and it didn't hold my attention.

I do however think that everyone who gets a chance to read it should read it because we all have different likes and Point of views.