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.

I really liked this story set in Houston Texas during Hurricane Harvey, a hurricane that devastated many neighborhoods and businesses. The MC Jia is a divorced single mom, from India where divorces are looked down upon. She is trying to raise her teenage son, Ishaan, who is getting into trouble at school and whose father is now claiming she's not a fit mom. Very hard for a single mom to hear. There's lots of family drama, tension, and I didn't figure out who did what until it was very near the end. I also loved the little tidbit from Grandma at the very end. I want to thank the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for giving me an e-copy of this book, in return for an honest review.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked how this story was set up! It taught me so much about Indian culture that I feel like offer gets overlooked in books like this. There were parts that initially confused me a bit but after the first few chapters it was much easier to understand. If you like mysteries and psychological thrillers be sure to try this book out!

Content warning:

- Death
- Domestic abuse
- Fatphobia
- Hate speech
- Murder
- Racism
- Sexism
- Sexual harassment
- Violence

Jia Shah finds herself in a local HEB, trying to get clean drinking water as reports of a huge hurricane echo through Houston. She’s anxious about her ex-husband pushing for custody of her son, and nervous because she’s just moved to Houston from Chicago and doesn’t know anything about preparing for or surviving hurricanes.

Her sister, Seema, insists that Jia and her teenage son, Ishaan, come to stay with them. At first, Jia manages to resist her sister’s summons, but she eventually caves in and drives through flood water to get to Seema’s house. When they arrive, we find out part of the reason Jia doesn’t want to stay with her sister is her discomfort with Seema’s husband, Vipul.

Jia and Ishaan aren’t the only ones staying, as Raj, Vipul’s brother, and Lisa, his wife, arrive as well. Ishaan is tasked with babysitting Asha, and Jia does her best to avoid being near Vipul. The adults watch news about the hurricane while Jia nervously wonders if Seema’s house is going to flood. Vipul insists that because the house is up on a hill, and has a steep driveway, it won’t flood like others in the neighborhood.

Loud noises from the driveway alert the adults, who go outside to investigate and find Jia’s tires slashed. Jia suspects her ex-husband, who has been sending her cryptic messages, may be responsible, and she starts to feel more unsafe.

Just before dinner, a neighbor named Rafael knocks on the door and asks to be let inside. The other houses in the neighborhood have flooded, and he’s hurt, limping and nursing a bleeding wound on his hand. Though Vipul doesn’t particularly like this guy, he lets him into the house because it would be cruel to leave him outside.

Though Jia is initially worried and horrified for the neighbor, she begins to mistrust him when his story doesn’t quite line up. Raj and Lisa notice this as well, and the three make a plan to keep a close eye on him. After Seema gives Rafael a tour of the house at his request, they all sit down to have dinner together.

Seema leaves to tend to Asha, her baby, and while she’s out of the room, Rafael has a reaction to his drink. He’s allergic to peanuts, and when he starts to choke, he asks for his EpiPen from his jacket. They rush to the coat closet to retrieve the EpiPen, but can’t find it in the pocket. They try to call 911, but the hurricane has clogged the lines, and Rafael dies on the floor.

Everyone is shocked at this turn of events, and the men work to move the body into the garage. It seems like a horrible accident until Jia finds Rafael’s EpiPen in the trash, and realizes someone killed him intentionally.

When Vipul sends Jia a sexual photo, we find out why she’s been so uncomfortable around him—he’s misinterpreted her kindness for flirtation. She’s so overwhelmed trying to raise Ishaan on her own that she continually accepts his help, even when she realizes he’s lying to Seema about where he is.

When Jia heads to bed that night, Vipul comes to her room, apologizing for being inappropriate. Though Jia wants to accept this gesture, Vipul quickly shows his true colors by trying to grab her hand despite her protests. She slaps him across the face, and Raj comes across the aftermath, asking them both what is going on.

Vipul leaves her alone and goes angrily down the hall. A little while later, Jia goes to the bathroom to get a glass of water and hears loud noises coming from the study. When she goes to investigate, she finds that Vipul has been shot to death.

The house returns to chaos, with Seema arriving and finding her dead husband, and the others in the house follow suit. They all panic, believing someone has broken into the house and killed him, but after a short investigation, Raj points out that the window was broken from the inside.

Seema starts looking through Vipul’s phone to figure out what he was doing and finds the messages he’s been sending Jia. Jia tries to explain the truth of the situation, but Seema doesn’t believe her, claiming Jia had an affair with her husband.

The others in the house grow increasingly suspicious of Jia and refuse to let her out of their sight, but then the power goes out and the house starts to flood aggressively. Jia uses this to do more investigating, finding a paternity test on Vipul’s computer and a bloody print in the bathroom. She realizes Seema is the only one in the house with the motive to kill Vipul, since Asha isn’t biologically his.

Knowing she has to tell somebody, Jia texts Dev this information just before they are all forced out onto the roof to escape the flood in the house. At first, Seema is alone with Jia, and reveals that she’s been the one sending the texts and pretending to be Dev. She explains that she and Rafael have been having an affair, and that they had made a plan to get rid of Vipul on the night of the storm so Seema could be with him without going through a divorce.

The others join Seema and Jia on the roof, then we find out that Lisa has been working with Seema so she can get money for fertility treatments. Lisa takes Ishaan captive, but then he falls over the side of the house and Jia has to jump over to save him. The two are rescued by boats sent by Dev.

At the end of the book, Seema is in prison, Ishaan is seeing his dad again, and Raj has written a book about the experience of losing his brother.

I always like to start with what I like first, and the first thing I like about this book is the setting. I think placing a thriller in the midst of a hurricane is a good way to turn up the pressure automatically, without having to add additional plot points. The rain, wind, and threat of flooding set the tone and provide more stress for the characters as they navigate their lies and nefarious plans.

Vipul was a useful character for this story. We start to hate him right away when he demands tea from Seema, and again as his pride keeps him from protecting his family. He insists they stay in the house, and that there’s no way it could flood, instead of getting his wife and child to safety. Then, through his interactions with Jia, we see him sexually assaulting his sister-in-law. I felt these interactions were realistic and helped to depict how confusing and difficult real sexual harassment can be. Vipul knew that Jia needed the help, and used his power as someone with more time and money to take advantage of her emotionally.

As someone who doesn’t know much about Indian-American culture, I also appreciated the chance to see how those dynamics and interpersonal relationships may affect a thriller plot. For example, a lot of the conflict comes from Seema’s resistance of being cast out by the Indian community. As a divorcee, people may not respect her, but as a widow, the people in her community may be more likely to support, respect, and feel sorry for her.

My first criticism is for pacing. When reading a thriller, I want to feel like I can’t look away from the page, but there were several moments in this one where it felt like not a lot was happening for long stretches of time. I’d find myself getting distracted or wanting to skip forward in the story.

There were also a few times that the writing took me out of the story. Awkward phrasing or unrealistic interactions sometimes made it hard to suspend my disbelief.

In this thriller, we see so much of the conflict coming from the relationships within this family. Lisa feels tension as the newcomer who wants to prove herself, Raj is constantly facing criticism from Vipul, Vipul suspects his wife is cheating on him, Seema hates that Vipul doesn’t respect her and is in love with someone else, and Jia envies her sister for the family she doesn’t have.

So much of this inter-family conflict centers around the two sisters—Jia and Seema—and because of that, I wish we had a meatier relationship to watch fall apart. I wish we had more chances to see their closeness so it would be more impactful when Seema finally betrayed Jia at the end of the story.

All in all, I liked The Night of the Storm and I thought it was worth reading.

We’re following a multi-generational Indian family who is stuck in their house while Hurricane Harvey is wreaking havoc across Texas. As if a major hurricane isn’t bad enough, someone winds up dead in the house. The ensuing story is a mix of thrills, chills and what the heck just happened moments.

I don’t understand the mixed to negative reviews that this novel is getting. It’s a shame because it’s a really fun story. Yes, it takes a little bit of time to get to the proposed “thriller/killer” point of the story, but it’s integral to the story to build up story way it does. For a debut author it’s an impactful story and I appreciate reading about other cultures.

Many thanks to the publisher for the e-ARC.