This is how you do a locked-room mystery! I just finished and I am stressed! This book had it all for me. I love fictional stories based around real weather events.

Jia is the single mom of Ishaan and fairly new to the South, as she fled her life in Chicago for Texas to be close to her sister Seema and her family. Her ex was a bad dude and she wanted to get herself and her child away before he could gaslight some more.

Trading in snowstorms for hurricanes, Jia is at a loss for what to do when Hurricane Harvey comes barreling toward them. Her sister offers for Jia and Ishaan to weather the storm at their house, which is higher on a hill, and let's face it- it's nicer than Jia's apartment.

Jia is reluctant because she's had some encounters with her brother-in-law Vipul that are less than savory and she just doesn't want to deal with it but she puts her big girl pants on and braves the awkwardness for her son's safety.

Soon after arriving, Jia can see that things might not be safer in this home after all and when the lights are out and the water is rushing in, there's no way to escape a killer, and worse, everyone there tonight has something to hide- including a mysterious visitor.

This book is why they say reading expands your vocabulary. I learned a lot of new words in this and a lot about the Indian culture, which is always interesting. I enjoy hearing about the customs and traditions of others. It was a tad wordy and that did make it take a little longer to get through but I wouldn't change it. At first I thought it was ostentatious but after a while I saw it for what it was, which is intelligent.

The first half moves a bit slow, we really get our characters backgrounds. Though it is slightly atmospheric due to the storm and environment, it's mostly character-driven. All of that Intel came together later on and I was happier for having known it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review! Can't wait for more from this author.

Jia feels like her life is falling apart. First her divorce, then her son getting into trouble at school. Now a massive storm has descended upon her hometown, and she and her son go to take refuge in her sister’s house.

But there are complications amongst the family. As the water rises, someone dies, and Jia worries it might have been murder. She must somehow stay above the riding tides and keep her son and herself safe, while figuring out just what is going on.

Parekh does an amazing job of making the book feel claustrophobic, taking what is essentially a mansion and making it feel like the tiniest apartment. She does this through her beautiful use of language, and also through the sheer amount of characters trapped in the house, and the increasingly terrible storm right outside the massive glass panes.

The mystery is also an excellent one. I did not call any part of it, it was like the rug was pulled right out from under me. I would recommend this book.

Now I love a good locked room mystery and I have to admit, I don't think I've read one set in a rainstorm that was exciting! This being a debut; it was a little rough but really not to bad. I would def read another book by Nishita Parekh. That said, there were a few things that really dropped the rating. We got a lot of side story on Jia and her struggle going through a divorce which I honestly could've cared less about. I think some early passages about it and helping us understand why she chose to bunk with her sister but after that it really didn't add anything to the story. The coming and going of characters felt a little off to me as well. The grandma sleeping all the time, like we got to understand that, but then what's the excuse for the two kids. No way a teenager and a young kid is going to sleep that much especially with a hurricane raging outside. Either put them into the story or not. Now, with all that said, I honestly liked the reveal of the final killer. Wasn't expecting that!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I got this book due to the fierce atmosphere of the cover and the plot centered around Hurricane Harvey. However, I wanted to DNF this book a few times, but I still wanted to see how the author would conclude the story. Nothing about this book felt realistic, and the writing was not engaging enough to enjoy the book. I did like how the author, Nishita Parekh, took her own experiences as a single Indian American while Hurricane Harvey hit her home as inspiration for this story. I also loved the sassy grandmother as it reminded me of my grandfather, who was notoriously famous for having no filter. I think ending the story with the last chapter from the grandmother’s perspective was a good call. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone but I appreciate Parekh's effort for her debut novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Penguin Group Dutton for giving me a copy of the book.

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book!
And the fact that it really represented the struggles of a single mother.
Falsely accused of a crime, the fmc has to solve prove her innocence and keep custody of her son.

It really covered the struggles and fears of losing custody and struggling with things out of your control.

I didn't love the ending, and it kind of threw the pacing of the book off for me. But it wasn't a bad read.

Hurricane Harvey is about to make landfall in Houston. After a divorce, Jia, a single mom, is trying to raise her 11 year old son, Ishaan, to the best of her ability, but she is often in need of help from her sister, Seema, and her family. Encouraged to head to her sister’s home to ride out the storm, Jia and Ishaan head to Seema’s exclusive neighborhood. When Seema’s brother and sister in law show up, the house, though large, is full of people. Soon a neighbor joins them, but something is off about him, but what? Everyone has a secret in the house and when there’s a death, Jia isn’t so sure it was accidental. As the night progresses someone else will die, is there an intruder in the house or is one of them a cold blooded killer? As the waters rise and the storm howls around them no one is safe! Full of complex family dynamics and cultural issues, this book was not an edge of your seat thriller, but more of a domestic drama until the end when just like the storm around them everything came hurtling to an unexpected finish. Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

In this locked room mystery from a debut author we follow a multi generational Indian family surviving Hurricane Harvey in a mansion in Houston. Jia is just trying to keep her son safe from any storm threat and goes to her sisters house seeking shelter but soon the whole family will be stuck inside with a murderer.

I was really excited for this book because of the premise, cuz I am a regular hurricane evacuee and I love a locked room mystery. But this unfortunately was not that great. You could tell it was a debut by the writing style. I knew halfway through the book who the bad guy was, and the first half was so boring. All we saw was Jia being what I thought was kinda mean to her child. Her sister was mean to Jia and Jia’s brother in law wasn’t that nice either.

Overall the unlikeable characters made this a difficult read for me. I found the ending thrilling and liked the impending atmosphere of the storm getting closer and closer. The second half of the book was a lot faster of a read for me.

I really liked this book in the very beginning, because I’m a divorced mom too and I really feel that whole, “I’m a frazzled mom trying to make ends meet and take care of my rambunctious boys” vibe. Sadly, I spent the whole rest of the book wondering what the heck was wrong with everyone while simultaneously remembering why I’ll never move to Texas.

I won’t pretend to know anything about what life is like for an Indian-American, nor for anyone in an arranged marriage. I won’t pretend to know what life is like for any immigrant or person of color. I’m white. Privilege is the word of the day. I chose to have kids and I chose my spouse (bad choice, but hindsight, right), which at least one of these couples didn’t really have an opportunity to do. Everyone in this book is miserable in their own way, for different reasons. (Except Raj, because Raj is pretty awesome).

(Yes, these are unhappy families that are unhappy in their own ways but they all belong to the same family cluster so let me talk).

The story here is actually very cool and lends a whole lot of added suspense to what would be an otherwise standard domestic thriller premise. The titular storm adds to the atmosphere, amps up the stress, ratchets up the anxiety, and ups the stakes at every turn. It’s a great plot device and I love how it was employed here.

Sadly, that was about the only thing I loved out of this whole thing, because it seems like no one in this book has a brain. Anything more on that point would be a spoiler.

I wish I liked it more. I just didn’t.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Due to the 3 star or lower rating this review will not be posted on social media. Thank you.

When I first saw this book was coming out I was desperate to get my hands on it! As someone that lived in Houston during Hurricane Harvey this was a perfect thriller for me.

I thought that Nishita Parekh did a great job of capturing what it was like to be in the Houston area before and during the storm and it really brought me back! While my parents house that I was staying at didn’t take on water, it really was hit or miss depending on where you were at the time!

I also loved the tangled web that the family in the book had and how much drama was happening during the storm. Without power, hurricanes can be boring so at least the drama kept everyone on their toes!

I definitely think this one is worth a read if you enjoy thrillers!

On the surface The Night of the Storm is right up my alley. I’m a big fan of locked room thrillers and having people trapped due to extreme weather is a wonderful plot device. It’s also one I can personally relate to. Over the years I’ve been through quite a few hurricanes. And as I’ve been living in Houston now for decades, Harvey just happens to have been one of them. Oh man if I could tell you about my experience with Harvey (and Ike)…it was crazy. Not as crazy as what the characters in The Night of the Storm went through but it was an intense experience. Now the core story of the family being trapped in the house with a potential murderer is a solid story and fairly well told, but not without some issues. I thought at times the pacing was a little inconsistent and I never truly clicked with the Jia. But I believe this was author Nishita Parekh’s first novel, and as such I was impressed enough that I’d be willing to check out her next book. I’d like to thank PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of The Night of the Storm.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R33U1J3UMYIH4E/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

The twists were fantastic. I thought I had it figured out but, was pleasantly surprised to see I was wrong. Jia and Seema had such a bond and such love for their children. Goes to show what a mother will do to protect their child. Trying to figure out who the murder was kept me turning page after page to see if I was right.

I was all keyed up to love this book because it’s about a family staying through a hurricane in Houston, which is a place I go often. However, without spoiling anything, I do not find it at all believable that someone -or multiple someones- would use a hurricane to conceal a crime. All these events happened with the hurricane in the background, the power didn’t go out, the family kept cooking, the windows didn’t shatter. It just required a suspension of disbelief that I don’t have as a gulf coast resident.

That said, if one is willing to set those aspects aside, it was a nice locked room thriller with a tidy ending, I rate this 3.5 stars.

Jia Shah is struggling. Since her divorce, she has been trying her best to keep her and her teenaged son Ishaan afloat in a new city. Jia moved them to Houston to be closer to her sister Seema and her family, but Ishaan has been having trouble making friends at school, even getting into a fight and getting suspended. Jia wants to raise him to be a strong, thoughtful man, but her husband is now threatening to fight her for custody, ratcheting her anxiety up on top of all her other problems. She has been working on a statement that her sister could sign, to help show Jia as a good, caring mother.

And if that’s not enough to juggle, Harvey is coming. The hurricane is all over the news, with weatherpersons and government agencies and landlords suggesting that evacuating is the safest option, and then raising those suggestions to orders. Jia has to move herself and her son out of their apartment, but she doesn’t know where to go. When Seema invites them over, Jia decides to go there, barely beating the flood waters to get there safely.

Going into Seema’s house, Jia is reminded of how much more successful her sister is. It’s a beautiful house, and on higher ground than all the nearby houses. But as Jia looked around at the neighboring houses, she didn’t see many others on the street. There were almost no lights on, no cars in the streets, and it’s not until she sees Seema’s husband Vipul that she understands that everyone in their neighborhood also evacuated, and it was just Vipul’s ego that kept them there, acting like his house couldn’t be breached by the storm.

But Vipul is exactly the reason Jia didn’t want to go to Seema’s in the first place. He had started sending Jia inappropriate texts, and she does not want to be alone with him. He makes her uncomfortable, and she doesn’t need any extra drama in her life. She just wants to build a good life for her son and live the life she wants.

Vipul’s brother and sister-in-law also join them, and with Vipul’s mother living there and Seema and Vipul’s toddler daughter, it’s a full house. They keep a close eye on the news reports and watch as the rain comes down. They see a big tree get knocked over down the street and understand this storm is far more dangerous than any one of them has seen before. But they also think they see someone outside of their house. There are reports of burglars out in the storm, taking advantage of everyone Vipul refused to abandon his house and leave it vulnerable to thieves.

But as time goes by, Jia realizes just how vulnerable she is at Seema’s house. She has to keep an eye on Ishaan, to make sure he doesn’t make any mistakes in front of her family. She has to keep Seema on her side while keeping Seema’s husband at arm’s length. She also has to keep her and her son safe from the weather and from any strangers who may be trying to get in the house.

And later Jia realizes she also has to keep them safe from a murderer. Because there are no other people around, and someone in the house has ended up dead.

Will Jia be able to keep herself and her son safe through the storm, or will the flood of family secrets that finally breaches their walls take them all out?

The Night of the Storm is a debut thriller from author Nishita Parekh, and it is filled with anxious moments and domestic tension. Nothing goes right all night long, as lies and secrets keep family members in the dark while the hurricane makes escape impossible. The circumstances twist tighter and tighter, leaving readers in a vice, while making you care so much about these characters and root for their (well, most of their) survival.

I truly got sucked into this story from the beginning. There is a lot of information about Indian relationships, about the balance of power in a marriage and in the extended family, and all that informed the story, drawing me into these characters hearts and minds in a deeper way. This is one of the most surprising books I’ve read in quite a while, and I genuinely hope that lots of readers find it as well. Just read the first few pages and see if you can walk away. I could not. And I was so glad to ride out the storm with Jia and the other survivors.

Galleys for Night of the Storm were provided by Dutton, with many thanks.

It starts up a bit slow for me, but others may like it this was. It’s a good stead pace where you will need to pay attention to the story to know what is currently happening.

There is a lot of mystery going on and so much drama. It was kind of a lot at the same time. Not that it was all over the place, it was just a bit different from what I’ve been reading.

I do believe this book was created with love and that the author put her all into it.

I really enjoyed this debut thriller! The Houston, TX area during Hurricane Harvey in 2017 by itself was suspenseful enough, but add in secrets, toxic family relationships, and suspicious dead bodies like Nishita has in this story and it becomes a page turning locked door murder mystery!

I recommend checking out this book to anyone who loves a locked door mystery and multicultural family dynamics.

Thank you @duttonbooks for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

(This same review was shared to the Barnes & Noble website)

Locked room mystery during a hurricane - figured this was going to be a win for me. Unfortunately I just could not connect with the characters in the story which made caring about the outcome difficult. I felt the beginning was slow and too bogged down with details. Some may really like this one, it just wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy!
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Listen, ya girl completely forgot this book published today and realized it at the eleventh hour. So I only had one day to finish it which I not do well read-racing. But let me tell ya, I FLEW through this one ! Absolutely 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐥-𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞-𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐭!!! Thriller lovers, DO NOT miss this one!

The novel takes place in 2017 during Hurricane Harvey in Texas. Seema, married to a rich husband, offers shelter to her other sister, Jia, who is barely making ends meet with her son after a horrible divorce and a custodial evaluation that forces Jia to constantly maintain the image of a perfect mother while the world around her is crumbling. To make matters worse, Jia is also harassed by Seema’s husband to have an affair with her. So Jia accepts Seema’s sheltering with dread only because she is left with no choice due to the hurricane. Jia needs to protect her son first and foremost. It’s only one night after all.

But the night has other plans for Jia. Traditional family values will be tested to the extreme and there will be a price to pay with death for some involved.

That ending?? 😱WOW, chef’s kiss!

The author meshes in locked-room thriller trope with social commentaries of family dynamics in Indian immigrant households with ease. As an immigrant from India, I related to the sacrifices and new set of challenges that immigrants feel while simultaneously thriving in a new environment with Indian values we were raised with.

I’m going to be thinking about this thriller for a long time but If you’re someone who doesn’t read thrillers, I’d still encourage you to pick up this book for the cultural aspects alone. The Night Of The Storm also makes for an excellent book club pick!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin, Dutton for the eARC of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

I really tried hard to love this one. The book starts off real fast which is always a good sign but it slows down just a few chapters in and it becomes it’s almost painful to read. The book is very predictable which isn’t always a bad thing but when you pair that with a slow moving plot it just becomes tedious.

Also not one character in this book is likeable. I really wanted to root for Jia but her helpless act got real old fast, especially when you see that she is capable of the same scheming as the other characters.

Overall this one was a miss for me.

As someone who loves thrillers but also lived in Houston during Harvey, I wanted to love this one.

I instantly thought I would feel connected to the story, given the fact that I had first hand experience of the disaster that that storm was - I’m talking I was flooded out of my home while already going through a high risk pregnancy, the national guard came to our neighborhood via boats AND HELICOPTERS to rescue us and our entire neighborhood was underwater for more than a month. Anderson Cooper toured our neighborhood, went down my street by boat, and all I could do was watch on TV to see how bad it was because I couldn’t access my neighborhood. Anyways…

My hopes were too high and I think a lot of that is my fault. I didn’t feel like it really did the storm justice, and some of the timelines didn’t truly align with Harvey and the news casts really were not worrying about burglars until after the storm had ended, not the night it hit. Also, in the first chapter it’s talking about the son being kicked out of school but school didn’t even start for another month because of the storm anddddd who wears flannel shirts in 100° weather in Houston?! 🤣

Ok, so that aside, I couldn’t find it in myself to like any of the characters, the storyline was a bit flat and it was so slow. The end picked up but by the time it started to pick up, I was already frustrated with how much I invested into it for it to be so slow and dry.

If you like slow buildups and locked room mysteries, you would probably still enjoy this one. Many thanks to Dutton Books for my eARC.

Nishita Parekh’s domestic thriller/mystery The Night of the Storm takes readers into an upscale Sugarland, Texas home owned by Seema and Vipul, Indian immigrants, as Seema’s divorced sister Jia, twelve-year-old son Ishaan, Vipul’s brother Raj, and Raj’s non-Indian American wife Lisa arrive to weather Hurricane Harvey as it ravages the greater Houston area.

With an increasingly threatening present, clearly marked flashbacks to fill in the past, plenty of family drama, and a good mix of Indian immigrant culture, debut novelist Parekh succeeded in holding my attention. When a mysterious neighbor arrives seeking refuge and describing his attack by an intruder, family members start fearing for their lives. Suddenly someone dies, and the situation goes from bad to worse as the storm continues and everyone remains confined to the house.

If you enjoy multicultural novels and suspenseful domestic thrillers filled with family secrets, Nishita Parekh’s The Night of the Storm should keep you entertained and on the edge of your seat while increasing your knowledge of Indian immigrant culture.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton/Penguin Random House for an Advance Reader copy.

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