Quick Synopsis – The Night of the Storm is a new take on the classic locked room thriller that follows a multi-generational Indian American family who find themselves marooned in the house with a murderer during Hurricane Harvey.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Come Clean by Hilary Duff (I know, not great)

Publication Date – Jan. 16, 2024

Rating – 2.5 ⭐s

Review – I want to start my review by saying I am white, and there may be nuances of this book that I didn’t understand or misunderstood because I’m not Indian American.

The Night of the Storm focuses on Jia Shah, a recent divorcee who relocated with her son to Houston, Texas, for a fresh start. Even though Jia’s sister lives in Houston, Jia and her son Ishaan are having trouble adjusting to their new city. Of course, to make matters worse, there is a hurricane coming, and Jia is urged by her sister to shelter with them in their rich suburb.

When Jia gets there, she immediately notices something is off; the suburb seems abandoned. Sheema, Jia’s sister, assures her that everything is fine and that their house is safe because it is on a hill. Soon after arriving, Jia starts getting strange text messages from her estranged ex-husband. Jia is trying so hard to be the perfect mother and sister, but there are secrets all around her. From her son being suspended to her sister’s creep of a husband, she isn’t sure how she’ll survive the night. And of course, there’s then a murder.

This book wasn’t for me, but I think the author does have a promising career ahead of her. She did such a good job at really expressing her main character’s feelings. I felt genuine concern and claustrophobia when following Jia’s story. She felt so trapped in her life, and no matter what she did, it just got worse. In addition to good character work, I thought the depictions of and explanations of Indian American culture were great. There was enough exploration of Indian culture and colonialism without it being distracting or acting as info dumping. It really served to inform the characters’ motives and emotional states.

It’s hard for me to pick just one thing that didn’t sit well with me about this book without giving away the plot. But I’m going to try. I hate miscommunication tropes. A large part of this book could have been solved if at any point Jia had communicated properly with any single person. She is supposed to have a good relationship with her sister, but she never attempts to tell her how bad it was with her ex or any of her fears.

She was also so quick to jump on her son and believe the worst of him. Jia wanted to believe she was a good mom but never seemed to have faith that her son was a good person. Some of this could have been cultural, and I may be misunderstanding, but to me, it just made Jia really neurotic. And don’t get me started on the relationship between Jia and her sister’s husband. That guy was a huge creep, and Sheema knew it. Jia was a victim of his unwanted advances and it was icky.

The main thing I didn’t like is a huge spoiler. I’ll say this: there are no redeeming qualities for Jia’s ex. I wouldn’t let someone like that around my kid. The fact that Jia can offer any sort of redemption for him made me want to throw my book.

Overall, it was an okay book, and I loved the last chapter. There could have been some softening of Jia’s character and better communication. This one just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for the ARC!