The Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
The Night of the Storm is a debut novel from Nishita Parekh. Honestly, I’ve been a little scared to pick it up, because of the mixed reviews. However, I’m very happy to report that I’m part of Team Really Enjoyed It.
Sure, I see flaws, but at the same time, it worked for me. I found it entertaining. I loved the set-up that left me feeling claustrophobic and unnerved. I love complicated family relationships, and this checked that box extremely well.
In this story, we’re following Jia Shah, an Indian American woman who has recently separated from her husband and moved herself, as well as their 12-year old son, Ishaan, from the family home in Chicago to Houston, Texas.
This is a big deal in her traditional Indian family, and she’s definitely received blow-back stemming from her choices. In spite of other’s disapproval however, Jia did what she knew to be right for her son and herself. She wasn’t willing to live the rest of her life in an unhappy marriage.
It hasn’t been easy though, especially for Ishaan, who she worries about constantly. In fact, Ishaan has newly been suspended from school after being in a fight.
With all this going on, the last thing Jia needs to worry about is a mandatory evacuation order from their apartment building, but with Hurricane Harvey bearing down on the city, that’s exactly what they get.
Luckily, Jia’s sister, Seema, who lives in an fancy house not far away in Sugar Land, has invited them to stay with her and her family to ride out the impending storm.
Jia and Ishaan make it to the house just in time, where they join Seema, her husband, their daughter, Seema’s mother-in-law, as well as her husband’s brother and his wife. It’s a lot of people, but it’s also a big house. They’ll be okay.
Unfortunately, you put that many people together in a house, with severe weather blazing outside and no means of escape, you’re bound to see the tensions rise. Just as things start heating up inside the house, someone ends up dead…
Was it an accident, or is there a murderer amongst them?
For me, and this is completely my unprofessional opinion, I feel like this is more a case of people going into this expecting one thing and then getting another and feeling disappointed, than this being just a 3.21-star book.
I’ve been there many times myself. I get it. When you’re expecting an intense Thriller and you don’t get the thrills, or even necessarily the intensity, your disappointed, and potentially leave an average, or lower, rating because of it.
I really enjoyed this, but I went into it without any real expectations. I feel like this is an engaging Domestic/Family Drama, with an underlying Mystery subplot.
The gem in this for me was getting to know Jia and following along with her tumultuous journey. The storm and being trapped in the house were great bonuses, as I love those elements in any story, but yeah, the real hero of this is Jia.
She’s a woman who has made a very difficult choice and who has had fallout from that. She lost her home and her friends. She’s had to uproot her life.
She’s second-guessing her choices, while getting judged by everyone around her. She’s trying to do what is best for her son, and her own mental health, all while navigating the not always kind outside world. I think everyone can relate to this in one way or another.
When we meet Jia, with the storm moving in, she’s almost at wits end. Being trapped in the house, with these particular people, pushes her even further to the edge.
I like complicated families and this story definitely delivers in that area. I loved the set-up of the storm creating a forced proximity situation and I do feel like Parekh did a great job of revealing all the underlining things going on.
The murder mystery was interesting as well. There were quite a few people acting suspicious, so I did like being with Jia as she tried to figure it out. The more it progressed, the more unsettling it became, leading up to the wild conclusion.
For a debut, I think this was very well done. I think Parekh should be proud of their work and I will definitely be picking up whatever she writes next. Do I think this book deserves a higher-rating? Absolutely.
Thank you to the publisher, Dutton, for providing me with a copy to read and review. We love supporting new authors in this house, and I can’t wait for more from this one!