Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
I honestly am shocked at how much I loved this newest offering by Hawkins. I did not care for “The Heiress” and thought there was too much going on in that book to really enjoy it. “The Storm” though has the perfect plot (who killed a Presidential hopeful in the 80s, his teenage mistress or a storm?) and the characters we meet are really intriguing. I found myself totally hooked a few pages in and didn’t put this down until I finished it. I also loved the ending.
“The Storm” follows Geneva Corliss, owner of a falling down inn in St. Medard’s Bay in Alabama. Geneva is wondering if she should just give up and stop trying to keep her family’s business going. When she is given the opportunity to host a writer, August Fletcher, who wants to stay at the inn for several weeks while he writes the story of Lo Bailey. Lo was accused of murdering her lover, Landon Fitzroy because he was about to dump her. Lo though says she didn’t kill Landon and never saw him the night he came back to Medard’s Bay. Geneva jumps at the chance and finds herself wondering if Lo did kill Landon, and what connection Lo has to the inn and her family.
The story really is the tale of not only Geneva, but of three best friends (no spoilers) too. Parts of the story are told by Lo, her two other best friends, and of course Geneva. I thought that the different points of views really did work and I wondered who killed Landon and why. You start to see what could have happened and why as you get further into the book, but I thought the reveals we got were done very well. It felt organic to the story and setting.
Definitely going to re-read this one in the future once the book is published.
I read this for Halloween Bingo 2025 “Psych” square.