ARC Review - The Storm by Rachel Hawkins
The Storm
by Rachel Hawkins
Release Date: January 06, 2026Genre: SuspenseAge Range: AdultGoodreads Avg. Rating: 3.87 stars
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3.5 stars
One thing I like about all of her books is the mixed media aspect, though it probably looks much better in physical format. I really do enjoy the author's writing style as well; it is just very easy to pick up and follow. However, it has also become quite easy to see the twists coming.
This book, in particular, was fun for its location. The story takes place in the fictional coastal town of St. Mendards Bay, Alabama. I felt the need to include fictional as from the descriptions of the beach to the nearby towns, I could see this place. It felt like a town I’ve driven through when going to Orange Beach. Being from here made the Southernisms cute things to nod your head to, for the most part. There were a few that seemed more played up than reality, but that could just be that Lo Bailey was playing up all of her personality anyway. Hopefully, these little bits of local flavor work for readers from further places as well.
For most of the book, we are solely following Geneva Corliss. The current owner of The Rosalie Inn. This lucky property has survived several hurricanes and been passed down through her family. While she cares for the inn, it was acquired with an ex-boyfriend who left her in debt and struggling to keep it going. Also causing her stress and debt is the care home that she had to place her mother in, who has Alzheimer's. The same mother who seems to have been the best friend to Lo Baily, the murderess. But she never told Geneva this. At the point we meet her, Geneva is forty and seems a bit lost with her life, other than to keep the Inn afloat.True to the fashion of Hawkins' other novels, this one is a split timeline. There are also multiple entries in the chapters themselves from different sources, such as a letter, a diary entry, or even a work-in-progress memoir. Many of these would focus on or be from Gloria “Lo” Bailey’s perspective. Then, every few chapters, you are sent back to a point when one of the big hurricanes hit St. Mendards Bay. Each hurricane chapter follows a different person. These are all women connected in some way to Geneva or the events of 1984.
The story itself wasn’t horrible. It’s just with this being a mystery/thriller, I would expect not to figure out many of the twists so early on. There was only really one thing that caught me by surprise at the end of the book. Also, that detail in itself didn’t make a huge amount of sense, as if the character had just done the thing, everything could have been different. An interesting thing I noticed was how two of the side characters were focused on.
With all the background information already known about Lo, it makes sense that Geneva would be a tad more suspicious about her. There were also signs of odd behavior at a later point in the story that make the theory plausible. However, from pretty much the beginning, there were also little things said about August, too. It made no sense to me that the main character couldn’t put the pieces together about his actions.
After reading this one, I am a bit conflicted. On the one hand, I do enjoy the writing. If even someone who doesn’t read a ton of mystery and thrillers can pick out the twists early in it seems like a bad sign. Going forward, I’m not sure that I’ll be picking up Hawkins' next book as quickly.
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| 3.5 stars |
One thing I like about all of her books is the mixed media aspect, though it probably looks much better in physical format. I really do enjoy the author's writing style as well; it is just very easy to pick up and follow. However, it has also become quite easy to see the twists coming.
This book, in particular, was fun for its location. The story takes place in the fictional coastal town of St. Mendards Bay, Alabama. I felt the need to include fictional as from the descriptions of the beach to the nearby towns, I could see this place. It felt like a town I’ve driven through when going to Orange Beach. Being from here made the Southernisms cute things to nod your head to, for the most part. There were a few that seemed more played up than reality, but that could just be that Lo Bailey was playing up all of her personality anyway. Hopefully, these little bits of local flavor work for readers from further places as well.
True to the fashion of Hawkins' other novels, this one is a split timeline. There are also multiple entries in the chapters themselves from different sources, such as a letter, a diary entry, or even a work-in-progress memoir. Many of these would focus on or be from Gloria “Lo” Bailey’s perspective. Then, every few chapters, you are sent back to a point when one of the big hurricanes hit St. Mendards Bay. Each hurricane chapter follows a different person. These are all women connected in some way to Geneva or the events of 1984.
The story itself wasn’t horrible. It’s just with this being a mystery/thriller, I would expect not to figure out many of the twists so early on. There was only really one thing that caught me by surprise at the end of the book. Also, that detail in itself didn’t make a huge amount of sense, as if the character had just done the thing, everything could have been different. An interesting thing I noticed was how two of the side characters were focused on.
With all the background information already known about Lo, it makes sense that Geneva would be a tad more suspicious about her. There were also signs of odd behavior at a later point in the story that make the theory plausible. However, from pretty much the beginning, there were also little things said about August, too. It made no sense to me that the main character couldn’t put the pieces together about his actions.
After reading this one, I am a bit conflicted. On the one hand, I do enjoy the writing. If even someone who doesn’t read a ton of mystery and thrillers can pick out the twists early in it seems like a bad sign. Going forward, I’m not sure that I’ll be picking up Hawkins' next book as quickly.
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