Rachel Hawkins has been an author I’ve read either first or almost first for the last couple years, since that’s just how her books time out for releases. This year was no exception, and The Storm was my fourth finished book of 2026 (on the fourth… oops? Lol). Thanks to the publisher for sending an early copy to keep my New Year’s weekend booked.

The Storm [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] has a more unique storytelling structure than her past books. Instead of your standard POVs, this story is told through one direct POV, news articles, and exerpts from a book and other writings. I’d call Geneva our main character, but the story also heavily focuses on Lo, but as we get her perspective through writings, not in her head, I lean toward Geneva as protaganist. Geneva owns an inn in a town that’s seen several hurricanes over the years. Somehow, the inn has remained, despite these terrible storms.

In the wake of one such hurricane in the 80s, a governor’s son was found dead, but his father refused to believe it was the storm. He insisted that Landon’s teenage mistress, Lo, killed him. Now, in present day, Lo and a journalist are back in town, staying at Geneva’s inn to write the story of what really happened that day. Lo maintains she didn’t do it, but inconsistencies in her story and bruises on her arms suggest otherwise. Geneva doesn’t know anything about what happened, including that her own mother was best friends with Lo, or the past of people working for her.

I initially had a hard time getting into this book. Usually with Rachel’s books, they are a one sitting read, maybe lasting 3-4 hours. I read the first 45 pages and set it aside, then resumed in the evening and that’s when I finally got into the story, flying through it rather quickly. It gets wild as the pieces start coming together in fun ways.

If you’ve been around my reviews before, you know I dock a mystery/thriller a star rating if I can figure it out before 70-75%. Welp. this one, I figured out before the halfway point. I told my husband my theory when I was on page 115 just because it was the most unhinged thing I could think of, then adjusted it five pages later, and that turned out to be correct. There was one part of the twist that I didn’t think to ponder, so there were still fun surprises as I went. I may have cracked the case early, but it was still hella entertaining watching it all play out in grand, dramatic fashion.

If you love a soapy, dramatic thriller, you will probably enjoy The Storm. If you don’t think ‘you know what would be unhinged…” while reading, this might actually surprise you with how it all goes down.