The Storm by Rachel Hawkins
on January 6, 2026
Genres: Fiction / Gothic, Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 288
Format: ARC
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Rachel Hawkins returns with another atmospheric, gothic-tinged thriller—this time set against the haunting backdrop of Alabama’s Gulf Coast, where hurricanes aren’t the only storms that leave destruction in their wake.
St. Medard’s Bay is known for three things: its deadly hurricanes, the century-old Rosalie Inn, and the long-ago scandal surrounding Lo Bailey, the local girl accused of murdering her lover, Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.
Decades later, Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, is barely keeping the doors open. When a writer, August Fletcher, arrives in town to research the infamous murder—and brings Lo Bailey herself along—Geneva sees a chance to revive her struggling business. But as old secrets resurface and another powerful storm barrels toward St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva realizes that Lo’s return may have more to do with revenge than redemption.
And in a town where every hurricane seems to claim a life, Geneva begins to wonder if the past ever truly stays buried.
My Thoughts
This was such a moody, atmospheric thriller that took me a little while to settle into—but once I did, I was completely hooked. Rachel Hawkins does what she does best here: she builds a setting that feels alive, claustrophobic, and humming with secrets.
In the present day, we meet Geneva Corliss, who’s reluctantly taken over the Rosalie Inn after her mother’s Alzheimer’s worsens. She’s a character I grew to admire—the kind of woman who quietly evolves into her strength. She came home with a boyfriend who didn’t last, but the loss only made her more independent and grounded.
The story alternates between the present and the past, slowly revealing the tangled web connecting Geneva’s mother, Ellen (the good girl) and her two friends—Lo (the wild one) and Frieda (the odd duck)—to a murder that made St. Medard’s infamous. Each of these women has a storm attached to her story, both literally and metaphorically, and I loved how Hawkins used the hurricanes as emotional and narrative anchors. The storms are all named after women, and they feel like living characters themselves—volatile, destructive, unforgettable.
As the newest storm builds on the horizon, so does the tension. The pacing in the last third had me holding my breath—everything collides in a way that’s both tragic and satisfying. Hawkins masterfully connects the timelines and reveals how past sins ripple through generations.
I loved how the Rosalie Inn and the storms mirror each other—resilient, battered, and full of ghosts. The setting truly shines, and by the end, I felt like I could hear the wind howling outside the Inn’s shuttered windows.
Overall, The Storm is a slow-burn southern gothic thriller full of secrets, sisterhood, and survival. It’s haunting, beautifully written, and deeply immersive—the kind of story that creeps under your skin and stays there.
A very huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this addictive thriller’s eARC with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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