The Storm

Another book by Rachel Hawkins that will keep you guessing til the very end about who actually murdered the governor's rich and philandering son 40 years ago.  Lo (short for Gloria) Bailey is back in the tiny coastal town of St. Medard's Bay, Alabama, after being exiled by gossip and rumors that she was the one responsible. Even though she was found not guilty of the murder, popular opinion remained against her; but now she says that she has come back to clear her name once and for all. She is accompanied by a journalist, August, who says he wants to write her story. Geneva Corliss is the struggling owner of the Rosalie Inn, the only structure in town that has survived the periodic hurricanes that seem to seek out this otherwise out-of-the-way corner of the coast. The arrival of August and Lo promises to be a boon to the flagging business prospects of the Inn but everything turns out to be more complicated than that as Rachel learns secret after secret about her mother who is now forever silenced by Alzheimer's. 

Publishers Weekly says of this "sleek suspense novel" that "Hawkins toggles back and forth between Lo's return to St. Medard's Bay and the days leading up to Landon's death, marking each timeline with the name of a contemporaneous hurricane. She shrewdly orchestrates the plot twists in each story line, folding in letters, emails, newspaper articles, and excerpts from August's unfinished manuscript to raise new questions and ratchet up suspense. When the pieces finally click into place, readers will be more than satisfied." I personally found this structure to be disjointed and a bit off-putting as some of the reporting is not identified with an author and you have to figure out from the context who is speaking. Library Journal calls the novel "fast-paced" and "atmospheric" and indeed the weather plays a key role in both structuring the storyline and ratcheting up the suspense as chapter titles count down the days until the next hurricane is going to hit. Booklist concludes their review with this positive note: "Hawkins uses her mastery of multiple time lines and characters to great effect in this quick and enjoyable read." Similarly, Kirkus closes with "the story is gripping from beginning to end."