Rachel Hawkins, the bestselling author of gothic thrillers that include THE HEIRESS and THE VILLA, returns with THE STORM, a twisty, tightly plotted thrill ride.

Delphine, Audrey, Velma, Marie and Lizzie. These are the names of powerful hurricanes, each of which has graced St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama, leveling its historic bungalows and taking with them countless men, women and children who either misjudged the storm’s direction or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But there’s another name that carries weight in St. Medard’s Bay: Gloria “Lo” Bailey. In a town where old men still carry nicknames from middle school and everyone is identified by “who their people are,” Lo stood out for being the most dangerous thing a young girl can be: jaw-droppingly beautiful. With this beauty came a dash of recklessness, earning Lo the title of “the Wild One” in her small friend group, which consisted of Frieda, “the Smart One,” and Ellen, “the Nice One.” Ellen was also heiress to the Shipwreck Inn, a historic beachfront property that, despite being older and more taped together than its neighbors, has somehow managed to withstand every single storm that has landed in St. Medard’s Bay.

Together, the three girls worked in local tourist shops, played in the inn’s many bedrooms, and learned the ways, smells and tides of the sea that was their neighbor. Until, that is, Lo was accused of murdering 30-year-old Landon Fitzroy, a married celebrity. The son of the governor and the grandson of a senator, Landon was a man who spelled destiny with a capital D and had the world at his fingertips. And Lo, his 19-year-old mistress? Well, according to the police who arrested her, the judge who tried her, and the tabloids that blasted her story across national papers, she was nothing but a harlot.

"Hawkins has long been heralded as the queen of gothic thrillers, but here she cranks this talent up to 10.... As demolishing as a storm and as alluring as an ocean view, THE STORM is the thriller you’ve been waiting for. But be warned that nothing will prepare you for what’s inside."

But when we meet Geneva Corliss --- the current owner of the Shipwreck Inn, now named the Rosalie Inn --- all of the tabloid drama that once dominated her town is old news. Landon is buried and forgotten, and Lo is God knows where. As the new owner of the inn following her mother’s diagnosis of early-onset dementia, Geneva is up to her ears in credit card bills, empty rooms, and the sneaking suspicion that she may be the one to tank her family’s historic establishment once and for all. So when she receives an email from a writer named August Fletcher requesting an open-ended stay at double her normal rate, she quickly accepts.

Then the other shoe drops: August isn’t writing about the tourism of St. Medard’s Bay or even the inn’s history. He is penning the authorized story of Lo Bailey and the murder of Landon Fitzroy. Geneva is a true-crime fan, and while she may not be privy to every detail of Landon’s death, she knows the broad strokes. Shortly after Hurricane Marie landed in St. Medard’s Bay in 1984, Landon’s body was found on the beach. He had died of blunt-force trauma to the skull --- the kind that leaves bone fragments embedded in one’s brain. But when Lo was arrested, the jury was faced with an interesting conundrum. Brain injuries are common in hurricanes, but there were certain inconsistencies that made the prosecutor think that Lo had used the storm as a cover as she enacted murderous revenge on the wealthy, privileged man who was about to leave her.

What truly surprises Geneva, though, is when August arrives with Lo herself in tow. Sixty, blonde and tanned, Lo is exactly the kind of woman you can imagine at the center of a tabloid drama. She’s not afraid to speak her mind about herself, her reputation, or how it felt when her entire hometown turned on her in favor of a stuck-up, privileged showboat who was already six feet under. Then August and Lo drop the second bomb. The reason they’ve chosen the Rosalie is not for its spectacular rates or gulf views, but because it is exactly where Landon’s body was discovered. So why has Geneva's mother, who has always carefully recorded the inn’s history, never mentioned that? Or that she was one of Lo’s best friends at the time?

As August conducts his interviews, planning to help ghostwrite Lo’s tell-all memoir, Geneva begins to learn more about the inn’s surprising history. She cannot believe that it was charismatic, sure-of-herself Lo who murdered Landon. But at the same time, it’s obvious that Lo is hiding something.

Rachel Hawkins alternates between Geneva’s present-day, newspaper articles from the time of the murder, and even snippets of August’s work-in-progress as she traces not just the investigation of the crime (if there even was one), but also the history of the inn and how it connects to Lo and Geneva. But just when it seems that Geneva, Lo and August are beginning to understand the case in its entirety --- and its shocking repercussions --- the inevitable happens. Once again, a storm is descending upon St. Medard’s Bay, and no amount of prep can hide the obvious: Geneva may very well be trapped in the Rosalie with a killer.

Hurricane season may be months away, but in THE STORM, the hot, steamy ocean air of beachside inns and tanned guests collide with the gust of wind that is Lo Bailey to make you feel like you should be boarding up your windows and filling your tub with water. Hawkins has long been heralded as the queen of gothic thrillers, but here she cranks this talent up to 10. She immerses readers not in a damp gothic castle, but in a damp, musty inn that has hidden more than its share of secrets. This book is an armchair detective’s dream novel, a meticulously crafted, hauntingly atmospheric and bitingly gripping mystery that unfolds across two generations, several storms and a woman who is a hurricane personified.

Although Lo is the novel’s erstwhile star, Geneva’s role as innkeeper, daughter, interviewee and friend provides a welcoming point of access. It allows us to absorb the sordid history of St. Medard’s Bay slowly and steadily…until we realize that the rain has been pouring for a tad too long, and the storm that is Lo Bailey --- and her “did she or didn’t she” murder --- is already upon you.

As demolishing as a storm and as alluring as an ocean view, THE STORM is the thriller you’ve been waiting for. But be warned that nothing will prepare you for what’s inside.