Published: June 1, 2021

Independently Published

I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

J.A. Schneider is a former writer at Newsweek. She is the author of the EMBRYO medical thriller series, the police/psychological thrillers featuring NYPD Detective Kerri Blasco, and the standalone thrillers Into the Dark, Girl Watching You, What You’ve Done and Cry To Me.

“A hurricane is coming.”

Kim receives a concerning and vague email from her younger sister, Liddy, begging her to come to the party Liddy is hosting. Liddy claims that she and Kim will talk, and Liddy eludes to having something big to tell Kim. There is also a hurricane predicted to hit the same weekend, though, after the party. Not all storms can be predicted or charted.

I enjoyed this novel. The pacing was good, fast enough to hold my attention but not lacking in details. I found the whole concept for this novel interesting, a murder happening on the brink of a hurricane and all the chaos that entails. It added some intensity that I haven’t seen before.

The characters in this book were solid. Kim is stoic and a “fixer,” Liddy is emotional and insecure, Winnie is overly eager and meek, Zoe has other things to worry about, David is mysterious and charming, Wyatt is power-hungry and cruel, and the minor characters all had detailed aspects that added value to their role within the story.

The narrative was clever, as the story is told both in the present and with flashbacks. It’s done very smoothly. This is an ultimate mystery because Liddy and Kim’s father was murdered when they were teenagers, and his killer was never caught. And now, years later, adult Liddy and Kim are looking down the barrel of another potentially unsolved murder.

The way both cases were interwoven was superb, and the use of memory and flashbacks was beautifully executed. I found the scenic destructions vivid, and the imagery practically leaped off the pages.

In this twisted game of cat and mouse, it’s impossible to know who to trust. And racing a hurricane only adds to the danger.