Rating: 3 out of 5.

3.5 stars

The book is set at a century-old hotel in Alabama that’s survived every hurricane. The other notable thing that’s happened at the hotel is a local girl accused of murdering a politician’s son in 1984. Geneva grew up in the hotel and is the current owner. It’s about to go under, but she is contacted by a writer that wants to rent a room for a long term stay while he writes a book about the infamous murder.

He brings along the person accused of the murder, who is glad to be back in the town where she grew up. She says that she wants to clear her name, but there’s also a concern that maybe she’s there to settle old scores. Questions start coming up that put certain long held beliefs into question about the crime as another monster storm heads toward town and the hotel.

This is a very slow moving story, so you need to stick with it. I liked the characters and the author does a good job of developing their stories and how each one interrelates to each other. The author throws in plenty of red herrings to throw you off the scent of the truth. I loved how the author intertwines the past and present storylines and the young girls’ relationship group.

I received a complimentary audio book copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. The narrator did a great job portraying the atmosphere of the story and the growing intensity of the storm and the climax of the book. All opinions are my own.