The Storm

The Storm, Amanda Jennings

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, New Adult

I’m not really sure why this is listed as New Adult, everyone in it is well past that except for Hannah’s son 😉 Anyway, I was expecting to love this, it sounded very intriguing.
I liked it, a lot but didn’t love it. Its one of those I’m glad I’ve read but won’t reread.
I didn’t really like any of the characters, except for poor Alex, he was the innocent victim in everything.

Nathan is obsessed with Hannah right from the start and manipulates his way into her life. He’s got money and uses it to carefully lure her in, not in an obvious way, but in more subtle ones once he susses that she’s not impressed by wealth. Her boyfriend Cam though….he’s stiff competition. Cam’s a fisherman, to Nathan its no contest but of course Hannah is in love and for her Nathan is just a good friend. And then something happens that changes everything.

Nathan goes from being a bit of a stalker to a total control freak. As events unfold I can actually see where his issues lie and they stem from way back in his life, to childhood and I did feel even the tiniest bit sorry for him. He knows way more than he admits, and what seems like heavy handed OTT control is his attempt to stop Hannah his love, his life from leaving. It made a hard life for her but she puts up with it for reasons of her own.

Then there’s Cam who I hated at first, for leaving when she needed him, but of course as events unfold it wasn’t that simple. I had guessed at some, though not all, some parts came as total surprise. I felt so sad for some of the characters, life in a fishing fleet is tough, harsh and death or life changing injuries never far away.
Its a classic story in a way of Teen ( imagined) Invincibility meets Real Life, and led to sadness all round. Alex was caught in a trap not of his making, Hannah was in a situation she felt she had only herself to blame, Cam did what felt right at the time even though he lost everything, and Nathan, well Nathan thinks he has the girl he loves but its only by controlling every bit of her life that he has her….A really sad group of characters, and even the ending holds a hint of more to come.

Stars: Four. A great read but not a re-reader for me.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publisher

This, in my view, is Amanda Jennings best book to date. I’d planned on savouring it – Ms Jennings is the kind of writer who warrants this respect – only unexpected circumstances meant I was able to read it over two days. And what a read! The prose is taut & intelligently rendered with not a single word wasted; the characters believable & brilliantly diverse.

The Storm is a strong, chilling, compelling & ultimately terrifying expos of the nature of coercive control in a marriage. Hannah does as she’s told because the alternative is too frightening. And if, for one second, the reader imagines it isn’t, or that Hannah has choices, then s/he has yet to grasp the nature of how arrogant, narcissistic, controlling cruelty in a relationship can play out. This book is an authentic portrayal of such a marriage.

With a deadly secret at its heart, the events of one night change the trajectory of Hannah’s life forever. The choice made, she finds herself isolated with Nathan, a man who will stop at nothing to ensure his life carries on exactly the way he wants it to.

The star accolades fall on this book like confetti & quite right too. I add mine: this is a brilliant book for which there are not enough stars. Not enough confetti.

Im a huge fan of Amanda Jennings writing, and I was so excited to finally get round to reading her latest novel, The Storm. This is a dark, character-driven novel which will keep you turning the pages.

We meet Hannah and Nathan, who on the outside, have a seemingly perfect relationship. They also have a teenage son. Nathan is rich and successful, and he turns heads wherever they go. But why is there such a tense atmosphere when they are at home? Why does he seem to have so much control over his wife? I wanted to know the answers to these questions as I was reading and what was really going on in their relationship.

The tension grows as the novel progresses. There are flashback scenes back to when Hannah and Nathan first meet in Cornwall, in 1998. Its in these scenes when Amanda Jennings begins to reveal what happened early on in their relationship. As the novel reaches its conclusion, it makes for very tense reading.

Amanda Jennings took us to Cornwall in her last novel, The Cliff House, and I love the way how she brings the setting to life. I could really picture the sea in my mind as I was reading the flashback scenes. As settings often do in books, the sea almost becomes a character itself.

I thought Hannah and Nathans relationship was very intriguing, and I wanted to know what was going on underneath the surface. What was really keeping Hannah there, when it is clear that she isnt happy? I was rooting for her to get out of the relationship. But I also kept thinking that if she made a sudden move, then something terrible would happen to her. The tension builds and builds as we begin to understand more about what is going on.

The reveals that come are shocking, and I thought the way how Amanda Jennings weaved them into the story, was done really well. I loved how Amanda Jennings gradually revealed what had happened in the past.

The Storm is a highly engaging read, and Amanda Jennings writing drew me in very quickly. I couldnt put it down. I cant wait to read what Amanda Jennings writes next.

Yet another book described as a gripping and chilling thriller, which it isn’t. Characters underdeveloped and the writing just doesn’t do it for me. Far too many chapters centred on boring fishing trips which added nothing to the story. Simply served to fill pages. Lots of books around on the subject of coercive husbands and submissive wives. This wasn’t one if the better ones. Needed more character development and less bulking out of the story with unnecessary, lengthy narrative about the perils of sea fishing.

I loved every minute of this book – with multiple layers to discover The Storm took me on a psychological journey exploring the difference between love and control. Thoroughly recommend!

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