The Sun Down Motel – Book Review

This is the second book I have read from this author. The first book, The Broken Girls, which I did a book review on was good but I would say this book…AMAZING!

The story is divided into two parts–past, told from the perspective of Viv Delaney in 1982, who was on her way to New York to become an actress but ended up in a small town called Fell, New York, working as a night shift in a seedy motel called Sun Down Motel and the present, 2017, told from the perspective of Carly Kirk, who happened to Viv’s niece and who comes to Fell to investigate about her aunt’s sudden disappearance thirty five years ago. Along with the presence of ghosts and supernatural forces around the motel is also a thriller where a man posing as a salesman is murdering girls, back in 1982.

I really enjoyed reading this book–perfect for a great Halloween read. The story itself was spooky, creepy and weird and I was so drawn into the story that I felt like I was in some sort of horror movie! I couldn’t really put the book down as well. A thriller mixed with ghost stories, that’s the type of thriller I would so want to read. The descriptions of the places, particularly the lifestyle during the 1980’s was fascinating to read as well. The story is well written and the author did a good job scaring the reader through the words!

Overall, I truly enjoyed reading this book–a scary thriller with twists and turns that you simply wouldn’t want to put down–worth five stars!

Something hasn’t been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.

Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.

Simone St. James is the award-winning author of The Haunting of Maddy Clare, which won two prestigious RITA® awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. She writes gothic historical ghost stories set in 1920s England, books that are known for their mystery, gripping suspense, and romance.

Simone wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school. She worked behind the scenes in the television business for twenty years before leaving to write full-time. She lives just outside Toronto, Canada with her husband and a spoiled cat.