AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERSomething 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 … 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.
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I loved this book!! It’s going on my keeper shelf!
In remote Fell, New York, the Sun Down Motel awaits weary travelers, and each night, the occupancy swells to include a few specters with unfinished business. Can anyone else smell the faint aroma of cigarette smoke or hear the doors opening and closing?
In 1982 Viv Delaney finds herself in Fell, New York and takes a job as the night clerk at The Sun Down Motel. Some thirty-five years later, her niece, Carly, takes the same job at the motel. However, it is not a coincidence. Carly is searching for answers to her aunt’s disappearance.
I enjoyed the two strong female lead characters in this dual- POV, dual-timeline mystery. The author created two similar characters but gave them each a distinct voice making them entwined and distinctly interesting. Simone St. James’ evocative writing creates an incredible sinister atmosphere. From start to finish the eerie sense of foreboding is palpable. The descriptions of upstate New York made me feel like I had visited the area.
Gothic mystery or horror? The Sun Down Motel is a not-so-cozy cold-case mystery investigated by the missing woman’s niece more than thirty years after the fact.
A serial killer, a missing girl and an unquiet ghost. Set across two timelines, this is a good mystery with a supernatural edge.
/ 4.5 stars
I devoured this book! So good and so creepy it was the perfect spooky fall read!
The paranormal element combined with the murder mystery and the dual timeline telling was perfect!
“The person who could be truly alone, in the company of no one but oneself and one’s own thoughts—that person was stronger than anyone else. More ready. More prepared.”
“I put my book down, finding a Post-it note to use as a bookmark, because folding the corner of a page—even in a thirty-year-old book—is sacrilege.”
This was an amazing book! I do not normally read this genre, but I enjoyed this one. Has lots of interesting twists and the characters are real. Loved it!
This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I absolutely could not put it down. If you love unsolved mysteries, cold case files, and ghost stories, this is the book for you. The pacing was perfect, the characters fascinating and the ghosts haunting!
One of my most FAVE books ever!!!
Summary
The Sun Down Motel is a paranormal mystery thriller by Simone St. James. In 1982, Vivian Delaney disappeared while working the night shift at the Sun Down Motel and was never found. 35 years later, her niece, Carly, decided to solve the mystery which was possibly connected with the serial killings that happened before Vivian vanished.
Review
I certainly did not expect how the story ended! I love how this book was neither extravagant nor lacking in any aspect. It had the right amount of everything, making it more realistic, despite the paranormal occurrences at the motel. It had just the right level of mystery, suspense, action, and twist to keep me interested and entertained ‘til the end. Hence, I’m giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. This is highly recommended to ALL readers who love mystery thriller.
Thirty-five years ago Vivian Delaney disappeared. She checked into her night job at the Sun Down Motel, and never checked out. Carly has always wondered what happened to her aunt as no one in the family would speak of what happened. After Carly’s mother passes, she decides to take it upon herself to retrace her aunt’s footsteps and see if she can discover what really happened.
Little does Carly know that evil is waiting at the Sun Down Motel…hovering…breathing. Will Carly be able to find out the truth of what happened to her aunt? Or will the evil lurking in the shadows overtake the truth and keep Carly in the dark.
OK so it takes A LOT to scare me or even creep me out. While this didn’t scare me it definitely brings on the creepy chills. I worked as a night auditor at a local hotel and while nothing nefarious ever happened it was very uneasy so I FEEL this read
This is a great one to add to those Spooktober lists.
All the stars!!!
The story unfolds with two different timelines, one with Viv in 1982, who goes missing and the other with her niece, Carly in 2017, who is determined to find out what happened to her.
A thrilling, spooky page turner that deserves all the acclaim it has garnered.
A serial killer, ghosts and a spooky roadside motel…what more do you need?
Simone St.James weaves a dual timeline of one small two story motel, one in 1982 the other in 2017. Spine tingling para-normal elements move this book at lightening speed—with a totally creep factor. This is the first book I have heard of hers, but I will be trolling her backlist for more!
Reading this book is like watching a movie. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and was sad to finish it. On to the next book by Simone St James.
I couldn’t put it down! Quite creepy!
Great read! At first the back and forth between the two time periods was a little confusing. However, the book was written well enough that it didn’t take me long to get acquainted with the characters and once I did the confusion was gone. After that, I could not turn the pages quickly enough! This was my first Simone St. James book, but wil definitely not be my last.
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James introduces us to Carly, a college student who has recently lost her mother. She leaves college and heads to New York to look into a family mystery that she was never allowed to ask about growing up. Her mother’s sister Viv Delaney disappeared from her job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in 1982.
Shortly after arriving, things fall in to place for Carly to stay in Fell for longer than just a few days, perhaps long enough to solve her aunt’s disappearance. She stumbles across Heather, another twenty-something looking for a roommate when she goes to see the apartment her aunt was living in when she vanished. When they go to see The Sun Down Motel for the first time, Heather notices a help wanted sign. The motel is looking fora night clerk, and Carly finds herself working the same job her aunt used to have. The motel hasn’t changed much, if at all, since 1982.
As Carly works to learn more about her aunt, strange things are happening at The Sun Down. Told in alternating points of view between Viv and Carly, their experiences at work are frighteningly similar. The motel seems to be trying to get a message across to the night clerk, and paranormal experiences are the norm.
I really enjoyed that the author made the motel into its own malevolent character, and that the storyline was creepy without overdoing the ghostly happenings. The details were just enough to get my imagination working in overdrive to fill in the details. As the sun went down and I neared the conclusion, I got kind of creeped out being home alone in the woods, and I find that a great attribute for a mystery novel.
Suspenseful & entertaining. Two girls track a killer. However, one girl lives in 1982 & one, in 2017. The author moves smoothly between the time periods until the final confrontation. They run into a few odd, helpful & malevolent ghosts along the way.
This was WAY BETTER than I expected!!
It’s a mashup of genres…Mystery/Thriller/Paranormal/Romance. It was so so good!!! It’s best to go into it knowing nothing. But there’s so many twists and turns and that creepy vibe, and of course most importantly, ROMANCE!!! Oh and it flips back and forth from the 80’s to 2017! Really well done too!!
A murder case, after 35 years, solved by a 20 years old girl. The singularity of the story is that she has the ghosts’ aid from the Sun Down motel. It is a case that the police closed unsolved or didn’t want to investigate.
My review of The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
Gripping, ghostly, goosebump(y), and great! Perfect read for the month of October, as well as anytime you’re ready to get your “creep” on. I loved The Sun Down Motel story as it definitely had me pondering all sorts of questions. Simone St. James wrote an excellent spooky story all the while enrapturing you in a full blown mystery with twists you don’t see coming. There’s several characters in this book, including the ghostly type, that you can’t help but to feel empathy for. Simone wrote an intriguing story including dual timelines, mystery galore, and all the paranormal activity to send chills up your spine. I highly recommend The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James.
Simone St. James blends murder mystery with paranormal horror using a two-timeline story in “The Sun Down Motel.” This story points out the fact that almost any hotel hosts ghosts, even run-down dives, and intuitive tenacity can run in families.
In the early 1980’s, Carly’s aunt disappeared without any apparent trace. When her mother died in 2017, Carly decides to search for the truth behind the disappearance. She makes a charming friend who is a fellow true-crime enthusiast and accepts the night clerk position at the Sun Down Hotel, which is where her aunt worked. Doors open on their own, strange smells waft about, and the lights flicker on and off of their own volition. Soon, the ghostly activities increase, and Carly realizes the mystery of her aunt’s disappearance might be tied to the activities of a serial killer.
Simone St. James keeps the suspense palpable, the characters realistic, and the almost Gothic vibe thrilling.