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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This book is sure to give you the chills! This dual timeline book tells the haunting tale of The Sundown Motel. In 1982, Viv Delaney goes missing in upstate New York. She was the night clerk at The Sundown Motel. Now, in 1982, her niece Carly Kirk has come to Fell to investigate her disappearance. She soon finds out that all is not as it seems in Fell, NY and at the Sundown Motel!
Not a fan of ghost stories, but this was highly recommended. And with good reason. Good strong female characters, gripping story. More of a mystery than a horror story The story switches bach and forth as two young women describe their experiences while working at a very strange motel. The contrast between present day and 30 years ago is especially well done. Lots easier to be detective now.
This book was incredible! I read it in one sitting and I never wanted it to end! The characters resonated with me and I find myself thinking about them.
This book is mostly a murder mystery that is told from two perspectives, a woman in 1982 and her niece in 2017 trying to find out what happened to her when she disappeared. There is a bit of a haunting thrown in which adds a small bit to the plot.
All in all, I enjoyed reading the book. You figure out who the main bad guy is about 1/3 of the way through, you’ll want to yell at both main characters about how stupid they are to be taking risks, but you’ll still want to know how it ends.
This book was very good. It kept my interest where I didn’t want to put it down. On the other hand, it was really creepy. I wouldn’t want to read it by myself on a dark, stormy night. Lol. I would definitely recommend this book.
I loved this book! It has a mystery; it’s a thriller; it has some horror, because there are ghosts. It was exactly what I’ve been looking for since September. A book that is entertaining and scary.
There were times while reading this that I was genuinely scared. I read it before bed one night, and could not stop thinking about what I had read, and kept feeling like someone was watching me. That to me, is the mark of a good scary book/movie, if it stays with you and continues to creep you out after you’ve put it away.
This book is well paced. It doesn’t take long for some scary action to take place, then the story unravels. I figured a few twists out, but only right before they were revealed in the book, which I don’t feel like is bad. I was following the timeline and discovering things just as Viv and Carly were, so I think it makes sense that I discovered the twists when they did.
Viv and Carly are both likeable and relatable characters. They’re both smart, keep to themselves, and aren’t described as being the most beautiful girls in the room which I found refreshing. They both just sound like average women that have killer investigative skills.
This book is feminist, as well, because it points out how certain girls’ murders were almost expected because the girl was a “party goer”, so “what did she expect to happen”. I like how this book called out those stereotypes, and how Viv wanted to find justice so badly for these girls, even the ones that people seemed to care less about.
This book kept calling me back to it. It was so much fun to read, and has made me want to read more from this author.
4.5 Stars Rounded up to 5
“This place is dark.” “Some of us like the dark. It’s what we know.”
The Sun Down Motel was so good. I admit that I knew it had ghosts and am a total chicken! I read it just waiting for the spookiness to jump out at me. Sometimes, I could only read during the day because of this. I shouldn’t have let it stop me. It’s not scary, it’s great. There’s a reason you don’t want to put this down. Its spooky level is just right!!! Heck, the book even made me laugh! The writing was so good.
I only deducted half a star because there were some parts I really wanted to be told vs what I was able to read. It would have definitely pushed it over the top!
A good mystery with a supernatural twist.
What a great ghost story! This book had me on the edge of my seat through most of the book! Without giving too much away the story is based, of course, on a haunted motel and an aunt and niece whose stories are told in two different but parallel timelines.
I haven’t read something in this genre in quite some time and this was the perfect book to jump back in. There were a lot of creepy twists and turns, some a little predictable and some so totally not. I couldn’t sleep during the night last night and picked up the book to read and got so spooked I had to put it down! The ending threw me for a loop
I loved this book. It was a haunting, page-turner with more twists and turns than a country road.
Alright y’all, I’m calling it now… we’re going to see this one on the big screen. Wow!
That was one heck of a read (or listen rather). I’m so glad I jumped on the bandwagon when I did. We will see this one on the Goodreads Choice Awards nominees for 2020 without a doubt.
You know what… don’t waste your time reading all kinds of reviews, just read it. The less you know the better. I promise.
The Sun Down Motel is the story of Carly and her aunt, Viv. Viv worked the night shift at the Sun Down and disappeared 35 years earlier without a trace. Carly, a true crime buff, leaves college to track down what happened to her aunt.
Like Viv, Carly experiences ghost sightings at the motel. These ghosts, she senses, are trying to tell her something. She tries to retrace her aunt’s steps, and to understand what happened in Fell, NY.
When Viv arrives in Fell, she is running from an home life. She has cut all ties to home, so no one really noticed when she went missing. Viv discovers that several girls/women died in Fell, and begins to investigate the murders. She tries to recruit Alma, a cop, and Marnie, a photographer, to help her. When Carly tries to ask them questions, they are extremely evasive about Viv.
The ghost stories were a bit creepy! The author did a good job keeping the suspense level high.
#TheSunDownMotel #SimoneStJames #Edelweiss
This is as good as if not better than Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Read it, it’s great
Thank you Netgalley for an arc of The Sun Down Motel.
Is ^ even concerned a review because this book was everything and the kitchen sink! I love love love it!
When it comes to ghost stories sometimes authors over shoot the mark and make it sound like it’s all bologna. Simone St. James did an amazing job. I didn’t want the story to end.
I purchased this on impulse at my local bookseller. It isn’t the type of mystery that I usually read, but I could not put it down. I found myself holding my breath at times. The story told from different points of view from different time frames added to the suspense.
A ghost story so gripping it brings the creepy, rundown Sun Down Motel to life! I felt like I was in the midst of all the dark and hostile unrest.
”For the odd girls, the nerdy girls, and the murderinos. This one is yours.”
Every time I pass one of those old shabby and sleazy motels on the side of the road, I will imagine the Sun Down Motel. And if it’s dark, and anyone is hanging around outside, I’ll wonder if they’re real or ghosts. You can be sure I won’t be stopping to find out, though!
Viv and Carly alternate telling their stories, thirty-five years apart. These women do an amazing job. They are two of my favorite characters of all time! Both are kind of nerdy, but absolutely bad-ass!
”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.”
Simone St. James is another author I will be following!
My Rating: 4.5 ’s (rounding up)
Published: February 18th 2020 by Berkley
Pages: 327
Recommend: Yes. If you like a good ghost story, you’ll love this one!
Thank you to Edelweiss / Berkley / Simone St. James for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
@simone_stjames @BerkleyPub
#Edelweiss #Thriller #GhostStory #MustRead2020
Read this book slowly and savor the nuances. It is delicious.
After Carly’s mom dies, she decides to go to Fell, New York to find out what happened to her aunt, Vivian, who disappeared from there forty years earlier. She gets the same night shift job at the same run down Sun Down Motel. Both are intelligent, fearless and tenacious. The discovery the secrets of the motel and the town. As more information is obtained, the ghosts literally become restless. As it becomes an obsession with the women, the ghosts and their reasons for haunting the motel become more apparent.
The author interweaves the story of Viv and Carly, while slowly exposing the ghosts of the Sun Down Motel and why each is there. The writing is smooth from both girls as discoveries are made by both. I admit to becoming confused towards the beginning but admit to devouring the book as fast as I could. That was a mistake.
I absolutely love all of Simone St. James’ books and this is no exception. It is just as good as the rest. I am off to reread it again, only nice and slowly this time.
Author Simone St. James penned the stunningly spooky mystery, The Broken Girls, set in a boarding school for troubled or outcast girls. She has followed up that impressive foray into supernatural suspense with The Sun Down Motel.
The story is related through two narratives. One is the third-person recitation of Viv Delaney’s experiences in 1982, culminating on the night in November when she vanished and was never heard from again. The other is Carly Kirk’s 2017 first-person description of her quest to learn what happened to her aunt Viv.
Carly’s mother never recovered from the loss of her sister. Fourteen months after her mother’s death from cancer at the age of 51, twenty-year-old Carly has left college, taken her modest inheritance and, over the objections of her brother, Graham, traveled to Fell, New York. Carly has been stumbling through life in a fog of grief since her mother’s death. Grieving her mother has caused her to “rethink everything” in her life. Carly has always been a self-described “nerd” — the kid who read books about murders and disappearances, and has been obsessed her whole life with the disappearance of Viv, an event her mother hated to think or speak about.
Viv is presumed to have been murdered, although her body was never found. Now Carly is determined to see the place where it happened and understand why Viv was “allowed to vanish into nothingness with barely a ripple.” Upon her arrival in Fell, Carly learns that there have been several murders of young women in the depressing little town. She finds Viv’s old apartment, now occupied by the eccentric Heather, a student at local Fell College. Heather offers to let Carly move in and is eager to assist with Carly’s investigation into Viv’s disappearance.
In 1982, Viv takes a job at the night clerk at the rundown, sketchy Sun Down Motel on the outskirts of town. Alone in the motel’s front office, strange things occur during the night. The smell of cigarette smoke wafts into the office, even though no one is smoking in the vicinity. She hears heavy footsteps, even though there is no one else there. Doors open and close on their own, the lights go out, and she hears a voice telling her, “Run,” after she is shoved backward by an unseen force. From time to time rowdy guests prompt Viv to summon the local police. Officer Alma Trent, the only female cop in Fell, responds and advises Viv about the motel’s history — the deaths of a young boy who hit his head on the side of the pool and an employee who suffered a fatal heart attack in the office are not the worst things to have happened at the Sun Down, according to Alma. Viv’s curiosity leads her to investigate what else transpired at the motel and why the strange occurrences seem to coincide with a particular traveling salesman checking in.
Like Viv, Carly ends up working at the Sun Down at night. The motel is essentially frozen in time. The rooms haven’t changed, the pool remains empty and fenced off, the wifi reception is sporadic, and the telephone system is antiquated. And Carly experiences the same strange events that Viv did. The lights go out sequentially, she hears noises, there are strange smells . . . and she sees people that she shouldn’t be seeing.
St. James skillfully details Carly and Viv’s journeys of discovery, 35 years apart. Both young women are intelligent, analytical, and devoted. They are also both likable and empathetic, lost in their own ways and determined not to let circumstances or obstacles deter them from uncovering the truth. They are both fueled by an innate sense of right of right and wrong, and motivated by a desire to see justice carried out. Neither is dissuaded by the ghostly, frightening occurrences at the motel or the eclectic cast of supporting characters who move about the motel.
St. James masterfully ramps up the tension gradually as each woman inches toward discovering exactly what happened at the motel prior to her arrival . . . and increasingly finds herself in danger from people and forces who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from being revealed. The Sun Down Motel is a darkly atmospheric tale in which the motel features as a prominent, creepy character, exploding menacingly at expertly-timed intervals. St. James effortlessly merges the dueling narratives as the motel erupts with the shocking truth.
The Sun Down Motel proves again that St. James is a uniquely creative writer as she effortlessly melds a mystery — Viv’s disappearance so many years ago — with a keep-the-light-on-while-you’re-reading ghost story that will haunt readers long after all of the Sun Down Motel’s unseemly secrets are revealed.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
I loved this book (and anything by this author!). A mix of The Shining and Bates Motel, you can’t go wrong with this thriller. Loved it!!!!
The Sun Down Motel is a suspenseful, creepy, turn the page fast, thrilling book! I’m not really into ghost stories, but this one is different in a good eerie way.
In 1982 Vivian Delaney works as a night shift clerk at the Sun Down. Strange and mysterious things are happening. Then one evening she disappears without a trace. In 2017 her niece, Carly Kirk decides to investigate her disappearance. She moves to Fell, NY and by coincidence gets the same job at the Sun Down. The same things start happening to her!
Filled with secrets, danger, mystery and lots of suspense, this story kept me engrossed, interested and entertained from the very beginning. I’m now a fan of Simone St. James and will definitely read more of her books! I highly recommend this one!