The Sun Down Motel

by Simone St. James
Published by Berkley Genres: Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Paranormal, Supernatural, suspense, thriller
Format: Hardcover
four-stars

“I ain’t afraid of no Ghost”

I don’t know why upon finishing this book, I could not get Ray Parker Jr.’s theme song for Ghostbusters out of my head. “If there is something weird and it don’t look good…” Thank you Simon St. James for that earworm and of course, for writing such an engrossing, creepy, haunting and riveting book.

The Sun Down Motel – an old Motel with secrets, ghosts and a dark tale to tell. Some get a room to sell drugs, some to drink themselves into oblivion, some to have a torrid affair, some to sleep for the night after a long day of driving, some for prostitution. But the Motel has a history, a history those in the town of Fell know about but aren’t always so willing to talk about. A Motel where things really do go bump in the night.

Viv Delaney worked as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel and soon begins to notice things – that that aren’t quite right. Things that are creepy, scary and strange. Intrigued, she begins to investigate the Motel’s history, because that is what you do right, when doors open and close on their own (I’d be so out of there…just sayin’). But then one day, Viv isn’t there anymore….

Carly arrives in the town of Fell, with questions. Her aunt Viv (Vivian) went missing after working as the Night Clerk at the Sun Down Motel. Her mother died never knowing what happened to her sister. Carly wants to know as well and as luck would have it, the Sun Down Motel needs a nigh clerk, so Carly accepts the position. As she begins to ask questions and look up the Motel’s history, she too begins to hear, smell and see that things which go bump in the night.

Oh, how I love a good haunting! Simone St. James who knocked my socks off with The Haunting of Maddy Clare has done it again. This book played out like a movie in my mind. I could imagine everything happening. This book is eerie, atmospheric and chilling. She has created intriguing characters who can’t quite help but to put themselves in intense situations because of their curiosity. Apparently, no one warned them about what curiosity did to the cat!

Initially, I did struggle keeping track of which young woman’s storyline/timeline was being told, but I found my stride and had no problems after that. I found this to be an engaging, delightfully creepy haunting which delivered. I loved how everything came together in the end! This is the perfect book to read on a chilly October night as Halloween approaches.

Plus, how about that cover!

four-stars

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