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Marybeth_T
Scary!!
I was drawn to this book by the cover. This is a beautiful cover and so intriguing. The book was just as good. I'm not really a ghost story person but this worked for me.
I will say that when I was reading it at night I got a little uncomfortable. This is a fast paced and interesting read.
Highly, Highly recommend!!!
RI (NJ)
The Sun Down Motel
If you like a creepy thriller that you can't put down, this is the book for you. The story is alternatively told between two characters, Carly in 2017 and her Aunt Viv in 1982, who has been missing since then. Haunted by the disappearance of her Aunt Viv, Carly travels to Fell, New York to find the truth about what happened. Carly ends up working as the night clerk at the Sun Down Hotel, the same job her aunt had thirty-five years earlier. The same eerie things happen to both of them while working there, involving murders and the supernatural. After finding out what each discovers along the way, the whole thing comes together in a very calamitous ending.
Peggy T. (Richardson, TX)
Vacancy! Cable TV!
As a fan of Simone St James, I was not sure I would like this book as much as the previous books of hers that I have read because the others were all set in the period between WWI and WWII. That time period seems a better milieu for her ghostly gothic novels.
However, within about 15 pages of reading, I was hooked on this one too. I could not put it down and I was totally taken in by the twist at the ending. Very satisfying read.
Catharine L. (Petoskey, MI)
Creepy Mystery
The book got off to a slow start but became a page turner. The setting is small town Fell, NY. The chapters alternate between Viv in 1982 and her niece, Carly, in 2017, who is investigating the disappearance of her aunt. In my opinion , the ghostly inhabitants of the motel did not add to the plot, and the creepy door-to-door salesman character should have been more developed. All in all, the book was entertaining - a good fall/winter read.
Ian M., McFarland, Wisconsin
Two Great Mysteries in One Spooky Motel
The Sun Down Motel is a quick and enjoyable read that will appeal to baby boomers and millennials.
The novel consists of two converging mysteries taking place at the eponymous motel, 35 years apart. St. James is adept at jumping back-and-forth between the two mysteries to keep the reader invested in both.
Several major characters are a bit shallow, the supernatural elements are more icing than cake, and the ending is a bit anticlimactic. Yet, these flaws don't spoil the read.
Sun Down Motel is fun and engaging. A great page-turner and a solid recommend.
Madeline M (Florida)
Haunted and Haunting
I so enjoy the work of Ms. St. James, and I was thrilled to get my hands on an ARC of her newest novel. Creepy scenes had me looking up from the page to make sure I was actually alone in the room, while other moments had me thinking about all the lost girls in the world.
I did struggle with connecting to the present day storyline and the POV character. However, the past storyline and the POV character of Vivian Delaney were utterly haunting.
Jeff M. (Somerset, NJ)
The Sun Down Motel
An interesting mystery with a supernatural element included. With chapters alternating between 1982 and 2017, the story revolves around The Sun Down Motel (definitely not a AAA rated facility!) as Carly seeks to find out what happened to her aunt, who disappeared from the motel in 1982. The two sets of stories converge at the end for a satisfactory resolution. The story is well-written, the pace is quick, characters are developed sufficiently and has a decent level of suspense. I will admit that I did stay up past 1 AM one evening to finish the book. Even if you are not into stories with paranormal effects, there is enough of a mystery to keep the interest of all readers. Overall, I would recommend the book.
Techeditor
Spoiled by the supernatural
The story is promising. Actually, THE SUN DOWN MOTEL appears to be two stories at first, one Vivian's in 1982, the other Carly's in 2017.
In 1982, Vivian runs away from home and ends up in Fell, New York, with a job as night clerk at the Sun Down Motel. She disappears later that year and is presumed dead. In 2017, Carly, Vivian's niece, is curious about what happened to Vivian and why no one noticed she was missing for four days. So she goes to Fell to find out. Chapters of THE SUN DOWN MOTEL alternate between these two stories.
Turns out, this is really one story with a then and a now. Both are of the same locations, most of the same people, and even the same ghosts.
And about those ghosts: They spoil the story. Not many authors can successfully write a ghost story for adults. Stephen King can do it, and I wonder how he does it every time I read one of his books. But Simone St. James should stick with real life and forget about the supernatural or paranormal.
The story: In 1982 Vivian is bothered when she learns about the deaths of three (later four) women in Fell. She investigates and becomes convinced of one man's guilt, a frequent guest of the Sun Down Motel. She sees ghosts during her night shift there. She is frightened but not enough to quit. In 2017, after Carly gets to Fell, she takes the same job that Vivian had, night clerk at the Sun Down Motel. She conducts her own investigation of the murders of those same four women because Vivian, Carly thinks, was a fifth. She also sees some of the same ghosts.
I would have rated THE SUN DOWN MOTEL higher if not for those silly ghosts. But another thing also irritated me: St. James speaks of 1982 as if it were ancient times. Perhaps that was before she was born.
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