Reviews

Murder Road by Simone St. James

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prettybizarre_'s review against another edition

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mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

lillysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

saltygalreads's review against another edition

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5.0

July 1995. April and Eddie Carter are newlyweds from Ann Arbor. Eddie is ex-military and working as a mechanic. April works at a bowling alley. They have taken 5 days off work to go to a little resort town to celebrate their honeymoon. They take a wrong turn and end up on Atticus Line in Coldlake Falls. On the dark rainy night on the tree-lined, deserted road they see a hitchhiker and stop to see if she is okay. They pick her up but soon discover that she is seriously injured and needs an emergency room quickly. A menacing black pickup roars up Atticus Line in pursuit of the threesome and the hitchhiker whispers “he’s coming” before losing consciousness.

Are you intrigued? You should be! This novel is a hair-raising, action-packed supernatural thriller which held me in thrall from the first page. Eddie and April are a likeable couple with a great connection and chemistry. They each hold secrets about their past and struggle with their demons, but the reader wants them to succeed. The author takes an urban legend of the hitchhiker on a lonely road and infuses it with a chilling ghostly energy that feels completely believable. I will never feel the same way again about driving on a lonely road in the woods. My only criticism would be that the denouement with Detective Quentin at the conclusion of the novel felt unnecessary and the book wouldn’t suffer without it.

A ripping good spooky yarn and you should read it! Thanks to Penguin Random House/Berkley for providing me with a copy to read.

rosarita's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

hmkuecker's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

First off, I think I need to come to the realization that I just might not like books with characters that aren’t likable. I don’t think that helped my case here. I still think this book fell flat, especially in comparison to her others. It was predictable, little shock factor, and very lack luster in re: to the spookiness that her others carried. Also, the 90s vibe was meh at best. There weren’t really any definitive time stamps for the period, and actually had things that felt more modern day than anything.

gabbygetsreading's review

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2.0

How disappointing.
I'm not sure how the author dropped the ball on such an interesting premise, but she did.
The characters made such dumb decisions. They were on their honeymoon trip but didn't have any money for a lawyer? Isn't there supposed to be a "free" lawyer appointed to you if you can't afford one?

Why does every husband have to be driving around clearly lost yet refusing to admit it until they stumble across a crime? They spend their honeymoon investigating something that really has nothing to do with them initially? The detective did whatever he wanted, and the legal aspects of this book didn't add up. The main couple were so unlikeable and annoying. They kept secrets and acted mysterious for literally no reason.

I'm learning I really don't like paranormal, let alone paranormal mixed with other genres. This didn't need to be paranormal at all and was really only used to convolute the story and make the reader question what was made up or "haunted." I really just wanted this spiraling book to end, but it just kept going.

Yet another book where im wondering if something went over my head since everyone else seemed to like it.