Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Sun Down Motel

I really enjoyed reading this book. Its a fun ghost story/mystery that focuses on women, and that's right up my alley.
However. Having now read two books by St. James, she really doesn't like lesbians. In both this book and The Broken Girls, the protagonists include women who express a lack of interest in men, and in both, St. James goes out of her way to tell us "Don't worry, they're not lesbians!", and she does so in a way that is tinged with disgust. This is not an uncommon attitude when straight women write about close relationships between women, but it still sucks. It was minor enough in this not to take away from most of my enjoyment of the book, but I really don't feel like giving it a higher rating as a result.

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wordwilderness's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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in_love_with_bookish's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Atmospheric, heartbreaking, and creepy, The Sun Down Motel is the story of two women, an aunt, and her niece, and their journey to reveal the dangerous secrets of a small town called Fell and Its continuous violence against women.

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 really don’t want to reveal any details about the plot, I think it’s way better to experience the story as it unfolds without prior information. But I’d say that it's a story told with two different timelines, It has elements of horror, mystery, and drama and It’s all linked together by a string of murders never been solved.

This is my second book by Simone St. James and I really click with this author style so much. The way she tells her stories is very captivating and engaging to me and I find myself really immersed in her stories right from the start.

I think it’s instructive to be awake in the middle of the night every once in a while. To really see what you’re missing while you’re usually sleeping.

The atmosphere is so great in this book; I felt the hair on my arms rising so many times like I was living the story from the inside. I love how the author incorporates the setting as a very alluring yet frightening character in the book and how strong the sense of the place was. The sun down Motel is a living breathing entity that keeps on injecting the story with tension and dread.

I really enjoyed the mystery and how it was revealed to us bit by bit, piece by piece. The two timelines worked perfectly together and I find the symmetry and parallels between what happened in the past and the present really telling and symbolic. The book talks about violence against women and how women have always lived with fear and dread in that small town and seeing the same things happening again reinforces the idea that women are always threatened by and subjected to violence no matter when.

How it was always girls who ended up stripped and dead like roadkill. How it didn’t matter how afraid or how careful you were—it could always be you.

The main characters are people that you can’t help but root for even when they make great mistakes. Even though their motivations are different, they both end up doing the same things, living through the same doubts and fears and searching for the same truth.

I really appreciated the different themes portrayed in this book but I equally enjoyed the mystery/horror elements. There were so many twists that I didn’t see coming. I miss the feeling when I’m taken completely by surprise. And I absolutely love the writing style, the interaction between the characters, the sense of wrongness and dread, the emotions that the characters feel as they start to lose control as they look for answers to their questions.

Some of us like the dark. It's what we know

I really think this author has a lot to offer for this genre. Her books are a great mix of a lot of elements that will keep you invested, engaged, and guessing. I definitely recommend this book.

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bookswithjk's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Absolutely not what I was expecting - there’s ghosts, a haunted motel, a thrilling mystery to solve, and yet I found the ending a little lackluster. I was expecting a final twist with the main villain, and as the story wound down, all I could think echoed Viv’s words: “This was too easy”.

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rachelreadthese's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I LOVED this ghost story.

It completely unsettled me in the best way. I had goosebumps as the story unfurled. The compelling mystery at the center of the story was made even better by the addition of supernatural elements, dual timelines, and powerful female friendships.

It was fantastic.

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moonlitnox's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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coolbeans's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Well, well, well, what have we here? A mystery/psychological/supernatural mashup with relatable characters and an atmosphere you can sink your teeth into? You bet. I had read The Broken Girls by Simone St. James when it came out a couple of years ago. It had that same supernatural mystery type vibe as well. I liked it well enough and thought it was a solid story. The Sun Down Motel swoops past that story and soars off into the shadowy sunset by far for me.

With similar tools as her previous novel, this story alternates between two timelines, one in the 80s and one in 2017. In the 80s, Vivian is hitching her way to New York when she finds herself in Fell, New York working at The Sun Down Motel. Aptly titled because the place gets much of it's business and attention in our narrative during the dark shadows of the night. Viv hears about the strange murders of local women that have happened in the town across the years and decides to do some amateur sleuthing while working the night shift at the motel. In 2017, Carly, Viv's niece, rolls into town to amateur sleuth her way into another mystery, someone's disappearance all those decades ago. You guessed it, her Aunt Viv.

As the timelines alternate and slowly converge into each other, the lights start to turn on in your head and you see just how all of the elements the author threaded through the plot work to give you a haunting but powerful story. Of the seen and unseen. This story had great relatable main characters. Strong main and supporting characters that felt normal and real. Like you could pass them on the street. These heroines weren't superhuman sleuths or helpless princesses. Just normal young women pursuing a fault line that life had opened up at their feet. The setting and atmosphere were also wonderfully dreary and foreshadowing. All elements worked together well.

Spooky, mysterious, unsettling, and tense at times. Loved it. Didn't see a certain major plot piece when it hit the board and it was a game changer for my rating this book even higher. Would recommend if like Scooby Doo, you like your mysteries to be supernatural but also reveal the scary fact that sometimes the true monsters you should be afraid of are still alive and breathing. Blew up my expectations in a good way. Would read more of her books without blinking. 5 out of 5 stars.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book.

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