Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Sun Down Motel

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! The setting, in particular, was really strong and the transitions between 1982 and 2017 were really tangible. Some of the characters were so pleasantly strange in a very human way. The juxtaposing of Nick, the former delinquent Carly meets as an under the table resident of a run down motel with Callum, the library volunteer who's way too invested in her search for what happened to her aunt is really well done.

This book was really fucking weird in a highly consumable way.

there was some things that felt like compulsory heterosexuality on my first read through, but to be honest, I think I've just been reading a lot of queer stuff recently, and all this book did was clearly characterize Carly as straight. Vic's cancer coming back at the end of the book, so close to her saying she's cancer free and learning her sister also died of cancer felt a bit out of place to me, but it's also real life and real life issues that do happen being presented within the frame of a thriller. I'm not a fan of the pro-cop rhetoric, but at the same time, I did like Alma as a character.

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killmoore_'s review

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was so fun.

A haunted motel. A thrilling mystery. Ambitious and intelligent MC who very much kept the vibe of "young girl" alive - there were so many points that were beyond frustrating, but it felt intentional because it was exactly what an early 20 something would do in that situation. Intelligence gets you nowhere without the life experience to back it up.

The ending was a bit meh in comparison to rest of the book, but it does end wrapped up in a nice little package, complete with a budding romance bow that normally isn't my cup of tea, but in this situation it was nice.

Overall, I truly enjoyed The Sun Down Motel, and would love to see a movie or mini series adaptation - just don't cast Cory Michael Smith as Hess please, because that's who I kept imagining and I just can't with it.

Content Warnings

timidizzy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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? No

4.25

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mzynda's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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thejenstamps's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

This could have been an excellent book. But unfortunately the writing was too distracting. There were a few inconsistencies in the book like, “I left my phone in the office” and a paragraph later, “still sitting in the car, my phone it was 1:20 am”

Too many characters that were described in the book that truly had nothing to do with the plot and were more of a distraction.

Towards the end it got a little too campy/chummy for me and the lose ends (of the characters) felt forced.

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westeggspinster's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

sehenry20's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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