A review by in_love_with_bookish
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

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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