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A review by lydiavsbooks
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.25
An enjoyable fun mystery that spans two timeliness, which I always like: leading up to the dissappearance of one woman, and years later another woman investigating the disappearance. A really fun combination of horror and thriller, it won't scare you but it does have a good amount of spooky ghosts alongside a thrilling mystery.
The main thing that I think prevented me from enjoying this more than I did was that I found the 2 perspectives really hard to differentiate between. We follow 2 main characters from 2 different timeliness but both had the same tone and way of thinking and talking which made it really confusing to keep up with who did what. To some extent I think that happened woth most of the characters, there was no distinguishable tone or voice for any of the characters. I also can't say I found either main character overly likeable, I don't know if its just me but there was definitely a 'not like other girls' vibe about both of them which I got a bit sick of reading. There was also a comment made about gay men, which I understand was written within the 1980s perspective but I'm not sure it was needed and it was a tad uncomfortable.
The plot, although it didn't shock me or blow me away definitely kept my attention, I was intrigued throughout and satisfied by the ending. The Stephen King references could've easily felt kinda gimmicky but I actually enjoyed the little nods to classics of the genre.
The main thing that I think prevented me from enjoying this more than I did was that I found the 2 perspectives really hard to differentiate between. We follow 2 main characters from 2 different timeliness but both had the same tone and way of thinking and talking which made it really confusing to keep up with who did what. To some extent I think that happened woth most of the characters, there was no distinguishable tone or voice for any of the characters. I also can't say I found either main character overly likeable, I don't know if its just me but there was definitely a 'not like other girls' vibe about both of them which I got a bit sick of reading. There was also a comment made about gay men, which I understand was written within the 1980s perspective but I'm not sure it was needed and it was a tad uncomfortable.
The plot, although it didn't shock me or blow me away definitely kept my attention, I was intrigued throughout and satisfied by the ending. The Stephen King references could've easily felt kinda gimmicky but I actually enjoyed the little nods to classics of the genre.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Gore, Violence, Murder, Rape, Death, and Homophobia