wendracolleen 's review for:

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

3.0

---

I really enjoyed the ghost element of this book -- I didn't think it was frightening until I couldn't sleep one night and then it crept into my head! I also loved the setting of a rundown motel, frozen in time down to manual phones and door locks that require old-fashioned keys. Finally, the author created an interesting, quirky place in the form of Fell, NY. The characters were interesting, multi-faceted, and relatable, but I confess to being let down by the action-based climax: not so much WHAT happened but how it happened. I think it would have been much harder to achieve than was depicted, though I could definitely tell the research that had gone into making the act seem realistic. I also question what followed the climax -- what we learn about the second big mystery, the mystery that brought the main character to the mysterious little Fell, NY. Maaaybe that would have been possible in the 80s, but...I'm not sure. I wanted more convincing evidence of how this was pulled off, but it was glossed over. Lastly, the death of one secondary character rather surprised me and seemed unnecessarily harsh, not even needed for the plot. That said, I enjoyed the positive note of the ending for the primary characters and, yes, I will be reading more of Simone St. James.