What a gripping story...kept me on the edge of my seat.

This story fluctuates between the past (1982) and the present (2017) and if you didn't believe in ghosts before you might after reading this book!

Vivian found herself in Fell NY in 1982, not quite where she meant to end up. But because she was young and needed money to continue her journey she took a job at the Sun Down Motel. This motel is just what you might picture in a small town, not on a major road, that doesn't have many occupants. Carly ends up in Fell searching for the truth about what happened to her Aunt Vivian. The truth that is uncovered is mind-blowing!

I enjoyed this book more than I ever expected. It is a mystery, thriller, and suspense all rolled into one and the characters keep you guessing as to what they are thinking or what they will do next. It is definitely a spooky book and I felt a bit apprehensive about what the story was with the ghosts in the motel. Plus a few characters were a bit creepy once you learned their true nature and motives.

I have been a huge Simone St James fan since Silence for the Dead, and have read all of her work. After her last knock-out book, The Broken Girls, I had very high hopes for this one. It did not quite live up to my expectations. Though I appreciated the feminist lens she took to violence against women, I didn’t particularly care for the 80s setting. Her heroines usually have a richer backstory than Carly was given, so I didn’t feel connected to her in the way I have to St James’s other characters. That said, I am glad to have read it and still eagerly anticipate her next book.

Simone St. James has done it again. The ability to create a criminal thriller with supernatural elements is enticing. I'm usually not someone who reads a lot of supernatural or fantastical fiction, but this was excellent.

Viv Delaney arrives in Fell, New York in 1982 and decides to stay long enough to figure out her next move.  In the mean time, she's working night shift at The Sun Down Motel, a shady roadside motel with even shadier guests.

Creepy things are happening during night shift ---doors opening, lights flickering, disembodied voices--- and it doesn't help that Viv has learned there are a few too many unsolved murders in the small town of Fell.

As Viv begins to look into the murders and how The Sun Down Motel may be linked, she befriends a local photographer and the city's only female cop. While the police have never believed the murders of three local women were the work of one killer, Viv pieces together a few clues that make her believe otherwise.  Her friends warn her she's in over her head but the amateur detective has become obsessed with hunting the hunter.

In 2017, Carly Kirk stops in Fell, New York for closure.  Her mother has recently died from cancer and one thing they never discussed was the unsolved disappearance of her mother's sister, Viv.  Viv disappeared some time during her shift at The Sun Down Motel in November 1982, leaving behind her belongings in the office and her car in the parking lot.

Carly answers the wanted ad for a night clerk at the very same motel where her aunt Viv was last seen in hopes of finding answers to her disappeance.  It isn't long before Carly begins to experience the strange events at The Sun Down and learns her aunt disappeared around the same time as a string of unsolved murders in Fell.  Now it's Carly's turn to play amateur detective.  Can she solve the cold cases and finally learn Viv's fate?

This book pulled me in from page one and didn't let me go! I read this book every spare second I had and finished in less than 24 hours.  I loved the mystery, the strong female characters, and the chilling atmosphere!  The paranormal aspect of this book is pitch perfect: eerie without being cheesy or over the top.
The alternating chapters of Viv's and Carly's narratives kept me hooked and I was completely invested in both timelines.  I really enjoyed how Carly's narrative began to mirror Viv's and how readers get to go down the rabbit hole not once but twice as both women attempt to solve the three murders.
The ending was completely solid and I absolutely loved the timing of events and how everything is solved.  An overall excellent and well-executed plot!

If you love the mystery/thriller genre with some ghost story vibes, this is absolutely a book worth picking up!

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  The Sun Down Motel is scheduled for release on February 18, 2020.

I finished this book last week, and it is still on my mind. You know that's the mark of an excellent book. Living in Daytona Beach, we have a lot of motels like Sun Down, and it gives me the chills to drive by them now. The characters are engaging, even the ghosts! I loved the ending. This book is the perfect mix between ghost story and murder mystery. The first few chapters I read during the day because I didn't want to go to sleep with the ghosts on my mind. Kuddos to the author!

This book was everything!! It’s been a while since I have read a book that actually had me scared. I had to stop reading multiple times because it was getting too scary for me. And then the mystery of this book! It was perfect!! Definitely a must read for people who enjoy spooky mystery reads!

I've come to expect a lot from Simone St. James and she has yet to disappoint! I thoroughly enjoyed and was adequately creeped out by this one. And I adore the cover!

I really like how Simone St. James blends supernatural events and human criminal activities. Her books are consistently creepy and entertaining - she's become one of my favorites.

What a fantastic read! I really didn't know where the author was going with this one, and I admit I didn't see the twist. But it so appealed to my love of both ghost stories and thrillers, and the narrative was pulled off so wonderfully. Character development in some cases is a little shaky, but not on a level that does the story any harm.

What a chilling, thrilling, amazing story. I absolutely love books with characters telling their tale from two different time periods. The combination of a murder and a wretched motel equals a thriller which will be easily devoured in one sitting.

Although not a book I would purchase in my professional life, it is one that I will be recommending in my volunteer life. Definitely small-town creepy, but in a very good way!!!

Honestly, it is impossible not to find Simone St. James's books absolutely engrossing. This is the kind of book that, once you reach the last 100 pages in particular, you won't be able to stop reading until you've reached the conclusion. The Sun Down Motel features the story of Viv, who ends up unexpectedly working as a night clerk at The Sun Down Motel when she wanders into town in 1982, and her niece, Carly, who arrives in Fell, NY in 2017 to research Viv's inexplicable disappearance shortly after she arrived in town. Viv's part of the story answers the questions Carly is posing, and the answers are truly frightening- and I'm not just referring to the super spooky paranormal occurrences at the motel. Carly walks very closely in Viv's footsteps, and the closer she walks, the more dangerous it seems to be. The answers to who the good guys are doesn't always have simple answers in this one. I've been reading Simone St. James for years now, and with this and The Broken Girls, an always excellent author has seemingly truly broken through to new realms of popularity and storytelling, and I hope The Sun Down Motel continues her trajectory!

The perfect amount of spooky, creepy and mystery!

I read The Broken Girls last year and was totally spooked-this one brought on all the same emotions and possibly more.

Even from the dedication I knew I was gonna love it.

Carly is totally awesome! I'm sure we'd be friends- her obsession with everything macabre and dark would guarantee we would be friends. The disappearance of her aunt 35 years ago haunts her and draws her like a moth to a flame to Fell, NY.

As the book went on, I definitely had some theories. Some of them panned out and others were sooo wrong!

I also kept thinking 'please, please, don't let this person be involved! I like them too much.'.

The setting is so creepy! St. James knows how to freak a girl out. Even as she reads during broad day light with the light on. Her descriptions are just plain eerie.

I LOVE the dual timeline! The switch between Carly and Viv's POV is definitely interesting. The pacing kept me on my toes because as one POV finishes and figures out something the chapter ends and the POV changes. Suspenseful and at times frustrating!

It's not a bloodbath, I don't recall any super gruesome or gory scenes. There's cussing and mentions of drug use.

Miss James does it again!

Short review: creepy, spooky and mysterious!

The Sun Down Motel was something I wasn’t expecting. I was hooked by the My Favorite Murder dedication to Murderinos. I thought I was going to be reading a psychological thriller...little I know I was stepping into a horror story. I don’t normally read this genre, but it lived up to it’s scary promise--murderous ghosts and all. The flashback between the decades made it all the more interesting. Recommended.

I loved this paranormal psychological thriller told from two perspectives 35 years apart. Well paced with great character development and surprise twists, this page turner kept me reading late into the night, Strongly recommended.

As a Murderino, a nerdy girl, an odd girl this book gave me life, I was enraptured from start to finish. The Sun Down Motel invoked all of my love for mystery, true crime, and the spooky.

It is 2017. Carly Kirk, the main character of the Sun Down Motel leaves her home to move to Fell, a sleepy town in upstate New York, in order to try to solve the mystery of her aunt Viv's disappearance while living there 35 years earlier in 1982. Following closely in her aunt's footsteps, she ends up getting a job at the same motel her aunt worked at, and as she slowly starts unraveling the mystery, more questions arise. St. James delivers a haunting, creepy story that moves back and forth in time, progressing through a recounting of Viv's experience in Fell, and following Carly's determined search for answers. The writing is smooth and deliberate, maintaining the suspense throughout.

First I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have never read Simone St. James before. And I am so excited to read her other books! I really liked this one. It checked all the boxes for me. I loved the murder mystery. I loved how she didn't just include ghosts, but she gave them meaning and a purpose. I liked how I had the feeling about some of the characters being more than who they said they were but I enjoyed the twists. They didn't come from left field nowhere. They made sense and were believable. I like the pace she told the story at and the way she wove the past and present together for the right amount of time and at the right times. LOVED this book! I will be reading more St. James.

Simone St. James recently shifted from writing historical ghost stories to a more modern setting with "The Broken Girls" (2018), which was very good. St. James continues with the modern ghost story in "The Sun Down Motel," set in upstate New York, moving between the present and 1982. Puzzled by her Aunt Viv's disappearance in 1982, Carly Kirk, a restless and curious young adult, leaves her Illinois town for New York to learn more about her Aunt Viv and the mystery surrounding her vanishing. Carly quickly slips into her aunt's routine, locating a place to stay in the same building, possibly even the same room, as Viv, and going to work at the same run-down roadside motel. As the weeks pass, Carly meets many ghosts from her aunt's past -- those living and the ones haunting the motel grounds. Interweaving the past and the present, murders pile up and St. James builds just the right amount of tension, suspense and dread.

An excellent mystery for Murderinos and mystery lovers alike! All of us who live off of True-Crime podcasts long to stumble upon a mystery like the Sun Down Motel's haunted ghosts. Although parts were solved a bit conveniently, overall I'd highly recommend this to friends and patrons.