In remote Fell, New York, the Sun Down Motel awaits weary travelers, and each night, the occupancy swells to include a few specters with unfinished business. Can anyone else smell the faint aroma of cigarette smoke or hear the doors opening and closing?

In 1982 Viv Delaney finds herself in Fell, New York and takes a job as the night clerk at The Sun Down Motel. Some thirty-five years later, her niece, Carly, takes the same job at the motel. However, it is not a coincidence. Carly is searching for answers to her aunt’s disappearance.

I enjoyed the two strong female lead characters in this dual- POV, dual-timeline mystery. The author created two similar characters but gave them each a distinct voice making them entwined and distinctly interesting. Simone St. James’ evocative writing creates an incredible sinister atmosphere. From start to finish the eerie sense of foreboding is palpable. The descriptions of upstate New York made me feel like I had visited the area.

Gothic mystery or horror? The Sun Down Motel is a not-so-cozy cold-case mystery investigated by the missing woman’s niece more than thirty years after the fact.

HOT DAMN! This was SO GOOD!

Creepy, chilling, atmospheric, brilliant. Bravo Simone St. James! This book will make you believe in ghosts. Lights turning on and off, doors opening and closing, the smell of cigarette smoke in the air, a hint of perfume, a woman in a floral dress telling you to “run“. After the death of her mother Carly heads to upstate New York with the intention of solving a family mystery. In 1982 Carly‘s aunt Vivian disappeared from the town of Fell, New York never to be seen again. 37 years later and Carly finds herself not only living in the same apartment as her aunt, but also working at the same motel and encountering the same ghosts.

Told in dual timelines from the perspectives of both Carly and Viv. I loved how the two stories mimicked one another but they both had a unique voice to them. I thought that St. James did a marvelous job of showcasing how almost The same investigation was executed 37 years apart. All the technical advancements, computers, cell phones, Internet, however the Sundown motel seems unchanged. Loved puzzling the Mystery together with both Carly and Viv. I have to say these ladies were either much braver or much stupider than me, because I would’ve been so out of there the minute I saw those doors opening and closing! They both really did put themselves in ridiculously dangerous positions, it’s like when you’re watching a scary movie and hoping the person just runs out of the house. I wouldn’t say this book was scary necessarily, but it was a whole lot of creepy! Exceptional storytelling that completely sucked me in and would not let me go until the last word.

This book in emojis 🏨 👻 📓 🚪 💼

*** Big thank you to Berkley for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

I expected a great novel, as I adored Simone St. James ' BROKEN GIRLS; and THE SUN DOWN MOTEL delivered on that expectation and far beyond it. This is a tremendously frightening novel, both in terms of the Supernatural scares (I thought my hair would turn white) and of the horribly-inhuman human frightener--who makes my blood run even colder. It also carries a tremendous impact in terms of Awareness: specifically awareness of how unsafe women and girls are. Yes in 2020 we are familiar with the #MeToo Movement and with the pervasiveness of "rape culture." But in 1982, one of the timelines in this novel, we weren't, unless we had personal experiences, or a loved one or dear friend had suffered. That a tiny little town like St. James' "Fell, New York," tucked off on a lonely highway almost to Canada, has such a HIGH number of murders of women, many of these rape-murders, and many unsolved "disappearances," is both mind-boggling and terrifying, especially that it's tacitly assumed and runs under the radar! Revolting!!


This is not a book to put the reader peacefully to sleep at night. This is a book to raise questions, incite pondering, and inspire activism.

By now, Simone St. James is an auto-read author. Though I still have several to go, I have a good portion of her backlist under my belt and 2018’s The Broken Girls remains a book I enthusiastically recommend. When I heard she had a new novel coming out after a long, long two years, I immediately marked it as To Read – though I had absolutely NO idea what the book was even about. She’s just that great.

Bouncing between New York in 1982 and 2017, The Sun Down Motel follows two young women: Viv, 20, with dreams of becoming an actress; and her niece Carly, obsessed with the story of her aunt’s disappearance three decades ago. Broke and with nowhere else to go, Viv found herself in Fell, a barely-there town that had once had grand visions of becoming a tourist hot spot after an amusement park was announced. The park never amounted to anything, but by then the Sun Down had already been built, its rooms anticipating the flood of families that never arrived.

Viv was hired on as the night clerk, covering the desk and phone from 11pm until 7am and right from the start she knew something wasn’t right about the Sun Down. It was more than the salesman with the creepy smile. No, it wasn’t just the motel room doors that was open as one – even when they had been lock. It wasn’t just the smell of cigarette smoke that would permeate the office, moving about in the wake of some long-gone smoker. It wasn’t even the pool, empty and fenced off.

With the recent death of her mother, Carly is left with just her older brother. Having grown up knowing her aunt had suddenly vanished – but never hearing the full story because her mother refused to discuss it – Carly had become obsessed, searching and looking for anything that might lead her to truths of what happened. Her search leads her to a tiny town off the highway and a seemingly quiet job as the night clerk at a motel.

Simone St. James has outdone herself with this one. I’m calling it now: The Sun Down Motel will ABSOLUTELY appear again on my Top Reads of 2020 list! This is a book I could truly go on and on about – but I don’t want to spoil a single second! In my review of The Broken Girls I mentioned that I’m a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to things that go bump in the night. I will only read horror – or books that have even the tiniest whisper of horror – in broad daylight and stop well before dark, whether I’ve finished the book or not. When I was reading The Broken Girls, Matt was out of town. And by out of town, I meant in a totally different state. But I couldn’t stop reading. While Matt might not have been travelling this time around, The Sun Down Motel had me once again reading a book full of literal ghosts well into the night.

An odd string of disappearances has Viv playing amateur detective, a hobby that ultimately brings about her own disappearance. What Carly uncovers is a bunch of shoddy police reports, a person who wasn’t even reported missing for four days, and minimal time and effort spent searching before wiping their hands clean of things. As the book progresses, plots and details come together and – gah, it’s so hard not to talk about THIS or THAT!

The death of a little boy, a woman who still wanders the site where she died, a photographer-for-hire, a young woman desperately seeking answers about her missing aunt, and that missing aunt – so many voices came together to tell this magnificent tale. The pages flipped by all too quickly and, try as I might, I couldn’t slow myself down. I needed to know what the next page held, what the next chapter would bring. Readings new to St. James have come to the party at SUCH a good time and long-time fans are in for such a treat. This is a writer at the top of her game and I’m already sobbing at the thought of having to wait a year – or longer! – for her next book.

Thanks to a reading friend, I found out about this intriguing book. I had a ride like no other. The atmosphere and feel were like nothing I have read before. Worth the read.

This may be the first 'paranormal' genre for me! This book takes place in both 1982, following Viv, and in 2017, following her niece Carly. All Carly knows about her aunt is she mysteriously disappeared while working at a motel in New York. After her mother dies, she decides to head to Fell, New York and live the life her Aunt Viv did years ago - she gets a job at The Sun Down Motel and lives in the same building she did. She quickly finds out that this motel is stuck in the past, with untold stories waiting to be solved and Carly takes it upon herself to do the detective work. With the help of some unlikely friends from the past and present, she retraces all of her Aunt's steps until she can find peace.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, even though I wasn't sure about a book about ghosts. I didn't find it cheesy or overly unbelievable. While it felt like a bit of a slow burn for me, it worked out in the end, because the story felt complete. At times, it felt a bit repetitive, but I think that was how the story was supposed to be. It kept my on the edge of my seat and I found myself desperate to know how it all played out, even when I thought I knew how it would. The novel was very well written! I will be picking up another one of Simone St. James' books soon.

Carly Kirk has wondered what happened to her aunt Viv who vanished in Fell, New York while working at the Sun Down Motel. She moves to the town and gets the same job her aunt held, night reception clerk at the hotel.

Ghosts of a murder victim who was dumped there while the place was being built, a young boy who fell into the pool and drowned, plus a former clerk who still smokes like he used to there, haunt the place still. Time and the way things are at the motel appear to remain the same as in the 1980s when her aunt was there. As Carly investigates what happened to Viv after she walked out the door one night, she becomes embroiled in the same mysteries her aunt had. Chapters alternated between Carly and Viv’s.

A chilling, unsettling mystery that is also horror with spirits will yank the reader into the storylines of both Viv and Carly.

4 1/2 stars actually.

Creepy motel thriller

I've always enjoyed movies, TV shows, and books about creepy motels, starting with PSYCHO. My husband and I recently watched an older CRIMINAL MINDS show that was really great about - you guessed it - a creepy motel.

The Sun Down Motel sits outside the small town of Fell, New York. It opened in 1979 but not before finding a murder victim at the construction site. Since then other deaths have been associated with the motel.

The story is told mainly from two points of view - Viv in 1982 who is the night shift clerk at the motel and then Carly in 2017, who is Viv's niece and wants to find out what happened to her aunt. She also takes the job of night shift clerk at the motel when she gets to town and starts her investigation.

This is a spooky story with some paranormal aspects but then also looks at a serial killer who has operated in the Fell area for years.

I loved this story and it had a surprising twist at the end that I did not see coming.

I received this book from Berkley Publishing through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

There were some things I really loved about this book a couple things I didn't love so much. This was my first book by this author and one thing I can say for sure is that I will be checking out her other works because the writing and the atmosphere were both fantastic! I loved both of the main characters and the alternate timelines worked really well in this book. I was pretty impressed that the author managed to blend ghosts and a human murder mystery into one story though I wanted a little bit more closure on the ghost stories. I also enjoyed the ending to the book. I knocked my rating down a bit because there was quite a bit of repetitiveness throughout the book which led to some skim reading on my part and there were some slow parts I didn't care for. I also felt that a few parts were a little predictable, which never really bothers me much but it takes a little of the fun out of the read. Overall this was an enjoyable read and I look forward to reading more by this author!

This book!! Wow!

I have been searching for so long for a mystery book that gave me the “heebie jeebies” and I have FINALLY found it! This book was so atmospheric and creepy, and I loved it so much. I am not one to scare easily, but I went to bed a few nights thinking “I may not sleep the greatest” thanks to the incredibly eerie and unnerving vibe this book had.

I was initially hooked by the cover, and was quickly sucked into the plot. I loved how Viv and Carly’s stories ended up mirroring one another and how we learned slowly learned things throughout the two timelines. It was a really interesting way of presenting the story, having Carly investigate and interview the people who knew Viv, while also simultaneously seeing their relationships with Viv in the past.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I would like the murder mystery plot combined with the speculative/paranormal element but apparently it was exactly what I’ve been looking for all this time.

This is the first book I’ve read by Simone St. James but it definitely won’t be the last.

THE SUN DOWN MOTEL by Simone St. James is so creepy it needs a warning label! Early on, I decided to read this one only during the day. It wasn’t until almost the end that I deemed it safe enough to read at night without succumbing to nightmares.

The book begins in November 1982 when twenty-year-old Vivian Delaney, who works the night shift at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York, disappears. Then, we switch to November of 2017 with twenty-year-old Carly Kirk, Vivian’s niece, who has always wondered what happened to her aunt. After her mother passes from cancer, Carly can’t sway her curiosity any longer. Only intending to stay a few days, Carly finds a trail that she can’t stop following. Will she become another missing link to evil?

It took me a bit to figure out why this book creeped me out so much. It’s a good suspense, filled with something evil, plus ghostly beings adding to the mix. It’s not really that scary, but the motel is very creepy. Maybe because I remember the 80s so well, and this motel reminds of places I knew from my travels. It reminds me of an old Alfred Hitchcock movie and I saw the book roll out in my head in black and white. In the end, I realized it was the atmospheric aura of the writing that gave me a sense of dread.

I wasn’t more than a chapter or two in and I was having nightmares. That’s when I stuck to reading only during the day until the very end of the book. By that time, I was really into the characters, even the ghosts, and I wasn’t afraid. As the characters got braver, I did too. To the point that I read almost all night to finish. Going without sleep was worth reading the end of this book in one sitting.

At first, the style of this novel didn’t pull me in completely like the author’s previous books. Whether it was the timeline switches, or the more modern story – this book just felt different. It was a slow build for me, but oh so good once the characters nabbed my attention.

Author Simone St. James is excellent at characterization and it’s my favorite part of this novel. Oh yes, she’s excellent at a gothic setting as well, but that’s like a backdrop to the way she dives into her characters’ psyche. I was so intrigued by all the characters, alive and dead. They really made the book for me. Their stories came alive bit-by-bit through the dual timelines back and forth. It’s that inching forward with tidbits that hint at what’s to come that makes this book so fun to read.

Completely satisfied by the conclusion, I could have read more about the main characters. They entertained me, and I would have gone on for a few more frightful episodes, or loved a peek into their future. But that doesn’t affect my opinion of the novel – it was great just like it was.

Simone St. James has earned her spot on my keeper shelves over and over. Her style has changed since my favorite, THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE, but she’s so consistently entertaining that I can’t imagine not reading every book she writes. If you love a gothic spooktacular, a few shivers and screams, bumps in the night, and characters you’ll run with until the end, THE SUN DOWN MOTEL is waiting for you.

Review by Dorine, courtesy of TheZestQuest.com.

It is only January of 2020 but this will certainly be in my list of top books of the year. I could not get enough of The Sun Down Motel. With each page, each character I met, each story that came together, I was pulled more and more into the story. The ghosts and the visitors to The Sun Down Motel were all intriguing and kept me turning page after page. I couldn’t wait to see how Simone St. James would pull the storylines together at the end of the book.

The dual timelines were written perfectly. They told their own stories while overlapping just enough to not lose the reader's attention. I enjoyed how the characters were portrayed in 1982 and those that were still around in the present were kept similar. They kept their quirks, kept their attitudes, but showed how they grew up in the time that was between. The storylines were easy to follow, quick to read, and had twists and turns that kept me guessing at what would happen next.

The Sun Down Motel is a psychological thriller with a tad of paranormal sprinkled throughout the story. The spooky setting, the creepy customers, and the interesting people of Fells all made this book a must-read.

Simone St. James has become an author I look forward to reading. I previously read and reviewed The Broken Girls on my blog and it was such a good read. She has a way of mixing paranormal (a genre I don't usually read) and such a good plot that I can't help but say no. This book was no different.

There was just something I loved about the creepy, dark motel setting in the small town. The author does a wonderful job creating characters and describing the setting that I felt like I was right there. Yes, there were times I was reading and has to close my book because I got spooked, but in a good way!

I hate to give away and plot twists and clues into how this story ends, so I will just say READ IT! It is the perfect mix of suspense, thriller, paranormal, and mystery. Simone St. James has a way with words that will leave your spine tingling and heart thumping while simultaneously making you mind race with possibilities of how it will all end.

Lucky for you this book is available for purchase today! Get your copy now, you won't regret it! A 5 star read for me!

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for allowing me an eARC to read and give my honest review.

Happy Reading!

The Sun Down Motel is my kind of mystery. I struggle with super graphic books in this genre and I appreciated that this was the perfect creepy reading ride while also not being gory. The suspense factor came from the simple chilling details and I loved that the Sun Down Motel was not just the scene for the novel but also one of the main characters. This book starts off slowly and builds up with both suspense and intrigue.

The dual timelines worked well for me and helped flush out all the details that made me feel invested and drawn in. While I am not normally interested in books regarding the paranormal, the balance was perfect here and this element was not offputting as I worried about when I heard there was a "ghost" aspect of this book. There was just as much of a murder mystery which is definitely more my style so if that is one of your hold-ups, don't fear!

This was my first book by Simone St. James and it won't be my last! Thank you to Berkley Publishing for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This was one hell of a scary read! This haunted motel gave me the chills! The paranormal aspect was on point and I might’ve guessed a few things but it didn’t stopped me from running through the end! Also I avoided reading it at night 🙈... If you like to read scary stuff in October, save this one for sure!

My first thought when I finished binge-reading this book was "Wow! Just wow!!" The author pulled me into this amazing story and I couldn't stop. I devoured it!

This book has it all—murder, an age-old mystery, a creepy ghost story, and a little bit of romance Or maybe just an attraction, who knows what will happen when there are ghosts involved.

Simone's stories are just getting better and better with each book she writes. I'm super excited to see what she has coming next. But in the mean time, I can't recommend this book enough! It was a thrilling page-turner that I can't get out of my mind. Pick it up! You will not be disappointed, I promise.

Thank you netgalley and Penguin for access to this arc.


Hmmm, what to say so as not to give away spoilers. I had to laugh as modern Carly compares Fell, NY to Cabot Cove – the fictional town in “Murder She Wrote” which has one of the highest per capita murder rates in fiction. Fell has an awful lot of people who were murdered, young women specifically. That is part of the fear factor of the book as, at times, both Viv and Carly think how horribly easy it is for someone to disappear, to vanish, to be there one minute and dead soon after. Would anyone miss them, if they were victims of a killer? In a way, they could be any woman walking alone in the late evening on her way home, or alone in her house, or just alone at a time when no one would witness what occurred. Yep, that sent a shiver down my spine because don’t all women, in some corner of their minds and at some time, think this?

The plot is tightly woven with a whopper of an opening teaser that Bad Things are going to happen. We the reader know that some things are going to be done to certain characters and we slowly get details of past victims. This is another part of the fear factor of the story – knowing or guessing about events and then reading, with our hearts in our throats as Viv and Carly try to solve the horror taking place even as it circles around closer to them. Why does the motel go “crazy” at certain times? Who are the people that certain characters see and why are they at the Sun Down Motel? And most of all, what did happen to Viv 35 years ago when she vanished, her body never found?

I wasn’t enamored of one final twist near the end. It wasn’t that this character appeared out of thin air or dramatically changed in the uneasiness I felt about them but it seemed like an attempt to wring an unneeded final scare out of the book after the main attraction had already left me wracked and limp with relief it was over.

As another reviewer I read mentioned, the motel is as much a character in this story as any of the humans and I could feel the supernatural ick permeating it. The paranormal element is just enough without being too much. I also enjoyed my trip back to 1982 – hey, I liked my high waist jeans! – and laughed at the bewilderment of Carly and her friend Heather as to how any of us managed to survive day to day without the Internet or cell phones. Short answer – we did. The number of strong female characters delighted me though I sighed with sympathy as one recounts what she had to put up with in order to be allowed to do the job she loved. Some repetition crept into the story due to the dual timeline but I found that didn’t bother me as I just had to know what happened next. The buddy romance added a light touch of humor but the main takeaway of the story is how far will some people go to see justice done and what price will they pay. B+

It’s 1982 and Viv plans to move to New York City. On the way, she stops in Fell, NY. There she takes a job at the Shttps://smile.amazon.com/review/RTJBDEWKQSBGR/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rvn Down Motel in order to pay her way to the city. Fast forward to 2017. Carly arrives in Fell in order to visit the motel where her Aunt Viv was last seen, thirty-five years ago. Taking the same night clerk’s position as her aunt did, Carly learns that nothing has changed in all those years and she begins to encounter the very same mysteries.

The Sun Down Motel is a compelling, can’t-put-down book. It’s partly a mystery and partly a ghost story, with an original plot and characters. The author balances the story so that the mystery slowly evolves and the suspense builds. It is spooky and atmospheric, with well-written dialogue and descriptions.

This is the first book I have read by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, Ms St James, for writing such a good book. I’m eagerly looking forward to reading your other books and I know I won’t be disappointed!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

Oooh this was really good! It’s an intense & addictive mystery/thriller told through alternate timelines - Viv in 1982 & Carly, her niece, in 2017. It’s executed remarkably well with the two timelines flowing & building off of each other. And the story itself had me HOOKED! I did not expect the more eerie (spooky?) aspect, but it totally worked.

I’m definitely checking out more of this author.

When it comes to thrillers, I’m extremely picky. If I can see the twist coming immediately (i.e. Gone Girl), I automatically dislike the book. But if I don’t see any of it coming, I also get pissed.

The Sun Down Motel was a weird mix of the two – some “twists” were obvious, and others seemed to be placed there as an after-thought by the author to help tie elements of the story together.

Let’s start off with our characters:

Carly – our present day MC who adds absolutely nothing to the plot of this book. Carly likes morbid things, dropping out of college, and being stupid and reckless. I truly think I would’ve given this book 5 stars if Carly wasn’t in it.

Viv – our 35 years in the past MC. Viv was a young, naive girl who just wanted to be anywhere but home. She works at the Sun Down Motel and things get…spooky at night. But then one night she goes missing without a trace – and 35 years later no one knows what happened to her.

Here’s my problem with Carly’s character, the book pretty much went like this:

Viv Chapter: Another night at the Motel. Tonight I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Carly Chapter: I discovered that sometimes, Aunt Viv would eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while she was at work.

That contributes nothing to the overall book. I think the mystery of what happened to Viv could’ve easily been told my a third-person, not present, narrator. All Carly did was rehash things I already knew, or discover something that Viv was going to tell me in the next chapter anyway.

But let’s get to the actual plot part! (well Viv’s plot, Carly’s plot is pretending she’s part of the Mystery Gang). I really loved the mystery of the Sun Down Motel. It was spooky, run-down place that really should’ve been condemned ages ago. During the day its your regular, cheap motel, but at night, things start to go bump in the dark.

The paranormal aspect of this book was intriguing, but I still have so many questions. Is the paranormal limited to just the Sun Down? Or are there similar phenomenons all over the world? Can everyone experience these things? Or do you have to be connected somehow?

I need my ghost stories to explain why there are ghosts dammit.

I did love the town of Fell though, it was small and charming and quirky. I liked that the town had such a long and documented history, that it was slow on becoming modern, and just, everything. Its the type of small town that I would love to spend a week in (thats my limit though, I’m a big city girl).

There were also a lot of side characters, from love interests, police, roommates, and more. A lot of them are forgettable but I absolutely loved Heather. Heather was the most realistic character in the book. She was a little weird, but also rather down to earth. She had her ups and downs, anxiety, her hobbies, and just everything that I love in a character. I wish there was so much more of her.

As for the end…I liked all the action, the plot twists (even the predictable ones), and how different elements of the story came together. But everything was just a little bit too tidy. Other than my full explanation of where the ghosts come from, every other plot element was neatly wrapped up with a little bow – not a single thing left to readers imagination. I know some people enjoy stories that end like this, but I’m not the biggest fan. I want to dream about the ending of SOMETHING – whether its the mystery, the romance, or another random subplot, I don’t need to know it all.

Overall though, it was a fast-paced, interesting read. Am I glad I read it? Yes. Will I be raving about this book from the rooftops? Not a chance.