Special thanks to Simone St. James, Berkley & NetGalley for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

Ghosts are real, this book is creepy as hell & you need to read it ASAP. That's the review.

Okay, I'll fill in a bit more. Now, I know a lot of people don't like supernatural stuff. With that said, if ghosts aren't your thing, please give this book a chance. Honestly, there are ghosts, spirits, dark energy present within the pages of The Sun Down Motel. For me, the bulk of the story fits has a true-crime vibe.

The dual timelines are great. We float back & forth as we try to find out what really happened to Carly's Aunt Viv. St. James weaves these timelines perfectly. There are many overlapping elements that make it damn near impossible to put the book down.

Read The Sun Down Motel if you're into crime novels or you grew up watching Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Broken Girls is one of my favorite reads because it's thrilling, memorable & creepy. Simone St. James writes a fantastic, binge-worthy thriller & it gets all the stars from me.

I was so intrigued by the blurb for The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James that I immediately hit the request button.

Blurb–
The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn’t right at the Sun Down, and before long she’s determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…


This book is told in alternating POVs. One chapter is Viv in 1982 working the night shift and experiencing the weird goings on at The Sun Down Motel. She sets out to solve the murders of several young women in the area and goes missing in the process. The next chapter is Viv’s niece Carly in 2017, also working the night shift at The Sun Down and piecing together her aunt’s life in the weeks and months the led up to her disappearance.

I absolutely loved the way this mystery is laid out and by the time the timelines converged toward the end I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to Viv and find out if she had really solved the cases of the murdered women in Fell, but also to see if Carly would make it out of the Sun Down alive. Viv and Carly are supported by an amazing cast of mostly female secondary characters and they gave so much life to this story, especially Heather, Carly’s roommate and mystery solving sidekick.

This gothic horror/mystery was everything I had hoped it would be when I read the blurb. There is even a lighter romance between Carly and a man who returns to town after being gone for years after the murder of his younger brother that satisfied by romance loving heart. This book had just the right amounts of creepy horror and suspenseful mystery and I loved it. Highly recommend. Final grade- A

ARC/Netgalley

This is a fun plane or vacation read for fans of suspense. I thought the premise was great and the scenes at the motel were legitimately scary. The dialogue felt a little hokey to me and didn't quite live up to my expectations for a great guilty pleasure read.

“Some of us like the dark. It’s what we know.”-Simone St. James, The Sun Down Motel

I haven’t read a book this creepy in a long time, y’all. I. Am. Here. For. It.

Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an early copy! I thought this was a fantastic follow up to the author’s previous work, The Broken Girls. It uses a dual-timeline format, always risky for me as I usually end up liking one timeline more than the other and it detracts from my overall feelings about the book, however, it was perfectly done here. I enjoyed both timelines equally and was never bored with either!

Part ghost-story, part whodunnit, I ADORED the fiercely determined women who were the primary characters of both timelines, and I especially enjoyed how everything was wrapped up in the end. I enjoyed The Broken Girls, but friends, this one is even smoother, more polished, and definitely spookier!

Highly recommended if you’re in the mood for a seriously haunting tale.

As much as I enjoyed the authors previous book, The Broken Girls, I freaking loved this one even more! It had the perfect blend of straight up mystery, dual timelines that flipped back and forth seamlessly and just enough of a supernatural element to scare me, but not so much that I couldn’t read it. For me to truly enjoy a thriller with the hint of the supernatural I really have to believe that the scenario is plausible and what made this one amazing for me was that it was not only believable, it was so well written and thought out that I could easily (almost too easily) picture this happening.

Is there a setting more creeptastic than an old, rundown and possibly haunted hotel in the dead of night? After reading this I’m gonna have to say no because this truly scared me to death. You have Viv working at the hotel in the eighties and then her niece, Carly who is basically living her aunts life in order to find out what happened to her in 2017. This was beyond atmospheric and I felt like I was right next to both women the entire time because the author was so great at setting a scene. it was seriously hair raising stuff. If you’re hesitant because of the supernatural stuff, please don’t be it adds so much to the story and I promise that it makes sense to the storyline. This is a must read for sure!

I’m going to predict right now that Simone St. James’ latest novel The Sun Down Motel lands on my Best of 2020 list. This book, hands down, blew me away, and there’s no way I’m going to be able to write anything here that will do it justice. I devoured the book in less than 24 hours and it had me so hooked that I simply refused to put it down and do anything else until I knew how it ended.

The story follows two young women, Viv and Carly, 35 years apart, who both become entangled in the secrets that haunt an old run-down, roadside motel called the Sun Down Motel, located in the tiny town of Fell, New York. In 1982, Viv Delaney was working as a night clerk at the motel when she unexpectedly went missing and was never heard from again. In 2017, we meet Carly, who is actually Viv’s niece and who has left college and come to Fell, NY, trying to find the truth about what happened to her aunt. When Carly visits the Sun Down, while trying to retrace her aunt’s footsteps, she sees they are looking for a new night shift clerk, her aunt’s old shift. Carly can’t explain why but she feels compelled to take the job while she’s in town looking for leads on Viv. And that’s when strange things start happening at the Sun Down Motel, like something out of The Twilight Zone. The strange happenings at the Sun Down, as well as the mystery and secrets that surrounded them, absolutely enthralled me, as did the use of the dual timeline to show Viv investigating them in 1982 and then Carly experiencing and investigating the same things 35 years later in 2017. Would Carly find out what happened to Viv all those years ago…or would Carly disappear as well?

I don’t want to say anything else because both Carly and Viv’s journeys are best experienced with as few spoilers as possible going in. I will say though that this is absolutely one of the most suspenseful, atmospheric, mysterious, and haunting books I’ve read in a long time.

Simone St. James once again blends mystery, thriller with a touch of the supernatural to tell an engrossing, page turning tale. I'm a sucker for dual timelines and this device worked well to tell the story of Carly & Vivian. The town of Fell is a rich character itself, a place untouched by time, a place where anything can happen.
The character of Nick seemed an afterthought to me and the story would have been fine without him but Vivian & Carly were well developed and intriguing. This would be a great book for a book club and would guarantee lively discussion.

Completely addictive, riveting, and engaging, The Sun Down Motel is the latest supernatural thriller from Simone St. James. A dual timeline tale of two women thirty-five years apart looking for answers to a series of disappearances, it contains the eerie, haunted tone I expect from this author’s work together with an excellent, engrossing mystery which had me finishing the story in a single sitting.

In 1982, a fight with her mother has young Viviane – Viv – Delaney fleeing her small Illinois hometown for New York City. A hitchhiking experience gone wrong lands her in quiet Fell, NY at the Sun Down Motel, a rather shabby roadside inn. The owner is in the office, frustrated that an employee has quit and she will have to work all night after having been there all day. She makes a deal with Viv: Viv can stay for free, if she agrees to take a nap for the next few hours and then cover the graveyard shift. It’s a good bargain for the fiscally challenged girl and she accepts. She finds herself staying in Fell and working at the Sun Down for more than just one night, developing a deep fascination with the history of the place and the creepy events that take place when daylight fades and the Sun Down spooks come out to play. She is especially interested in the years old murder of a young woman whose body was found at the motel’s construction site when it was first being built.

In 2017 Carly Kirk sets out from her Illinois hometown determined to find some answers regarding her Aunt Viv who vanished while working the night shift at a seedy upstate New York motel. It’s as if Fell has been waiting for her. She quickly makes a friend of Heather, a fellow murderino, who wants to help her find out what happened to her aunt and luck results in Carly filling the vacant position of the graveyard shift at the Sun Down, the same job Viv held before her disappearance. Carly begins to retrace Viv’s last days, slowly realizing that it isn’t just the mystery of one young woman she is investigating, but many. It seems Fell had a big problem in the 80s, a killer who had moved carefully, silently among them murdering girls at will. Is he why Viv vanished? Or do the strange occurrences at the spooky hostelry hide something else, something ageless, angry and deadly which is still actively looking for victims?

There is no gradual buildup of suspense with this story. The very first line of the novel is “The night it all ended, Vivian was alone.” and the tension just ratchets up from there as we become increasingly obsessed with what ended and what happened to the solo Vivian. The Sun Down, the titular center of our tale, is a large part of what creates the narrative’s aura of apprehension. It abounds with inexplicable scents, sounds and spectral apparitions from the moment we first enter. But it’s not just the building. The whole town seems to be under a baffling sense of menace, as if the community is simply waiting for – and willing to accept – the next weird, incomprehensible event to occur. This dire atmosphere serves as a deliciously ominous backdrop to our rather sinister tale.

The heroines serve as both a calming antidote to the gloomy ambience and as a catalyst for the final, explosive events. Obviously, their interest in the deaths/disappearances of young women are the spark that drives our story, but they are delightful, funny, quirky young people who serve as a reminder that good can conquer evil. Carly and her friends, especially, add light to this otherwise dark tale. Heather, like Carly, is a woman with an interest in true crime. Unlike Carly, she has no personal connection to it, just a deep fascination with solving real life puzzles. Her idiosyncrasies are endearing and her quiet, thoughtful nature offsets some of the frantic pace of the plot. Carly is an utter joy – humorous but intense, and intelligent. Early in the story she meets the gorgeous but emotionally damaged Nick, who has his own tragic tie to Fell and his own peculiar penchant for the Sun Down. Their romance adds a sweet note to what could easily have been a horrifying, bitter story. All three of them bring unique skills to the investigation and become deeply involved in seeing the mystery through to its end.

Viv’s portion of the novel is understandably darker. One of the first things she tells us is that it’s “always girls who ended up stripped and dead like roadkill. It didn’t matter how afraid or how careful you were – it could always be you.” Naturally, a woman with such a macabre viewpoint would have friends who skirted the more dangerous areas of life. Those friends are awesome but a large part of the tale hinges on what happens to/around Viv so I don’t want to give anything about her storyline away. I will say that she is utterly wonderful. Strong, resourceful, bright, beautiful – she’s an amazing young woman. My heart was pounding as I neared the end of the book since I both wanted to know and feared what happened to this glorious girl.

Ms. St. James has perfected her prose style for these gothic mysteries, and her atmospheric storytelling delivers a truly vivid sense of imminent danger with every turn of the page. She skillfully combines both elements of the tale – the supernatural menace and the real life villains – to convey the intense sense of peril felt by the heroines. Some writers tell you a story and others invite you into one. With this book, Ms. James definitely does the latter. I was especially impressed that she was able to do this in a modern setting. Our high-tech western society tends to dispel any belief in things/events that don’t have practical, logical explanations but the author weaves the paranormal elements so adroitly into her text that you don’t need to believe in ghosts to accept the Sun Down Motel is haunted.

I’ve enjoyed all of Ms. St. James’ novels to varying degrees but The Sun Down Motel is easily one of my favorites. I have no hesitation in recommending it very highly to anyone who even thinks they might be in the mood for a good mystery and is willing to open their mind to the idea that there are indeed more things in heaven and earth than they have dreamt of .

I do not do horror well. I will sometimes read the occasional creepy novel, especially if there is a mystery involved. This one sounded perfect because it had a murder mystery and I have heard only good things.

Well friends, the hype is real. This book creeped me out. While I didn’t have nightmares, I didn’t exactly sleep well. I finished this book in under 24 hours because I had to know what was going on.

I don’t feel like there was ever a lag in the story. There were a few times when it was easy to guess what was happening, but the creep factor is definitely there. You wouldn’t catch me doing what Carly did. There were so many of those “What are you thinking?!” moments. I actually really liked the way the book ended.

I don’t want to give much of the story away, but if you like spooky mysteries this may be for you.

"Something hasn’t been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why in this chilling new novel from the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.

Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt."

The mysteries of motels have always fascinated me.

You've heard of off-off Broadway. The Sun Down is off-off-off the beaten path -- a roadside motel in Upstate New York that never had a heyday even when it was brand-new in the late '70s. If the rundown Sun Down could talk, what tea would it spill? Spoiler alert -- it sort of, kind of can, and tea isn't all that's spilled there.

This is the second Simone St. James book I've read, with the first being Lost Among the Living. This author knows how to construct a creepy setting. The Sun Down Motel is itself a character and St. James develops this character with the creepiest imagery: "...the long leg of the L stretching away from her, the rows of doors, the feeble beams from the overhead lightbulbs, some of them burned out like broken teeth." Main protagoniste duties are split between Viv in 1982 and Viv's niece, Carly, in 2017. Both timelines are equally compelling, which makes for a page-turning mash-up of ghost story, murder mystery, thriller.

[I received a copy of this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.]

From my blog: Always With a Book:

This is the third book I've read by Simone St. James and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers of atmospheric thrillers. I have loved each book just a little bit more and find her writing style to be so addicting and all-consuming.

I love when the setting or in this case, a building, has such a presence, that it almost becomes another character in the book. The Sun Down Motel is such a huge part of this book that it definitely feels as if it's another character, a dark, ominous one at that. Strange things happen at this hotel and the more you read, the more invested you become, desperate to find out just what went on.

I am always a sucker for a good dual narrative and the one that Simone St. James gives us is done so well. You can't help but become totally caught up in both, wanting to be in both time lines the whole time - at least that's how I felt. Both characters, Viv and Carly, were so well-developed. I could feel the intensity and at times, I did get a little creeped out, but it's a ghost story and while not outright scary, it does become creepy in some parts.

This book will keep you guessing all the way to the very end...and I love books like that. It is a totally binge-worthy type of read that you won't want to put down once you start reading it - just don't start right before bed, especially if you're home alone.

Oh wow! Another fantastic hair-raising, bone-chilling read by the talented Simone St. James!

Fell, NY is a small town plagued with mysterious disappearances of young women and strange deaths in the 80s. One of the women who vanished without a trace is Carly's aunt, Viv Delaney, who was the night clerk working at The Sun Down Motel. Viv's disappearance did not sit well with Carly, and so after the recent death of her mother and thirty-five years later, Carly arrives in Fell, hoping to solve this family mystery.

First of all, look at the cover! Absolutely gorgeous isn't it?! The cover itself already wow-ed me! As always, the writing and storytelling held my interest. There were super creepy and bone-chilling moments and I actually had to stop reading it at night. It is not what you see that is creepy; it is what you don't see but feel and hear that gets to me. I enjoyed the plot and how Carly investigates the mystery. The twists and turns were unexpected at times and predictable at other times. This story is narrated from Carly and Viv's POVs so it is a dual timeline story. I liked this type of narration as it allows me to understand the story from these characters and see the connection between them.

Overall, The Sun Down Motel did not disappoint. I enjoyed the story albeit it was somewhat predictable towards the end. If you enjoy mysteries with some eerieness and spookiness in the mix, this may be the book for you! It is a fast-paced story and will keep you at the edge of your seat!

Pub. Date: Feb 18, 2020

***I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed in this review are my own and was not influenced by the author, publisher or any third party.***

Though the Sun Down Motel was built in the 1970s that sign on the cover of the book reminded me of the many such signs passed as my family traveled back in the 50s and 60s. Looking back, there was something chilling and spooky about those signs and with that thought I was ready to take on St. James' mystery. It's 2017 and Carly was too curious not to head for Fell, NY with her small inheritance to see if she can find answers to her Aunt Viv's disappearance 35 years before. In 1982 her Aunt Viv made an unplanned stop in Fell and ended staying to make money before she headed to New York City to make a name for herself. She just never left. In alternate story lines each lady tells her story, and there's no doubt as their characters portray they are definitely related and curious ladies. Of course the big similarity is they both have the night time job at the Sun Down Motel, a motel that is it's own character in the story. For Viv a job for Carly a way to find the answers she seeks. Carly soon finds that Viv was not the only one to disappear and every night her job takes her to the ghostly and spooky dark motel while by day she seeks answers. Viv's story rolls into Carly's and they along with the motel bring the mystery to a satisfying conclusion.

Summary
In 1982 Vivian Delany disappeared from the Sun Down Motel night shift. Now 35 year later, Carly is in Fell, NY to try and figure out what actually happened to the aunt she never knew. But Fell and the Sun Down have secrets and a dark past.

Overview
➸ POV: 3rd person, alternating timelines 1982 from Vivian's POV and 2017 from Carly's POV

➸ Vivian Delany: 20, Born in Illinois, Left home to travel to New York, Landed in Fell NY, Works the night shift at the Sun Down Motel

➸ Carly Kirk: 20, From Illinois, Recently lost her mother, Traveling to Fell NY to learn about her aunt who mysteriously disappeared

➸ Content Warnings: Cancer, Death of a loved on, Grief, Murder, Sexual Assault, Stalking

My Thoughts
This was so spooky and atmospheric! One of the things I love most about this author's writing and books are her settings. And this was definitely no exception! The Sun Down felt like it's own character. It was so eerie and vivid and I loved learning about the motel's past and secrets. I love a setting that feels like it might be real, and The Sun Down definitely gave me that!

I also love the way that Simone St James balances the mystery and paranormal/thriller aspects of her stories. I was completely invested in both aspects and was desperately trying to figure out how they tied together. The mystery was so well woven and constantly had me guessing. This one was more ghosty than Broken Girls and I was definitely pretty spooked at certain points!

Lastly, I was living for the feminist themes of this story. There were so many strong women in this story (just like Broken Girls). They were all flawed, unlikeable at times, and had such depth to their characters. I will forever be here for a book with women supporting women. If you're looking for a spooky, thriller full of female empowerment, this is your book!

My one complaint, and the thing that kept this from a full 5 stars, was that information-wise, the alternating chapters overlapped quite a bit near the end. Something would be reveled in one timeline then we'd have to read about the other timeline discovering the same thing. And I was so desperate to learn more, it slowed down the pace more than I wanted.

Overall, I loved this eerie, paranormal mystery/thriller. Simone St James is definitely an all time favorite thriller author for me. I love the way she blends genres, tackles important subject matters, and weaves a mystery that will leave you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. I'm already anticipating whatever she writes next!

This is the newest novel from St. James, who is from Toronto. Her last novel was 'The Broken Girls'. Like that one this is a thriller with some elements of the supernatural. The story is told in two time periods. In 2017 we follow the life of Carly who after the death of her mother goes to a small town in upstate New York to figure out what happened to her mom's sister, Vivian. She disappeared from there in 1982 and in alternating chapters we follow Vivian as she settles in that town, gets a job as a night clerk at the Sun Down Motel and figures out that there is a serial killer targeting young women. Determined to get the truth and with some help from ghosts that haunt the hotel, she investigates. Carly retraces her steps, including the visits by the ghosts as she works at the same hotel, to get at the truth. The creepy atmosphere of the motel and the good mystery combine to form an entertaining read.

Not sure if this was one of Simone St James' best, but I still enjoyed reading it. It's deliciously creepy -- so read this during the DAY with all the lights ON ;) Creepy hotel, mysterious ghosts, a serial killer... this new novel ticks lots of boxes and keeps the suspense going throughout!

The Sun Down Motel, by Simone St. James, is part thriller, part supernatural mystery, part feminist manifesto, and every step of the way will keep you guessing as to where this story will go next! This was a fantastic read and fans of mystery and captivating storytelling will love this book!

The story takes place between 1982 and 2017, as Carly, in 2017, investigates the disappearance of her Aunt Viv in 1982. As she tracks her Aunt’s last days in Fell, NY, she takes the same job her aunt had at the Sun Down Motel and begins to investigate the deaths of 3 different women in Fell in the late 70s and early 80s, just as her aunt did 35 years before.

I saw a few other reviews before I requested this from NetGalley and so I knew that this was one getting good reviews, but I honestly wasn’t entirely sure that I was going to like the supernatural aspect of this book. However, it worked really well and added so much to the overall story. There were so many badass female characters in this story too - and I was rooting for them every step of the way. By the time I made it to the last few chapters, I was gasping out loud nearly every few pages and was left satisfyingly stunned as I read the last page.

This is going to top my recommendations to friends in 2020 and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the free electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book was super fun and spooky, but I ultimately couldn't get into the mystery aspect of it just because I think it was a little too camp-y for my taste? I still had a lot of fun reading along, though and did find it genuinely eerie reading it alone at night.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I could not put this book down! It was the perfect thriller with a haunted hotel, a girl running the night-shift, a creepy town where people go missing, and ghosts. I loved everything about the new book by Simon St. James. This was my first time reading anything from this author and she did not disappoint!! I know I'll be adding her other books to my tbr list. Thank you to @netgalley and @Berkley for allowing me to read this early readers’ copy for an honest review.

In 1982 Viv Delaney takes her savings and runs away from her newly single mother and younger sister with the idea of going to New York to become an actress. She wasn't the type to want to stay in the small town of Grishma all her life like her perfect younger sister. She doesn't get very far and ends up in Fell, New York and working as a night-shift clerk at the local Sun Down Motel. While working there strange things began to happen like the smell of smoke in the room at 3 am and then it disappearing, an anguished women appearing in front of her car and telling her to run, someone pushing her after locking her in a room, etc.
Also told in Viv’s nieces POV in 2017. Carly has heard all her life of her mother's older sister who had gone missing in 1982 and the local authority's never finding a body or closing up the case. Her mother had said that Vivian wasn't missing and she was dead whenever she asked as a child about her aunt. Carly has followed mystery's all her life and with the passing of her mother recently from cancer she realizes that life is to short and she has always wanted to find out what actually happened to her aunt Vivian all those years ago. So she takes time off from college and goes to Fell, New York looking for answers. Upon arriving in the small town she begins also working as a night-shift clerk at the Sun Down after seeing that they are hiring. The motel hardly has any visitors and is run down and outdated, but the owners have said it would cost more to sell it then it does make. Her second night there she begins to have strange things happen to her at 3 am and is told the hotel is haunted. Carly begins researching on her own and with the help of Nick (who lives at the motel) and Heather(her roommate) to find out what secrets the Sun Down Motel and the town of Fell are keeping.