⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 Stars
Happy pub day to Simone St, James and Murder Road! Thank you to @simonestjames, BerkleyPublishing Group( @berkleypub ), and NetGalley ( @netgalley ) for allowing me to read this book for an honest review!

📅 Today, March 5, 2024 was the pub date for Murder Road. 📅

Oh em geeee! Simone St. James has done it again. I dub her queen of paranormal psychological thrillers! I was so thrilled to be approved for this ARC because Simone St. James has become one of my favorite authors over the years. She is auto-buy and auto-read author!

To be honest, I’ve never really enjoyed books with ghosts because they freak me out but I’ve read several of St. Jame’s books and cannot put them down!

The Sundown Motel ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Broken Girls ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Book of Cold Cases ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Other Side of Midnight ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Most of Simone’s writing makes me feel cold and frozen in fear as I sit on my couch reading. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a chicken! But I can’t help it, I just keep coming back for more!

A newly married couple heads out for their honeymoon but finds themselves suspects in a murder that took place on a road right outside of Coldlake Falls. Both Eddie and April know that they did not murder a hitchhiker but they can’t help but think that something pulled them to Coldlake Creek like a magnet. Both feel a strange sense of familiarity. Can they solve the mystery pertaining to how they ended up in the city as well as the endless murders that have taken place amongst Atticus Line over the years?

I highly recommend this book to any reader! However, it’s a must read for lovers of thrillers, paranormal reads, and horror. You won’t be disappointed and I can guarantee this will be a read that keeps you up late at night declaring that you just want to read “one more chapter.”

Highlights:
✨90s vibe: The setting is July 1995, and Simone St. James vividly portrays all the tiny details of the time period. I distinctly remember the Kurt Cobain poster back in tbr day! 😂
✨Thriller Tropes: The mix of a serial killer and the urban legend of the “Lost Girl” creates a perfect amount of eeriness, spookiness, and creepiness to produce an addictive ghost story.
✨Quirky Side Characters: Our main characters meet some locals who bring a lighter tone to their story. Among them, Rose stands out with her dry humor and admiration for Princess Diana. And the Snell Sisters, who are amateur detectives, feel like a sister version of The Hardy Boys.
✨Narration: I paired the ebook with the audiobook. Brittany Pressley, one of my favorite narrators, expertly performed all the characters in the book. Despite its large cast, I had no trouble following the story. When the Lost Girl character appeared, Pressley's whispers gave me chills - it was perfection! I highly recommend this format to anyone who loves a good audiobook!

Simone St. James's Murder Road is the story of a young couple who finds themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road. The story is set in 1995 Michigan. Two days ago, April Delray and Eddie Carter were married. On the way to a resort on the shore of Lake Michigan where they hoped to spend their honeymoon, they find themselves lost in Coldlake Falls after taking a wrong turn onto Atticus Lane. They soon become suspects in a murder investigation after they help a hitchhiker badly hurt to the local hospital.

Detective Quentin seems to have his own agenda, and what better way to solve a decades-old murder than by arresting a couple who has their own secrets. Atticus Lane, where April and Eddie discovered the hitchhiker either by chance or by accident, has been named Murder Road because there have been 5 other murders of hitchhikers on this road going back to 1976. The first victim has never been identified, but she has been labeled as the Lost Girl.

Both April and Eddie have their own secrets. April isn't her real name, and it appears that she has been keeping a low profile hoping not to attract any attention. She has a job serving food at a bowling alley and met Eddie. Meanwhile, Eddie, who served in the Gulf War, sometimes sees things. And in this case, Eddie may have seen the Lost Girl in the truck that chased them to the hospital. While ducking and weaving away from scrutiny, April and Eddie could have picked up and run away, but they choose to stay and fight for their innocence.

Fortunately for the couple, they encounter several individuals who help them along the way starting with Rose who runs her own Bed & Breakfast. Then there are the sisters Beatrice and Gracie Snell, two resourceful teens who are better sleuths than the detectives in charge. What is even stranger, could it be that Lost Girl intentionally lured the couple here? And if so, for what reason? The author adds enough realistic detail to place you in that decade without bombarding you with so much 90’s trivia that it distracts from the story. Murder Road, like the author's previous installments, has supernatural horror elements, and a thriller twist, but at the heart of the story is a mystery.

Simone St. James is one of my favorite mystery/paranormal writers so I HAD to read this book.

In "Murder Road," April and Eddie are on their honeymoon, and they take a wrong turn onto "Murder Road." After picking up an injured hitchhiker who dies soon after, they become suspects in a series of murders that has baffled the locals for decades.

I was all-in when I began reading. It's got amnesia, unexplained murders, shady cops, and paranormal shenanigans! How could it go wrong? I loved the first 3/4ths of the book, but then the ending. I'm not going to spoil anything, but I will say the murderer's motives made no sense (at least to me).

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was really good! It was super atmospheric, creepy, and kept me at the edge of my seat! It’s the perfect popcorn thriller!

I loved how nostalgic the book was with all the 90’s references - it really took me back! I thought the plot was great. It was twisty, fast-paced, and had a paranormal element. I typically don’t prefer that in the mysteries or thrillers I read but it worked really in the book.

I did the audio for this and it did not disappoint! Brittany Presley is one of my all-time fave narrators and she did a phenomenal job with all the characters! Highly recommend going that route if you read the book.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the mental health rep - love seeing that in a book! Also, can we take a moment to talk about the characters? Wasn’t Rose just the best?😍

Thank you so much, @berkleypub, for the #gifted copy of MURDER ROAD!🫶🏼💕

Thank you, Berkley, for the free digital ARC via Netgalley.

WOW! This story gripped me from the beginning, and I could not put it down. I had to slow myself down to savor it. It was eerie, chilling, and gripping. I am finding that I enjoy paranormal elements, and wow, was this amazing! The storytelling is well done, and the pacing is great. I love the plot twists—even though I saw one coming—but I was still on the edge of my seat to see exactly how it would come together, and I loved it!

My only regret is that I haven't read anything by Simone St. James sooner, but now I have a backlist of books to catch up on!

*I will post a full review on my Instagram page this week!

dark, suspenseful and creepy mystery , with a touch of the paranormal to it , had me hooked from the very start, and kept giving me Stephen King vibes though out the book. It also became a new all time favorite of mine .

“We were just young and stupid enough to think that nobody noticed. In fact, nobody cared.”

I’ve never been a huge paranormal reader, but if Simone writes it, I’ll be reading it! And when I found out she was visiting Massachusetts? I had to be sure to read it in time to go see her! Never mind the fact that it was the day after I attended a virtual event between her and @riley.sager, which was also amazing!

This book takes us on a ride. I love the small town spooky vibes, I’m enamored by the Snell sisters and their confidence, and I feel for both April and Eddie who both want to escape the horrid nature of their pasts by getting married and starting over only to find themselves in the middle of a town filled with unsolved murders and a possible serial killer.

Simone doesn’t use the paranormal as an excuse to wrap everything up with an explanation at the end, but rather makes you suspend your disbelief (if you’re a disbeliever) and care about both the characters and the ghosts from the start. No matter how awful any of them might be or the terrible things they might do, she shows both their flaws and their humanity and makes you care about them all.

And even her side characters pull you in from the very moment they grace the page (like the two Snell sisters), but also like Rose!

I definitely predicted a bit of what was going to happen, but I was hooked from cover to cover and couldn’t put it down. I would highly recommend this one, as long as you’re not too easily spooked on lone car rides 😏

Thank you Penguin Random House Audio and Berkley Publishing Group for this complimentary audiobook and gifted copy.

Simone St. James is hands down one of my favorite supernatural writers and her new story is simply fantastic.

This book starts with a bang, and omg it just keeps going. An urban legend, murders to solve, great setting, fast-paced, a thrilling story that you won’t be able to stop reading. In my case I listened to the audio and it was addictive, loved it.

𝗠𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱 by Simone St James released yesterday March 5, 2024.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

(4.5⭐️) This was my first book by Simone St. James and hoooo boy it will not be my last😮‍💨

This book starts off with a lot of action and sets the pace for the entire book. It’s dark, it’s twisty, and it made me afraid on several occasions while reading at night🫣 I really liked how the story unfolded, and since the chapters are on the shorter side, it made it easy to read “just one more”. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on or who to trust, but as each reveal came, I was pulled further and further into this story. The side characters are great and add a lot to the plot (both positively and negatively), and I especially liked the parts with the Snell sisters. The ending completely surprised me, and I was glued to my book for the last 30 pages.

If you like spooky, ghosty, murder stories, pick this one up!

3.5 Stars

This was my first Simone St. James. It started out really strong for me but then just kinda ended up being a little lackluster overall. The narrator of the story (not on audio, I mean April, as the whole story is told from her POV) just keep talking like everything was a foregone conclusion. I felt like she was 10 steps ahead of me to where I was constantly thinking, what are you talking about? And when did we get there?

There was so much that I felt like ended up going no where.

I did love the 90's setting and the whole concept of a haunted road. The spooky parts were well written and not over the top. It made sense even while having some supernatural elements. This book was definitely binge-worthy as well. I was glued to the page wanting to know what the heck was going on on this road!!

Books that Have a Similar Vibe:
- The Drowning Kind
- Survive the Night
- Never Lie

I really want to read The Sun Down Motel by this author next as I've heard really great things about that one!

I couldn’t put it down! I started yesterday and just finished ! I always love this authors work and this didn’t disappoint. Creepy ghost, unsolved murders, mysterious happenings- I mean sold! I don’t think anything lagged - and I enjoyed the character development and back story to our two main- also the little teenagers were adorable. I will be recommending this ! Thank you Berkely - 4.5 stars

I completely enjoy the way that Simone St. James weaves mysteries, thrillers, paranormal, and a little bit of horror together. She’s an auto buy author and I always know I’m going to enjoy her books.

Follow April and Eddie on their honeymoon, Murder Road, has all the 90’s vibes. While on their way to a resort, they end up on Atticus Lane and pick up a young woman hitchhiking. Rushing the women to the hospital, April and Eddie will get thrown into the middle of a something bigger than anyone wants to admit.

One of my least favorite character aspects in mysteries or horror stories, is when our main characters make dumb mistakes for the sake of the story. I was so relieved that April and Eddie seemed to have a level head and I enjoyed their relationship and the way they balanced each other out. They were well crafted, with interesting backstories that really flowed well with the story’s plotline. Add in a cranky old widow, and the main cast of characters were enjoyable to read about.

Murder Road though a mystery at its heart, has all the supernatural and ghostly atmospheric vibes we’ve come to expect from St. James. I think it’s going to be one of my favorites from here and it was the perfect thing to pull me out of my reading rut. I can’t wait to see what she whips up next.

Murder Road is out now! Huge thank you to Berkley Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof.books or on Tiktok @speakingof.books. My review can also be found at SPEAKINGOF.ORG.

Eddie and April pick up a hitchhiker on the way to their honeymoon. After the young girl gets in the car, they see she's been stabbed. The police are very interested in this out of town couple that brings a dead girl to the hospital. Turns out hitchhikers have been murdered on that road for the past 19 years and the police think they have new suspects. This was a quick read but hard to get into. Both characters aren't completely honest with who they are so they're hard to pull for. I didn't love the supernatural element either. An okay read.

April and Eddie's honeymoon takes a horrifying turn when they encounter a bleeding hitchhiker on a deserted road. When the hitchhiker dies in their car on the way to the hospital, Eddie and April become prime suspects in a string of unsolved murders plaguing the area. Their search for innocence leads them to uncover the dark history of the road and a chilling supernatural presence lurking within. As they fight to clear their names and expose the truth, they face a deadly force threatening not only their love but their very lives.

Simone St. James is one of my go-to mystery authors, and Murder Road quickly became a favorite. The plot was well thought out and I was hooked from the jump, but what really made this book for me is the relationship between Eddie and April. The mystery/thriller genre is marked by conflict between couples, but Murder Road is different in that it almost has a romance element. Rather than the woman being the first character to start "seeing things," it is actually Eddie who first starts to sense a paranormal presence, and rather than believe him crazy, April supports him. A refreshing twist on a favorite genre!

Murder Road blends suspense with the paranormal and creates a gripping tale leading readers to question every creepy detail. From the start the story took a fast pace and went around in so many circles it had me dizzy. And I mean that in the best way possible. We were constantly getting information and clues that had me captivated and dying to figure out how everything was connected. And I think the author did a really good job at making those connections while still leaving a ton of mystery until the very end.

Overall, I highly recommend this book and this author. This is only my second read from Ms. St. James but I count myself a fan after being sucked into her stories so easily. She has a talent of dropping so many bread crumbs that I can't help but follow until the very last page.

Murder Road is classic Simone St. James. I love how she blends the supernatural with reality. There is always a mystery, something to solve, that is grounded in reality. With a splash of some ghosts.

I thought this was exceptional on audio and I loved the nostalgia from the mid 1990s. I highly recommend this one, but seriously you can't go wrong with any of her books! She found a unique niche and she is queen

Huge thank you to @prhaudio for the free audiobook. #PRHAudioPartner

Also, thank you @netgalley and @berkleypub for an ebook ARC copy to read and give my honest review.

REVIEW:
I tandem read this one. And it caught my attention straight from the get-go. Narrator Brittany Pressley did a great job immersing you into all the different vibes this book entailed. Her voice matched and correlated with the characters perfectly.

A honeymoon from hell! A couple gets caught up in a paranormal murder mystery when they decide to pick up a hitchhiker who was hurt. Things most certainly spiraled from there.

I loved the mystery aspect of this book. The whodunit is always so fun to pick apart. But I really was engrossed in the paranormal side. That's not typically something that I gravitate towards. But how it all worked together in this story was seriously so creepy yet kept me hooked the entire time.

If you love a good mystery-ghost story with some '90s vibes you totally need to pick this one up. Honestly if you just love a good thriller I'm telling you the story is addictive!

Simone St. James’ latest spooky thriller Murder Road takes us to a small town in Michigan with a really big problem.

July, 1995: When they pick her up, she is reluctant to speak. She looks shell-shocked. Eddie and April Carter only offered her a ride because a (seemingly) drunk girl walking dazedly along the side of the road at two in the morning was definitely in need of help, but would they have stopped if they knew just how much help? She isn’t inebriated; she’s badly injured and bleeding out. “I’m Rhonda Jean,“ she says when their questions finally penetrate her stupor. And then a bit later, “I’m sorry. He’s coming.” “He” turns out to be driving a large truck, which slowly gains on them as they race down a road called Atticus Line. They are only able to get away by taking a particularly sharp turn at a rather reckless speed. It had seemed safer than facing whatever was chasing them in the dark.

By the time they get Rhonda Jean to the small local hospital, April, who had been holding her hand throughout that wild ride, is covered in her blood, and so is Eddie, who carries her into the ER. Their car, the backseat of which is now soaked in gore, looks like a scene from a horror movie. The nurses make a call even as they deal with the patient. A policeman comes almost immediately, questioning them about where they found her, where they were going, and how they wound up on that particular road in the middle of the night. Not too much later, the officer informs the Carters they are suspects in the murder of Rhonda Jean, who has just died. But the state detectives arrive before he can ask any more questions. It seems Cold Lake doesn’t have the kind of force that can handle murder cases but oddly enough, they have more than their share of them - Rhonda Jean is only the latest in a string of hitchhikers stabbed, choked, or bludgeoned along that road. In spite of the prolific number of crimes, however, no one has ever been implicated, much less arrested. April and Eddie are the first witnesses/possible villains Detectives Quentin and Beam have had the pleasure of interviewing. After the interrogation, their car is impounded, they are advised not to leave town, and are dropped off at a simple home doubling as a bed and breakfast.

The owner, Rose, doesn’t much care for the cops who give them a ride to her house and makes that clear from the start. She is equally unexcited to have possible murderers as guests. The abode, while not the kind of ornate Victorian one pictures when the words ‘bed and breakfast’ are mentioned, is comfortable enough, even though the decor is mildly disturbing. Photos of Princess Diana are prominently displayed pretty much everywhere, but the hostess, while taciturn, is at least kind enough to feed them. April and Eddie clean up, get some sleep, and settle in for a long day. They aren’t comfortable for long, though, since they are quickly whisked back to the station for more questioning. They aren’t arrested - there is nowhere near enough evidence for that - but they aren’t given their car or permission to leave Cold Lake either. It is pretty clear they remain the only lead the cops have. It is also clear that if Eddie and April want to be free of this problem, they had better figure out for themselves just who or what is killing young people on Atticus Line.

Ms. St. James has a knack for writing chilling, atmospheric tales that enthrall readers and lure them into compulsively following her down dark, twisting paths. Her smooth prose and scintillating characters make it easy to immerse ourselves in a world that doesn’t quite make sense but is nonetheless deeply fascinating.

In Eddie and April, we have a seemingly ordinary couple caught up in a truly macabre situation. Eddie, freshly back from a tour in Iraq, is still in fighting form. Lean but muscular, with the watchful awareness of someone recently on a battlefield, he is quick to pick up on the bizarre nature of the investigation. Something about the entire situation is off, and he is determined to figure out just what he and April have stumbled into. For her part, April has been living a rather clandestine life behind an ordinary facade for a long time. Grit, wit, and determination have kept her one step ahead of the demons that follow her, and she plans to put those skills to good use to get them out of whatever strange shenanigans have Cold Lake in their grip. A young bride (the two are on their honeymoon when this all goes down), April is keeping secrets from her husband and has no desire for the inquiry to unearth them. Both of them have just enough of an edge to make them good amateur sleuths, and their courage, caring, and basic decency make them easy to root for.

The secondary characters here remain very secondary. April and Eddie receive help with their search from Rose and the Snell sisters, Beatrice and Gracie, who appear later in the novel. We scratch the surface of who these folks are, but we don’t really get the chance to connect well with any of them. Detectives Quentin and Beam also remain enigmas, although it is clear that Quentin, at least, has secrets and information we are not made privy to. Typically, such characters have more depth in a St. James novel, so their superficiality was disappointing.

I have a few other quibbles as well. Because the mystery here is carefully layered, with each piece revealing a bit more of a rather incredible puzzle, I won’t be talking much about the plot. However, fans of the author know her books always contain paranormal elements which are key to the puzzle being solved. In this case, something haunts Atticus Lane. Eddie, who has experience with peculiar apparitions, saw the specter of a young girl in the back of the vehicle following them that night, and it isn’t long before it appears to both Eddie and April fairly regularly. This being has rather unusual and terrifying capabilities that border on the demonic rather than ghostly. It gives a creepier edge to the tale, and the nature of its abilities/behaviors don’t point to the villain except in a roundabout way. It isn’t surprising that no one else has been able to lay the ghost to rest (so to speak) since the creature hasn’t exactly been haunting the right people. That troubled me, given the number of deaths that could be laid at its door.

I also felt vaguely displeased with the final chapters, which aren’t definitive and in which there is a clear setup for more. I was frustrated to drive off with April and Eddie at the end, feeling that while one portion of the issue was solved, some pretty interesting events were forthcoming that I wouldn’t experience without a sequel. (Please give me that sequel!)

Those negative notes aside, this is still a riveting narrative. I would recommend Murder Road to fans of the author and to anyone who enjoys a bit of horror mixed with their thriller.

Newlyweds April and Eddie inadvertently become suspects in a series of unexplained murders after picking up a dying hitchhiker along Atticus Line during their honeymoon. Their efforts to clear their names uncover the town's dark, sinister secrets, threatening to engulf them in its ominous history.

I've always been a fan of Simone St. James' thrillers so I was excited to hear about her upcoming release. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me and I wish I DNF’d it. While the premise seemed intriguing at first, the story ultimately proved forgettable. The protagonists, April and Eddie, came across as both irritating and dull, with their motivation for investigating the murders in the small town feeling weak and unconvincing. Additionally, many of the plot twists were predictable. I was particularly disappointed by the paranormal elements in this book, which, unlike in St. James' previous works, failed to add any depth or eerie atmosphere to the story. This isn't a book I would recommend. If you decide to give it a try, I suggest keeping your expectations low.