This book would be best for readers who enjoy ghost stories, fantasy, or visits from the paranormal. I prefer my thrillers with maybe an eerie feeling, but not with full on REAL ghosts doing the work.

I liked the 90s setting and the strong relationship between the protagonist and her husband. I liked the protagonist's backstory and the creepy vibe of the town. I very much liked Rose, who had an interesting story of her own and was developed well.

I did not like the convenient resolution, which relied completely on the reader being cool with evil ghosts.

I quite liked Broken Girls, which has a whiff of ghosts but not real, stabby, spirits in every chapter. I felt similarly about Book of Cold Cases as I did about this one - too many actual hauntings. Perhaps this author is just not the right one for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC. I will purchase for my library and share with fans of the supernatural.

Thank you Berkley for my free ARC of Murder Road by Simone St. James — available Mar 5!

Read this if you:
👻 love thrillers with a generous helping of the paranormal
💨 are looking for a fast-paced story to binge in a sitting
👍 have ever been warned about the dangers of hitchhiking

April and Eddie have their honeymoon thoroughly derailed when they pick up a young female hitchhiker who is bleeding profusely from a stab wound. They race to a nearby hospital, but it's too late to save her, and now April and Eddie are suspects in her murder. Something seems off in this town, as the detectives are eager to pin the crime on the young couple, but murders have been happening along this stretch of road for more than twenty years. Can April and Eddie figure out what's really going on in time to save their own necks?

Simone St. James is the queen of paranormal thrillers. I have yet to read one of her books and not love it! This one was, per usual, super gripping and kept me flipping pages to the very end. April and Eddie are well-developed characters for a thriller, and their backstories were interesting additions to the plot. Rose was probably my favorite character, and I loved her story and her ending as well. Overall, I loved this read, and I highly recommend it if you're into ghosts and thrillers!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This supernatural thriller had chills running down my spine! The story started off with a creepy bang and didn't let up until the end. Compulsively readable, this book is not to be missed!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for access to this arc!

Readers will want to know that there is a supernatural element at play, but this quick book had me hooked from start to finish. There are parts reminiscent of Riley Sager's Survive the Night and The House Across the Lake, but this is a unique take that kept me guessing. I would recommend this to fans of fast-paced thrillers, who do not mind limited character development.

Simone St. James writes the eeriest supernatural thrillers that I always enjoy! MURDER ROAD is right up there with my love for THE SUN DOWN MOTEL.

Bits…
90s nostalgia
Creepy car rides
Honeymoon turned upside down
Secret pasts
Unsolved cases
Strange town occupied by stranger individuals

I knew very little going in, much like most mystery, thriller suspense books I pick up… which makes the unfolding for me more satisfying…the pacing was fast and held my interest throughout.

Thank you Berkley Publishing and PRH Audio!

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This is a very interesting story, filled with questions and, as i'm coming to understand of St. James, ghosts. Thats a recipe I like in a mystery/thriller. While this narrative feels a little disjointed at times, it actually comes together nicely. I don't think its the BEST ghostly mystery/thriller i've read, but it is an interesting take on the genre.

Murder Road centers on a married couple, lost on their way to their honeymoon destination. They pick up a hitchhiker on an abandoned road, a hitchhiker who turns out to be grievously injured. After doing the right thing of bringing the girl to the hospital, April and Eddie Carter find themselves SUSPECTS in what ends up being the girl's death. While this feels a little farfetched, along with the way the police in this small town treat this couple, it does set up the rest of the narrative nicely.

There are undercurrents of trying to find out who you are, who you really are, where you belong, etc. Those are all subplots that aren't totally necessary, but are interesting nonetheless. The reasoning behind why THIS couple found themselves so far out of the way from their actual destination feels... a little like a 90s lifetime thriller in its execution, makes sense, but again, the execution of it feels weak. Still, its a solid entry in this type of genre.

Simone St. James at her best! Another fantastic book by her that truly kept me on the edge of my seat.

Finished this in half a day! It was so addictive and highly readable. The opening chapter hooks you right in and the creep factor is never lets up until the very last page, which only made me more engrossed.

I loved the 90s setting as it felt so real and all the characters, who had great backstories. Rose was super badass and awesome. Even Quentin was multi-layered. I had no idea where the story was going but it kept me on the edge of my seat (or more accurately, bed) the whole time.

But while unpredictable, I thought the reveal and whodunit was rather underwhelming. Still, the last two chapters were fantastic so I'm rounding my rating up to 4 stars.

I didn't love Murder Road as much as The Sun Down Motel but it's definitely a step up from The Book of Cold Cases. Eagerly awaiting the author's next!!

Eddie and April are on their way to their honeymoon when they take a wrong turn and end up in a nightmare. After picking up an injured hitchhiker who later dies at the hospital, they become the prime suspects in her murder - and the string of other murders that have happened along the same stretch of road for the last 19 years. Though they are innocent, April and Eddie both have secrets they want to stay hidden and they are now in the crosshairs of the state detective in charge of the case. However, there is something odd (odder than a string of unsolved murders anyway) going on with the road where they found the hitchhiker and the two of them don't trust the local cops to figure it out, so they start their own investigation - and learn so much more than they ever expected.

Simone St. James does an excellent job with a supernatural mystery thriller, and this was no exception. Her characters are flawed but keep the reader invested in their welfare, even when unsavory details come to light. April and Eddie are survivors and they feel authentic and relatable, even if you haven't personally experienced trauma like theirs. The mid-1990s setting is perfect, as are Rose and the Snell sisters. This one will keep you up at night, racing to finish and unravel the mystery at its heart.

Thank you to Berkeley and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Murder Road early in exchange for a review.

I am a huge fan of Simone St James, in fact Murder Road is one of my most anticipated reads this year. I always feel like Simone blends in paranormal elements with suspense rather effortlessly. While Murder Road was an enjoyable read overall, it felt little underwhelming to me personally. It has that spook factor as expected however I didn’t feel like the plot is drawn out well to incorporate horror into the murder mystery plot line. It lacked the eerie ambiance her stories usually carry throughout other than the few jump scares placed here and there

The plot felt either dragged out or too convenient at times, the mystery elements didn’t fully suck me in as I hoped they would. While the aspect of unsolved cold cases was intriguing, I lost interest in the investigation as some parts of it felt quite redundant. That being said I will continue to read St.James books because her writing style never disappoints me

I need to read more Simone St. James after this, I can't believe this is my first book by him! It is about broken people with a past, set in the '90s, in an eerie atmosphere with supernatural elements. It's a bingeable thriller. with really thought-out writing that keeps you gripping!

This was another winner by Simone St. James. I was hooked from the start! A newly married couple, April and Eddie heading on their honeymoon pick up an injured hitchhiker to take her to the hospital but while on the way there, she dies. Now they find out they may now be the prime suspects. To say the least, I couldn't put this down. Filled with many surprises and paranormal elements you'll be asking yourself at the end what did I just read?? Awesome book that I definitely would recommend!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing and PRH Audio for my gifted copies.

This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) closer to pub date.

St. James always does a good job weaving paranormal elements into a seemingly criminal situation, and this rings true in her latest work, Murder Road. Imagine being on your honeymoon, deciding to pick up a hitchhiker, then finding out she's fatally wounded?!

The main characters have secrets of their own that back interacting with police less than favourable, which only leads to greater suspicion by police.

This latest thriller from Simone St. James started off REALLY strong with a young couple on their honeymoon stopping to pick up a young woman who's been stabbed only to have her die in the hospital they drove her to.

What follows is a twisty who dunnit/cold case/amateur detective story that sees the couple digging into the many past cases of disappearances and dead bodies that have turned up on that stretch of road. Is there a serial killer or a copy cat? How has no one caught the perpetrator and why have they been going on for so many years??

Full of tons of misdirections, family secrets and jaw dropping moments, this sort of lost steam for me in the middle but the strong start and ending made up for it. Excellent on audio read by my fav Brittany Pressley and perfect for fans of books like Survive the night by Riley Seger or Dark roads by Chevy Stevens.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Murder Road is my new favorite Simone St. James book! I loved the premise and was pleasantly surprised by where the story went. Usually it takes a lot to surprise me and this story did!

I loved all the creepiness, the supernatural surprises, the characters, and even the road itself. While I would never want to travel Murder Road, it was fun to experience it!

Thanks for NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC! It was a fun, fast read!

This book was SO. GOOD. I was literally hooked right from the beginning and didn’t want to put it down. It was such a good mix of paranormal, thriller, and mystery. And the 90s vibes made it even better. So many parts had me on the edge of my seat and giving me creepy vibes. I was invested in finding out who the Lost Girl was and how all the murders were connected. So spine-tingling and eerie! I loved the main characters and being a part of their journey. Learning more of their stories as the book went on made them even more lovable to me.

I’ve read a couple of Simone’s books and this one was definitely my favorite of hers. I highly recommend readers get this book when it comes out next month!

One of my most anticipated reads of 2024. I loved it - great plot, intrigue and complicated lives. Time period is 1995 - loved the nostalgia and culture references.
After a brief courtship, April and Eddie marry and travel for their honeymoon. Ending up in a small town - Cold Lake Falls, and on their local haunted road. Driving at in the early morning and pitch dark on Atticus Lane, Eddie and April find an injured woman. And the mystery begins.
Very creative, some paranormal elements and lots of intrigue. Great read!

I loved, loved, loved this book! I’m not always a big fan of the supernatural in my thrillers, but this one had just the right balance of real and fantasy. It was creepy and I could not put it down! If you enjoy this author already or Jennifer McMahon, I think you’ll love this book too!

When April and Eddie get lost heading to the Lake Michigan-front resort for their honeymoon, they find themselves on an empty, dark road. When they pick up a hitchhiker and discover she’s badly injured, they think they’re doing the right thing by taking her to the local hospital - instead, they become the prime suspects in her murder and embroiled in a decades-long mystery surrounding the strange town they’ve found themselves stranded in.

Let me start off by saying that I’m a Simone St. James fan. I am coming at this book from that point of view.

I love her amazingly unique stories and the way she weaves real-life mysteries with bits of the supernatural. This book was another great example of her work, with a spooky mystery to look into, coupled with a bit of a ghostly legend. It’s just enough of a spooky touch to creep you out without having the supernatural elements take over the story. That’s the right balance, IMO.

As I said, the mystery is super intriguing, and I was devouring pages to see what was going to happen and what the solution was. I did not see the ending coming - but it was really intense. I was blown away. Like I said, this author knows how to craft a tightly-would storyline with multiple layers that all come together in the end.

I cannot recommend this book and Simone St. James’ other books enough. Murder Road is a great place to start as an introduction to the world of spooky mysteries in her repertoire, as it combines all the elements of a great mystery thriller: a chilling mystery, ghosts, murder, and a frightened young couple.

You won’t regret picking this one up!

Big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really LOVE Simone St. James! I love the little paranormal twist she throws into her books. And it seems I'm never expecting it.
Starts off easy enough - newlyweds, on their cheap honeymoon, driving to the motel and getting lost on a back road. Then there is someone, a woman, who is running in the middle of the road in the middle of the night. So let's stop and pick them up and see if they need help. (That's what I would do, too.) But she ends up dying and the newlyweds are left with literal blood all over themselves. So now they have to "walk the line" with the local police and end up launching their own investigation into the murders along "Murder Road". It's a great ride!