The Sun Down Motel – Simone St. James

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…

My Thoughts:
1982 Viv Delaney has run away from her home in Illinois and she’s headed to New York, however, when she gets into the small town of Fell, New York, she stays, taking a job as the Night Clerk at the Sun Down Motel.

2017 after her mother’s death Carly Kirk heads to Fell, New York to look into the disappearance of her aunt Viv Delaney. She takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel. Staying in the same flat that Viv did all those years ago, taking the same job Carly feels like she has gone back in time.

Strange things happen at night in the Sun Down Motel, doors open on their own, the smell of cigarettes when there is no one around and mysterious people wondering around.

Overall I enjoyed the book, I liked the concept and I really enjoyed going back and forth in time finding out Vivs story and Carlys at the same time. It was interesting to see how similar they both are.

The thing for me though I wasn’t scared, yes it was creepy but I didn’t find my heart racing.

What I really enjoyed was how the authour really took us back to the 80’s when women weren’t taken as seriously as men, even when the police were warned about stuff, they didn’t take it seriously because the warnings had come from a woman. I of course was frustrated for Viv during those times but that’s what it was like back then.

think Simone St. James did a really great job with this book.