REVIEW⤏ THE SUN DOWN MOTEL

BY SIMONE ST. JAMES

SYNOPSIS FROM AUTHORS WEBSITE⇣
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 national 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, NY. But something isn't 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 to 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.

BOOK TAGS⇣

⤏ MURDER/DISAPPEARANCE MYSTERY 
⤏ AMATEUR SLEUTHING
⤏ EERILY HAUNTED HOTEL 
⤏ GHOSTS WITH AN AGENDA
⤏ A NEW FAVORITE

BOOK DETAILS⇣

AUDIO PERFORMED BY⇢ KIRSTEN POTTER & BRITTANY PRESSLEY

SOURCE⇢ LIBBY AUDIOBOOK (LIBRARY)

AUDIOBOOK LENGTH⇢ 11 HOURS

MY THOUGHTS⇣

Great narration paired with one girl's quest to figure out the mysterious disappearance of her aunt, wrapped within a serial killer mystery and sprinkled with a few ghostly hauntings, all add up to an atmospheric novel that is unputdownable...or...un-pause-able.

If you're put off by the ghost aspect of this...you shouldn't be...because it's incorporated into the story so well that it just feels right...like it should be there.  It doesn't overshadow the overall mysteries at play here.  It enhances them, even.  This will easily be one of my top-ten best-reads this year.

BREAKDOWN⇣

Plot⇢ 5/5

Characters⇢ 5/5

The Feels⇢ 5/5

Pacing⇢ 5/5

Addictiveness⇢ 5/5

Theme or Tone⇢ 5/5

Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 5/5

World-Building⇢ 5/5

Originality⇢ 5/5

Ending⇢ 5/5