ARC Review: The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

“… this book wasn’t … that exciting, but I did enjoy the story.”
~ Under the Covers

Carly has come to Fell, New York, and the Sun Down motel in particular for answers. Her aunt disappeared whilst working as the night clerk at the Sun Down motel 35 years before. Now Carly is retracing her footsteps, including taking a job as a night clerk. But, she may be following too closely in her aunt’s footsteps. As things start getting more dangerous, will Carly be another victim to the sinister monsters that seem to haunt the Sun Down?

This was my first book by Simone St. James and I was looking forward to her deliverance of a tense and suspenseful mystery. I wanted to be kept on the edge of my seat, forever guessing what dreadful thing is just around the corner. Unfortunately this book wasn’t quite that exciting, but I did enjoy the story.

If you like a book that very slowly builds up the story, then you will enjoy this. However, I found that this too slow. There was too much build up before anything actually happened. And, although this build up did help contribute to the overall spooky atmosphere, I didn’t think that the pay off was exciting enough to be worth the wait.

Part of the reason it was slow to start is, perversely, one of the things I liked about this book. It was told from two separate timelines, Carly and her aunt Viv back in the early 80’s. You could see the parallels in the women’s stories as they investigated the strange goings on in the Sun Down motel. This worked well in showing the reader what they needed to know and keeping the tension up.

Over all, I liked this book, but I am not sure I would be in a rush to read St.James again. This was too slow to start and I had guessed at a lot of the story before it had happened.

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[about-author author=”Simone St. James”]