I heard the buzz about this one last year and added it to my lengthy TBR pile.  Horror really isn’t my go to genre, but the premise of this one really fascinated me.  Just not enough to move its way off of my TBR… until now.  And now, all I can think is WHY DID I WAIT?!  

 

Fortunately for me, I read it at just the right time.  This is the perfect October read.  Ghosts, murders, and a serial killer!  It’s literally all the things you ask of an eerie book.  

 

Carly’s mother has just died.  She entrenched in sorrow.  Looking for a way to connect, she seeks answers to the family secret…her Aunt Viv vanished into thin air decades ago, but what happened to her?  Channeling her grief into action, Carly moves to Fell, NY where her aunt disappeared.  It’s not enough to be in Fell.  Carly must walk in her aunt’s shoes….a few shifts at the nearly abandoned old motel where her aunt was last seen.  What could go wrong?

 

St. James creates the perfect atmosphere full of eerie vibes.  Every time those lights at the Sun Down started to flicker, my heart started to race. The sense of foreboding is intense and kept me on the edge of my seat.  The dual timelines between Carly and Viv work well and kept me engrossed in the storyline.  I love a strong, kick butt female protagonist, and in this story, we get two!  

 

Did I have to suspend reality a bit?  Yes.  Two young girls manage to unravel a mystery the cops cannot (do not?).  But ultimately, everything else was done so adeptly in this book that I was willing to overlook the implausible.  

 

I’ve passed old roadside motels often in travel.  They’ve always intrigued me.  But I’ll never want to stay in one thanks to Sun Down.