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The Sun Down Motel

by Simone St. James

The Sun Down Motelbegins in 1982 with the story of Viv Delaney who left her home to travel to New York City. She ends up in Fell, New York, at the Sun Down Motel. The motel is shabby, but Viv is offered a job as the night clerk and being broke, she accepts it. However, something strange is going on at the Sun Down. Doors are opening and closing when no one is in the rooms, the electricity keeps going off, she smells cigarette smoke but doesn’t see anyone smoking and Viv sees strange apparitions.  One of the apparitions tells her “to run”. During this same time, young women are going missing in Fell and then found dead. Viv is afraid.  Then Viv disappears.

In 2017, Carly Kirk is struggling. She has just lost her mother and feels lost. She has always been interested in her Aunt Viv who went missing many years ago. Her mother would never talk about it, so Carly decides to take a break from college and go to Fell, New York, to see if she can find out what really happened to her Aunt Viv.

As luck would have it, Carly finds an apartment with a local college girl who is keen to help Carly find out what happened in 1982. They visit the Sun Down Motel and find that it is rundown but open and Carly also gets hired to work there. Once there she begins to experience strange things, too.

I thought the premise of this book sounded interesting and I love a good mystery, but The Sun Down Motel turned out to be a horror, supernatural mystery, that strained credulity. I tried several times to read it and gave up each time. I decided to give it one more try and started to get into the story and the mystery but then the horror, paranormal elements took over and that ruined it for me. There are also too many convenient things that happened to Carly, like finding a roommate who just happens to love local history and lives in her Aunt Viv's old apartment and getting hired as the night clerk like her Aunt Viv did back in 1982. Even though there was a semi twist at the end it wasn’t enough to make me change my mind about it.

If you like mysteries with paranormal, horror elements you might like The Sun Down Motel but this book fell flat for me.

 

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. 

 

The Sun Down Motel

by Simone St. James

The Sun Down Motel begins in 1982 with the story of Viv Delaney who left her home to travel to New York City. She ends up in Fell, New York, at the Sun Down Motel. The motel is shabby, but Viv is offered a job as the night clerk and being broke, she accepts it. However, something strange is going on at the Sun Down. Doors are opening and closing when no one is in the rooms, the electricity keeps going off, she smells cigarette smoke but doesn’t see anyone smoking and Viv sees strange apparitions.  One of the apparitions tells her “to run”. During this same time, young women are going missing in Fell and then found dead. Viv is afraid.  Then Viv disappears.

In 2017, Carly Kirk is struggling. She has just lost her mother and feels lost. She has always been interested in her Aunt Viv who went missing many years ago. Her mother would never talk about it, so Carly decides to take a break from college and go to Fell, New York, to see if she can find out what really happened to her Aunt Viv.

As luck would have it, Carly finds an apartment with a local college girl who is keen to help Carly find out what happened in 1982. They visit the Sun Down Motel and find that it is rundown but open and Carly also gets hired to work there. Once there she begins to experience strange things, too.

I thought the premise of this book sounded interesting and I love a good mystery, but The Sun Down Motel turned out to be a horror, supernatural mystery, that strained credulity. I tried several times to read it and gave up each time. I decided to give it one more try and started to get into the story and the mystery but then the horror, paranormal elements took over and that ruined it for me. There are also too many convenient things that happened to Carly, like finding a roommate who just happens to love local history and lives in her Aunt Viv's old apartment and getting hired as the night clerk like her Aunt Viv did back in 1982. Even though there was a semi twist at the end it wasn’t enough to make me change my mind about it.

If you like mysteries with paranormal, horror elements you might like The Sun Down Motel but this book fell flat for me.

 

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. 

Little Comfort 

               by Edwin Hill

Little Comfort is the first book in the Hester Thursby series. Hester is a Harvard Librarian who is currently on leave because she is caring for her best friend's little girl, Kate. Daphne has a habit of disappearing and  Daphne's brother, Morgan, is Hester's partner so they feel obligated to take care of Kate while Daphne is gone. Between the two of them they are trying to care for Kate until Daphne returns, although they don't know where she is or when she is coming back.

Hester is still getting used to this "mommy" thing and is the first to admit that she is struggling with it. Hester has made a second career out of finding people for others.When she is approached by Lila Blaine who wants to find her brother, Sam, she asks Hester to try and find him. She says that Sam and his best friend, Gabe, left when they were fourteen. All Lila has are anonymous postcards sent from various cities over the years that she is sure are from Sam. She claims that she wants to sell a family lake property and wants Sam to get his share.

Hester begins to investigate and it doesn't take her very long before she finds Sam and Gabe who are   living under different names in Boston. However, Sam doesn't want to be found. He is involved with a Boston socialite and living the good life. As Hester continues he investigation she begins to realize that there is more to this story than she was first told and suddenly her life is in danger.

The story alternates between the past and the present as we begin to understand why Sam and Gabe ran away all those years ago. Set mostly in Boston and New Hampshire, Little Comfort has a strong sense of place, characterization and plot. It deals with some difficult subject matter, child abuse, murder, serial killers and child abandonment but it kept me reading. 

Hester is tiny but tenacious and she is a fun character. She took Kate with her on some of her investigations and that wasn't the wisest thing to do because she put her in danger. Hopefully in the next books in this series Hester will get the "mommy thing" down.

I chose this book for the mystery book group I facilitate at the library and we had a good discussion about it. 

  

Little Comfort 

               by Edwin Hill

Little Comfort is the first book in the Hester Thursby series. Hester is a Harvard Librarian who is currently on leave because she is caring for her best friend's little girl, Kate. Daphne has a habit of disappearing and  Daphne's brother, Morgan, is Hester's partner so they feel obligated to take care of Kate while Daphne is gone. Between the two of them they are trying to care for Kate until Daphne returns, although they don't know where she is or when she is coming back.

Hester is still getting used to this "mommy" thing and is the first to admit that she is struggling with it. Hester has made a second career out of finding people for others.When she is approached by Lila Blaine who wants to find her brother, Sam, she asks Hester to try and find him. She says that Sam and his best friend, Gabe, left when they were fourteen. All Lila has are anonymous postcards sent from various cities over the years that she is sure are from Sam. She claims that she wants to sell a family lake property and wants Sam to get his share.

Hester begins to investigate and it doesn't take her very long before she finds Sam and Gabe who are   living under different names in Boston. However, Sam doesn't want to be found. He is involved with a Boston socialite and living the good life. As Hester continues he investigation she begins to realize that there is more to this story than she was first told and suddenly her life is in danger.

The story alternates between the past and the present as we begin to understand why Sam and Gabe ran away all those years ago. Set mostly in Boston and New Hampshire, Little Comfort has a strong sense of place, characterization and plot. It deals with some difficult subject matter, child abuse, murder, serial killers and child abandonment but it kept me reading. 

Hester is tiny but tenacious and she is a fun character. She took Kate with her on some of her investigations and that wasn't the wisest thing to do because she put her in danger. Hopefully in the next books in this series Hester will get the "mommy thing" down.

I chose this book for the mystery book group I facilitate at the library and we had a good discussion about it. 

  

The Kind Worth Killing

                  by Peter Swanson

Ted Severson, a wealthy businessman, meets Lilly, an attractive woman in an airport bar, while they are both waiting for a flight from London to Boston.. He gets drunk and tells Lilly that he thinks his wife is cheating on him with Brad, the contractor who is building their new multi-million dollar home overlooking the ocean in Maine. Ted and Lily decide that  Brad must die and begin to plan his murder. However, this is just the beginning of a twisty, suspenseful mystery that has so many WOW moments that it is difficult to review this book without giving too much away in the process.

The story is told from different points of view and we learn about the characters and their back stories. The main characters are flawed and not very likable but this book kept me reading. It is reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train but The Kind Worth Killing goes beyond that with so many plot twists that I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen. The final scenes in the book are surprising, too.

The book club loved this book and there was so much to discuss about it. I don't like reviews that give away the whole book and spoil it for others so let me say that if you enjoy unpredictable , twisty mysteries, your will love The Kind Worth Killing. I sure did!

The Kind Worth Killing

                  by Peter Swanson

Ted Severson, a wealthy businessman, meets Lilly, an attractive woman in an airport bar, while they are both waiting for a flight from London to Boston.. He gets drunk and tells Lilly that he thinks his wife is cheating on him with Brad, the contractor who is building their new multi-million dollar home overlooking the ocean in Maine. Ted and Lily decide that  Brad must die and begin to plan his murder. However, this is just the beginning of a twisty, suspenseful mystery that has so many WOW moments that it is difficult to review this book without giving too much away in the process.

The story is told from different points of view and we learn about the characters and their back stories. The main characters are flawed and not very likable but this book kept me reading. It is reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train but The Kind Worth Killing goes beyond that with so many plot twists that I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen. The final scenes in the book are surprising, too.

The book club loved this book and there was so much to discuss about it. I don't like reviews that give away the whole book and spoil it for others so let me say that if you enjoy unpredictable , twisty mysteries, your will love The Kind Worth Killing. I sure did!