A Haunting of a Novel

In 1982, Viv Delaney finds herself in Fell, New York - an upstate New York town that never managed to become all that it wanted to be. For a girl leaving home, she realizes she has something in common with this town. But when Viv disappears in November while working the night shift at The Sun Down Motel with not much local interest, maybe Fell isn't all that it seems.

35 years later, Viv's niece, Carly, finds the need to look for answers to her aunt's disappearance. When she arrives in Fell and discovers that she can pickup exactly where her aunt left off, she quickly learns that there's more to her aunt's disappearance, and this town, than she originally thought.

Simone St. James's The Sun Down Motel is everything you hope for when looking for a suspenseful novel. Not every author can expertly weave the past and present while maintaining the right pace - not too much too quickly, nor withholding details that would cause the reader to lose interest. St. James manages this balance perfectly, and forces the reader to become an amateur sleuth right along with the protagonist. You won't be able to turn the pages fast enough.

What makes The Sun Down Motel unique from other novels? Well, it might just make you believe in ghost stories.