The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

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🌙 Book Review (With Spoilers!): The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

⭐️ 3.5 out of 5 stars | Genre: Mystery / Supernatural Thriller
Spoilers ahead! This is your last warning if you're not ready to know who lived, who died, and who just vanished and ghosted everybody for decades... literally.

📍 Welcome to the Creepiest Motel in Fell, NY

Simone St. James serves up a ghost story with a true crime twist, and let me tell you—The Sun Down Motel has all the vibes:
✔️ Cold spots
✔️ Ghost women floating in the hallway
✔️ Dingy motel carpets you can smell through the page

I read this one fast. I needed answers. Unfortunately, some of the answers made me want to write angry letters to fictional characters.

🧵 Let’s Break It Down: The Dual Timeline Plot (Spoilers Included!)

👻 1982 Timeline – Meet Viv

Viv Delaney is 20, newly arrived in Fell, New York, and working the night shift at—you guessed it—the Sun Down Motel. The place is sketchy, cheap, and also haunted as hell.

Viv starts experiencing spooky stuff:

  • A woman with wet hair outside Room 103

  • The crying of a little boy

  • Sudden cold bursts

  • The constant smell of cigarettes (when no one’s smoking)

Soon, she discovers that several local women have been murdered in recent years—and that police and townspeople have basically shrugged it off. This, of course, becomes Viv’s new obsession.

Enter Alma Trent, a local night-shift security guard Viv befriends. Alma is older, married with kids, and a true crime junkie at heart (before podcasts made it cool). She becomes Viv’s partner-in-crime-solving, helping her research the victims and piece together the pattern.

Eventually, Viv zeroes in on a suspect: Richard Harkness, a charming and respected professor with very creepy Dexter vibes. She decides to lure him to the motel and confront him.

Bad idea.
Richard catches on, overpowers her, and tries to kill her. BUT! Viv fights back and injures him. She escapes—with the help of Alma’s teenage son, Robbie, who happens to show up at the right moment (he had been suspicious of his mom sneaking around and followed her to the motel).

Now, here’s the kicker:
Instead of reporting Richard or returning to town, Viv disappears. She lets her family—and everyone else—believe she’s dead, in order to "stay safe." (More on why that annoyed me in a second.)

🔦 2017 Timeline – Enter Carly

Carly Kirk is Viv’s niece. Her mom (Viv’s sister) has just passed away, and Carly—curious about her mysterious aunt who went missing in 1982—heads to Fell to investigate.

She checks into the Sun Down Motel and, just like her aunt, takes the night shift. (Because reading literally any of her aunt’s notes wasn't an option, apparently?)

She starts noticing the same ghosts. The same cold spots. She even meets the ghost of Betty Graham—one of Richard’s victims.

Carly retraces Viv’s steps almost exactly. She even tracks down Alma, now older and more jaded. With help from Alma, Robbie (yes, he’s still around!), and a new friend named Heather, Carly pieces together what really happened:

  • Richard was the serial killer.

  • Viv escaped but disappeared by choice.

  • The ghosts are real and trying to help.

Carly also investigates Richard’s abandoned house and nearly gets killed by one of Richard’s acolytes. Luckily, she’s saved at the last minute by… drumroll… Viv, who comes out of hiding to rescue her.

They hug. It’s emotional. But honestly? I’m still salty about Viv pulling a “Hi I faked my death for 35 years” move.

😬 Why I Didn’t Love-Love It

🚨 The Disappearing Act Trope

Look. I’m all for strong female leads and survival instincts, but Viv letting her entire family think she was dead for THREE DECADES just doesn’t sit right.

I get that she was traumatized. I get that she didn’t trust the system.
But… send a letter? A coded postcard? A ghostly smoke signal? Anything?

We’re supposed to believe she’s a thoughtful, caring character, but this choice just made me feel meh. It always annoys me when authors expect us to cheer for someone who ghosted (literally and emotionally) the people who loved them.

🔁 The Dual Timeline Felt a Bit Too Copy-Paste

Viv and Carly have eerily similar journeys—both working the same shift, at the same motel, investigating the same murders. The repetition slowed things down in the middle. I found myself constantly flipping back like, “Wait… am I Viv or Carly right now?”

🌫️ What Slayed (In a Good Way)

✔️ The motel setting is creepy perfection—I could practically hear the buzzing neon sign and feel the sticky air.
✔️ The ghosts weren’t cheesy—they actually had purpose and emotional weight.
✔️ The pacing is solid and the cold-case mystery aspect was compelling.

✨ Final Thoughts

I enjoyed The Sun Down Motel and read it quickly, but I didn’t fall head-over-haunted-heels.

It’s the perfect read for:
✔️ Mystery lovers who don’t mind a ghost or three
✔️ Readers who like dual timelines and cold-case vibes
✔️ Fans of Simone St. James’ signature mix of creepy + crime

📚 If You Liked This, Try:

🔎 The Broken Girls by Simone St. James — also dual timeline + ghosts
🏨 Lock Every Door by Riley Sager — creepy building + rich people secrets
🎧 The Night Swim by Megan Goldin — true crime podcast meets justice

🛒 Buy The Sun Down Motel

👉 Amazon Link (affiliate)

💬 Let’s Discuss!

Did Viv’s vanishing act bug you too? Or were you cool with it? Drop your thoughts below—I’m dying to hear what you think!

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