The Sun Down Motel

This is a great mystery story with some paranormal elements.

It’s told in two time periods (1982 and 2017), and in that respect, it reminds me a little of [b:The Girl on the Train|22557272|The Girl on the Train|Paula Hawkins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574805682l/22557272.SX50.jpg|41107568]. I like that style of story-telling, but to be honest, I was more interested in the 1982 timeline than the 2017 one. Maybe that’s just because I’m such a nostalgic guy.

There are ghosts in the hotel in both timelines, but I don’t think that qualifies this book to be called a “horror” because (unlike some other reviewers) I didn’t find that aspect scary. It was a little creepy in the beginning, but you learn to accept them as part of the story world fairly early on, and they become just a vehicle to drive the mystery forward. It’s very well done.

The editing is pristine. I don’t remember finding a single typo or missing/incorrectly used word or punctuation mark. Which is very rare, believe you me. There was a continuity issue at one point, where the main character gets let into someone’s house and sits in their kitchen, and then a few paragraphs down, we read that she gets led into the kitchen (“Erm, she’s already IN the kitchen!” was my reaction).

Also, like most thriller/horror style books, human beings can withstand injuries WAY worse than they should be able to. Like the man who carries on a long-winded conversation after having a knife plunged into his chest. Or the woman who falls into an empty swimming pool and reports immense pain, and a grating sound, when she tries to rotate her shoulder, only to be walking around an hour later as if nothing happened, and refusing medical attention.

The twist was... absolutely amazing. I didn’t see it coming in the slightest, and truthfully, it’s the reason I gave this book four stars instead of three.

All-in-all, I thought this book was well worth the hype.

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I enjoyed the crap out of this gloomy mystery that has a timesplit between 1982 and 2017. In 1982 the young Vivian comes to Fell, NY, as a brief stopover which ends up permanent. To survive, she accepts a job as night clerk at a ramshackle Motel which turns out to be rather spooky. Something terrible happens one night, and in a cut to 2017 we find out from our protagonist Carly that 35 years ago her aunt Viv disappeared without a trace. Carly comes to Fell in order to learn more about this, and starts following in Viv's footsteps when she accepts the same job as night clerk.

In flashbacks we find out what really happened to Viv and learn how Carly figures out Viv's obsession with the tragic deaths of a number of women in Fell.

I was glued to this book. The Sun Down Motel is the gloomiest accomodation since The Overlook Hotel in The Shining. I think that's on purpose, Stephen King is named as favorite author by both Viv and Carly in the story. There are ghosts, a creepy murderer, and oodles of atmosphere.