Simone St James is an auto buy author for me. I have read all her books, some multiple times and she is one of my most recommended authors when people are looking for a thriller. Even if you aren’t a fan of ghost stories, her books have a strong thriller/murder mystery component that generally off set the paranormal in the book. This book has been on pre-order for me for MONTHS and I couldn’t wait to read this book. I did read it in one day which is pretty standard for me with her books.
This book had a lot of 1990s nostalgia which was a big draw for me. Being set in 1995, I was excited to time travel in a way back to my teen years and a time when things were simpler. I think the lack of technology in a book and murder mystery like this really added to the sense of ‘unknown’ for me. It wasn’t entirely unheard of for teens to hitchhike still back then, and of course there was no ‘grid’ for them to fall off of so all of this added to the undercurrent of unknown in this book.
If you love thrillers and solid mysteries, and maybe you want to dabble in some supernatural elements or perhaps you are a die hard paranormal fan, wither way there is something for readers to love in this book. I highly recommend any of St James’s books. I never feel disappointed or underwhelmed when I pick up one of her books. Naturally there are books by her that I like more than others but overall I never feel like ‘darn I wasted my time with that one’ I always feel like I read a good story and was fully entertained beginning to end!
Summary
A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel.
July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.
When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all. (summary from Goodreads)
Review
First of all, I really enjoyed this book. While maybe not my most favorite from St James, but certainly entertaining and thrilling/chilling as I have come to expect from her! This book, like her others, has a strong supernatural/ghost presence but for me, I didn’t feel the same sense of dread and menacing from this particular ghost that I have felt in other books. My two favorite books from this author are The Sundown Motel and The Broken Girls, both of those had a lot more ghostly presence throughout the story. This book has a ghost but I felt like she didn’t take on a larger role in the way that ghosts do in other books by St James. I would have liked to see the ghost take on more of a role in the story. I didn’t get the sense that the ghost was as threatening as they are in other books. For me the ghostly presence in the books really adds to the creep factor of her books and this book didn’t feel as creepy as other books she has written.
I also didn’t feel connect to either of the main characters. April and Eddie felt distant and unreliable. I also kept waiting for the ‘other shoe to drop’ with them. Throughout the book there is a lot of talk about both their pasts and things were implied and ‘veiled’ but never truly discussed or realized. Their stories felt incomplete and I kept waiting for them to be directly connected to the larger mystery of this book. While one of the characters ended up being connected to the larger mystery, for me it felt a little flimsy (no spoilers!). I would have liked to have seen their individual stories and pasts more developed and more strongly written into the narrative. This book started out so strong and promising with the ghost and murder mystery, but then it felt like it lost steam.
I did enjoy the setting and the time period. Obviously I’m a Gen X-er so I love all things 1990s and I think this one did a good job highlighting some nostalgic points but at the same time I think it could have gone more in for the setting. It was more references to songs of the decade rather than true nostalgia. I will say though, I did like how the setting did set modern readers up for a simpler time where people (and in this case characters) didn’t have social media, Map Quest, or the internet to research someone with. I liked that but I would have liked to have seen St James go all in on the 1990s nostalgia.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and read it basically in one sitting but I finished it feeling a little underwhelmed. It could have been so much better, in fact I kept waiting for it to get GOOD but it just didn’t. I would rate this one in the ‘good’ category. It was solid and I enjoyed the mystery, but it could absolutely have been way better and we could have had a lot more creep in it to make it really stand out.
Book Info and Rating
Format 352 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication March 5, 2024
ISBN 9780593200384 (ISBN10: 0593200381)
Free review copy provided by publisher, Berkley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Genre: thriller, paranormal, mystery
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