The Sun Down Motel

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Something hasn’t been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.


Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.

Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.

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Published Oct 20, 2020

340 pages

Average rating: 7.63

659 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

What Bookclubbers are saying about this book

✨ Summarized by Bookclubs AI

Readers say *The Sun Down Motel* by Simone St. James is a creepy, clever, and atmospheric supernatural mystery praised for its eerie motel setting, du...

Karla
Apr 10, 2026
6/10 stars
It was okay. Not the best thriller/horror book but it kept me entertained only cause the main girl was kind of dumb and I wanted to yell at her.
Sue Dix
Mar 14, 2026
10/10 stars
I had to keep putting this book down because it mostly scared the hell out of me. I don’t do well with ghost stories, but there is far more to this book than ghosts. It is an intelligent, enthralling mystery that spans 35 years. There is a back and forth eerily parallel narration between past and present. The ending is satisfyingly final. Don’t read this book at night, though.
Aboehlein89
Mar 14, 2026
7/10 stars
The Sun Down Motel was creepy, clever, atmospheric, and the exact kind of book that makes you want to triple check a motel mirror and then text your book club immediately. We ate up the alternating timelines, Viv’s absolute icon behavior, Carly’s determination, and the way this story kept serving ghostly dread with a side of justice. Fell, New York, is officially on our list of places we will never be visiting, and Simone St. James absolutely knew what she was doing with this one. It was hard to plan with a book club because the chapters were named the same back and forth but it was easy to pick up the story line when Viv ended and carly picked up (and vice versa) but there was some MAJOR lose ends never wrapped up...nicks dad cough cough.... ugh hate it when that happens.
TheBookishMind
Jan 13, 2026
10/10 stars
This is one of my favorites involving ghosts!
Deborah Trahan
Oct 23, 2025
10/10 stars
So many joys in this novel! Dual timelines, supernatural events, broken characters, an unexpected resolution - perfectly woven together. I’ve discovered a new favorite author.

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