Ε·±¦ΣιΐΦ

3.5 Stars

I very much enjoyed this author's last offering The Broken Girls which prompted me to pick up this book. That, and the eye-catching retro book cover! This followed the same formula as the last book, where murders occurred decades ago amidst a supernatural setting. Ditto dual timelines and a relative that goes back to the scene of the crime to figure out what happened.

In 1982 Vivian "Viv" Delaney found work at the Sun Down Motel covering the overnight shift in the office. She accidentally wound up in Fell, NY after getting into a car with the wrong man while trying to hitchhike to New York City. She luckily got out of the car unscathed, stepping out near the hotel with the neon sign. Viv entered the hotel with ten dollars less than she needed to get a room, but wound up with a job instead. The owner was grateful not to have to work the night shift anymore. The work was easy; have the client sign their name in the book and hand them a key. There was a heavy, clunky phone with bulbous lighted buttons, and Viv discovered that she could easily listen in on phone calls. Viv soon got used to certain regulars. The most memorable were the neat and slick looking travelling salesman with a suitcase whose smile made her uneasy, and the man and woman conducting an illicit affair.

Almost immediately frightening things began to happen. I regularly read myself to sleep at night and I confess I got the willies during the supernatural occurrences. Real-time cigarette smoke smells, moaning, lights flickering, then completely going out...and the appearances of certain restless souls. How about trying to grab a quick Snickers bar out of the snack machine in the very small "Amenities" room that also houses the ice machine and getting pushed by invisible hands...yikes!!! Viv soon realized that a pattern of dead girls was occurring in Fell and became a damn good amateur sleuth in solving who the serial murderer was. However, as the book begins we already know that Viv went missing one fateful night in 1982.

It's over thirty years later and Viv's niece Carly travels to Fell to investigate what happened to the aunt she never met. Incredibly, she gets the same job working the same night shift in the Sun Down Motel. The gift of amateur detective has definitely passed down from Viv's genes, in Carly's relentless pursuit to piece together what happened to Viv. She experiences all the same supernatural heebie jeebies that Viv endured. It's like the Sun Down Motel was frozen in time. There's no Wi-Fi or cellphone connectivity...thus no computer, and the old leather sign-in book is still in use for the customers.

As often happens in these type of dual timeline books, I experienced disorientation when flipping back and forth through the decades. The fact that these young women were living a sort of parallel existence further added to the confusion. I enjoyed the writing style and it was never actually boring, but I did feel that the book could have been shortened just a little bit. I was anxious to wrap things up when I hit the last 10% of the book. Obviously, you've got to suspend belief to go with this story, but it's still such an enjoyable ride.

Thank you to Berkley / Penguin Publishing Group for providing an advance reader copy via Edelweiss.