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**Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley, and Simone St. James for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 3.5!!**

"I danced with the Devil, he tried to get my soul
Didn't recognize him on the dead man's road
Oh no, he's dead and cold
Don't go down the dead man's road" - Dead Man's Road, Doc Holliday

It's the summer of '97, and April and Eddie have tied the knot...and now it's finally time for a peaceful, relaxing honeymoon. Headed to their quiet resort town along the lake in Michigan, they can almost hear the lull of the waves and feel the warm sun on their faces already...even though it's nighttime. But when they stray off the beaten path and end up on a strange stretch of road known as Atticus Line...the vibes are a lot less Good Vibrations and a lot more 'Oujia Board on Halloween'. They see a hitchhiker stranded on the side of the road, and despite their better judgment (and the obvious kink in their original plans) they stop to help the young woman out...and it's only then they notice that she's COVERED in blood.

Eddie and April get the woman (named Rhonda Jean) to a hospital...but unfortunately not soon enough to save her. What they later learn is that she's far from the first to disappear on that fated stretch of road...Atticus Line is known for missing hitchhikers, and one particular hitchhiker is known by all of the locals as "The Lost Girl." This Jane Doe has never been found, and with a string of other unsolved murders taking place on this SAME stretch of highway, police begin to narrow their focus onto the two people who just HAPPENED to be there when Rhonda was found soaked in blood: Eddie and April.

Desperate to clear their names and get to the bottom of the case, the married duo tap into local resources: the owner of the B&B they are staying at, Rose, and true Hardy Girls in the flesh, the Snell Sisters, who are teens obsessed with the murders and doing a bit of detective work on their own, and attempt to tackle the last 30 YEARS of unsolved cases to find out just what happened to all of this missing wanderers...and if their spirits are still haunting the same eerie stretch of highway. Can Eddie and April get to the bottom of the mystery with all eyes cast upon them? Or does The Lost Girl have her eyes on a NEW victim...or possibly a pair of victims...and won't stop until she FINALLY exacts her revenge?

I have to admit, I've been on the fence about continuing to read Simone St. James' books since my very first. I have always felt like I loved the IDEA of her books more than the finished product itself, and have relied heavily on her fantastic use of atmosphere and her AMAZING ghosts to keep me hooked and hoping for something more each time I pick one up. Oftentimes in the past, her plots have felt very convenient to me, with everything and everyone being in the right place, at the right time for everything to work, with a certain level of suspended disbelief ALSO required just to get me from A to B in terms of plot. I've never felt compelled to keep reading OTHER than to revisit her ghosts again and again, which is a bit bizarre, but just speaks to the quality of her writing when it comes to the paranormal.

But with Murder Road, I am thrilled to say that St. James took EVERY aspect of her writing to the next level...and the result was a thriller that was spooky, dripping in 90's nostalgia, and a TWISTY page turner that kept me EASILY enthralled from beginning to end!

St. James' atmosphere is ALWAYS on point, but as a 90's kid with a soft spot for the aforementioned era, I feel that she absolutely NAILED the essence of the 90s. This cover says it all: it could just have easily been on a Christopher Pike or R.L Stine book from the same era...and I mean that as an ABSOLUTE compliment! There are plenty of references thrown in along the way to remind you of the time period, but rather than beat her readers over the head with them, for the most part St. James slyly tosses them in as background or scene setting material, from TV footage around big news stories of the time to music playing on the radio during one of April and Eddie's many car rides...and THIS is how you do it. Lots of gentle nods, but nothing in your face: she played it JUST right. 👏

There's also a fabulous balance between the mystery and the paranormal elements of the book. This one is equal parts whodunit and spooky ghost story, and the ghost(s) popped in and out enough of the narrative to remain a steady uncertain unknown, but not enough to remove the more realistic aspect of the story. I appreciated that St. James also spent a fair amount of time showing the strong bond between Eddie and April and their more tender moments, as well as full developing the characters of Rose and the Snell Sisters to the point where you hoped beyond hope that THEY weren't involved in the murders somehow...because trust me, you'll be considering EVERY option! While some reveals felt a bit predictable once they occurred, it was the time spent ramping up the tension that made this one feel so special and DIFFERENT from St. James' books.

And unlike the other two St. James books that I've read thus far, one of my other FAVORITE aspects of this one was that it in no way felt like YA. Even when the narrative dealt with younger characters (or younger iterations of characters) it never felt as though the content had been watered down or read as 'young': Eddie and April were very much the adult married couple they were, and the dramatic tension felt just about as developed as I could hope from St. James. The dialogue was never 'off', and this was one of those 'fun' mystery thrillers where I just ENJOYED anytime I got to grab it for a few minutes and flip the pages. A step or two up in terms of quality from a pure popcorn thriller, but it had that 'feel' and I also felt like I was getting waves of twangy guitar like you might hear in a 60's song like Dead Man's Curve...there's something about the spirit of this one that starts with the cover and NEVER lets up until the last page, and it's the kind of book that finally (and I MEAN finally, because I've been craving the feeling for SO long!) that has me chomping at the bit for St. James' next terrifying tale! 👻

(And although it goes without saying, has FIRMLY cemented the fact that I will NEVER, EVER pick up any hitchhikers! I mean...unless something OTHERWORLDLY comes a-calling!) 😱

😉

4 stars

Now in paperback!