Murder Road

After reading a LOT of mediocre suspense thrillers, I am so relieved to finally find one that not only meets the genre's requirements, but also exceeds them. Simone St. James's latest is atmospheric, unpredictable and character-rich. The highlight is the love story between April and Eddie, recent newlyweds who know almost nothing about each other. Their relationship deepens as they work together to solve the mysteries of "Murder Road," but these two lonely, wounded people have dark secrets. I was rooting for them and wary of them at the same time.

I stopped reading Simone St. James's books when she moved from historical to more-or-less contemporary settings (the 1990s are NOT history!), but I may have to reconsider that decision.

"Murder Road" has a wonderful start. April and Eddie, a young couple, on their honeymoon, are lost on a deserted country road at night. They stop to pick up a girl who is shuffling along the side of the road. Only when she's in the car do they see the blood and understand that's she's badly, perhaps fatally injured. Then the strangeness starts.

From the moment they picked up the girl, menace wrapped around April and Eddie like a malign fog and I knew I was reading a thriller with a wif of woo-woo as disturbing as the smell of decomp in a neighbour's basement. There was a threatening truck, seen only as accelerating headlights in the rearview. The young couple arrive at the hospital soaked in blood that is not their own and are treated show more not as rescuers but as suspects. There is something off about the quietly menacing way they are treated by the local police, as if they are being stalked, slowly and confidently. The police board them with a local woman who, it turns out, local legend says killed her policeman husband.

The creep factor continued to rise throughout the first half of the book. Some of that was because of the legend of the Lost Girl who is said to haunt the country road April and Eddie were on. Most of it was because I started to understand that no one, not even April, the new young bride from whose point of view the story was told, was who I'd expected them to be.

April has a dark past, a sharp edge to her tongue and a deep-seated distrust of the police. Eddie, recently discharged from the Army, doesn't trust his memory, his sight or his control over his own actions. The main detective has all the empathy and warmth you'd expect of a psychopath. His presence is oppressive and, in some ways, more threatening that the legendary Lost Girl.

By the halfway mark, I was sure that April and Eddie were going to be crushed in the investigation. Then something happened that lessened the pressure, the plot slowed and suddenly, instead of the grounded but undefined threat to April and Eddie from the police investigation, the couple were mired in a ghost story.

I struggled a little with April and Eddie's continued involvement but my investment in them kept me moving forward.

Then April, unreliable, secretive, potentially dangerous April, took centre stage, everything became more personal and the tension rose to an even higher pitch than before.

The struggle between April and the detective and the escalating threat from something supernatural that only April and I-think-I'm-hallucinating Eddie could see became so intense that I could only read it for short periods before it became to stressful to be fun.

The stress emanated not from the mystery of the murdered girl or the supernatural incidents but from April and the detective who circled each other like two starved rats in a bucket. For me, the stress was amplified because April was easy to empathise with but impossible to trust and the lead detective was so unpleasant that I found myself hoping he wouldn't make it to the end of the book.

By this time I was three-quarters through the book and I still had no idea where it was going except that everything was going to get worse.

The resolution, when it came, was satisfying an made sense in a woo-woo logic kind of way. It seemed to me that too much time was spent wrapping things up neatly at the end. It felt like the cool down at the end of a har cardio session - I could see why it was there but it wasn't much fun.

Overall, 'Murder Road' was an intense read that successfully combined a complex female character with a twisty plot, small-town menace, dark personal histories and dramatic and disturbing supernatural elements. show less

Eerie ghost story meets 90s nostalgia in MURDER ROAD, the latest gripping paranormal thriller from Simone St. James. I loved everything about it, and if you're new to her spooky books, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend starting with this one.

It's summer 1995, and a young honeymooning couple gets entangled in a paranormal murder mystery when they pick up a doomed hitchhiker along a deserted Michigan road. While police keep them in town for questioning, April and Eddie discover that road is known for a string of unsolved murders going back to the 1970s, and also the local legend of the Lost Girl. With some time to kill and a desire to clear their own names, they investigate the history of this haunted road on their own.

I enjoyed the show more complex mystery in this one, and the supernatural elements blended in perfectly for many chilling moments. The characters are what I loved most about this book. April was flawed from the emotional baggage of her past, yet so brave and clever in their current precarious situation. And then there's Eddie — be still my heart. Even the secondary cast was well-rounded and compelling.

I've read MURDER ROAD twice because it is addictive, and I wanted to experience the creepy goodness again. The ominous atmosphere, the dark supernatural, the genuine characters, and the 90s make this an unputdownable read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC. Opinions are my own. show less

Simone St. James may never be able to top The Broken Girls but Murder Road comes close. The mysterious elements are compelling and steadily build on each other. The atmosphere is properly creepy and expertly rendered. The young newlyweds at the center of the story are riddled with trauma that informs their reactions and decisions and their connection to each other feels genuine. This gripping mystery/horror mashup is complemented by strong emotional moments and likable, flawed characters.

★ 4 Stars ★
Simone St. James is an incredible author with a unique talent for balancing supernatural elements in her stories. I want to read all her books I've missed whenever I finish a new one.

"Murder Road" follows a newlywed couple on their honeymoon. Their trip turns dark when they pick up an injured woman on the side of the road. Unfortunately, the woman dies on the way to the hospital. The couple tries to solve the mystery of her murder, but they soon realize that local detectives are trying to pin the crime on them. The interactions between the couple and the detectives are particularly intriguing and help develop the main protagonist, April. Her wise and fierce personality shines through, as this isn't her first rodeo.

As show more always, St. James masterfully creates a creepy and ominous atmosphere in "Murder Road." The scene where Eddie and April pick up the girl is a real nail-biter. The book's perfect balance of mystery, horror, and thrills, coupled with witty and charming characters, adds a layer of excitement to the story. Murder Road is a riveting book that will keep you in suspense, and St. James deserves recognition for her excellent writing. show less

I love St. James' books. She's part of the chick-mystery/supernatural fiction class of writers so prevalent in the horror genre today. Her books are suspenseful and so much fun. She's good at holding romance at an arm's length, and keeping the mystery taut. St. James is also very good at writing great characters arcs. In the end, one must stretch disbelief a bit, but at that point you love the characters and are willing to forgive.

She's also one of the few authors who gets adoption and adoptees right. I'm glad I will always be able to count on her for this.

Eddie and April are newlyweds. They are on their way to honeymoon but Eddie takes a wrong turn. On the loney road in the middle of nowhere is a young girl. Eddie pulls over to see if she is OK and does she need a lift anywhere. Things start to go wrong from this point. There is a local legend about that same road. The Lost girl roams and if seen you could end up dead.

I have read The Sundown Motel and didn't enjoy the book very much but when I saw my local library had this book I thought I would give the author another chance. I enjoyed this one so a lot more.

I had a fun time reading this book. The story was interesting as it followed Eddie and April and what happens after they pick up the girl. The story flowed easily and there was a show more twist towards the end which I didn't guess. I did think the ending went into thrillerland a little bit but it didn't spoil the story.

I did really like the characters of the Snell sisters and thought they added to the story running around like two Nancy Drews. It would be nice seeing them having their own story.

This book is rated as an horror but I would say its more of a mystery/ thriller with a ghost thrown in. I didn't find the story particularly scary or spooky at all but enjoyed the fact there was a ghost. In true horror form though you don't take a wrong turn and you don't stop to pick up a stranger.

I quite enjoyed this book enough to read more by the author in the future. show less