Murder Road had a lot of the elements that I enjoy in murder mysteries, but I was somewhat disappointed in this latest book by this author. When I first started reading this author, I loved the mix of mystery / suspense / paranormal that could be found in the books, and found them creepy and gripping.The book did start off rather strong for me so I was hopeful at first, but then it got bogged down towards the middle and I started to lose interest. And the thing is, it wasn't that the source material was uninteresting, I think it was the way it was presented.

Newlyweds Eddie and April are the main characters in this book and I did enjoy their backstories. Both of them had some struggles in their lives and I found their perceptions of current events based on their backgrounds to be quite interesting; the whole concept that we can never leave run away from who we were is a running theme throughout this book and we have to accept that those experiences have shaped us into the people who we are today. There were a lot of repetitive thoughts and concepts though, and I got tired of April reminding us how beautiful she was even though it wasn't important to her. Really? I think the author was hung up on this concept and used 'the beautiful woman must be lying because she is beautiful' thing to the point of nausea. There really couldn't be any other reason why the police officer thought April was lying? Of course it had to do with the fact she was beautiful and was hiding something. Eddie's story fascinated me more than April's simply because I am married to a vet and understand the impact PTSD and being posted overseas can have on someone. I personally don't think enough is done for our vets so I liked that story line very much. I am definitely biased in that regard.

The story itself was actually interesting, but I wish the author had included more of the paranormal element to it, something that was very much lacking in this book. I think I was expecting something much more creepy, something with much more of a twist, but I didn't get that. I don't mind the police procedural aspect of the book as I like that kind of thing, but something paranormal thrown in would have been so interesting. I mentioned that I lost interest about halfway through the book, but I think it was the writing style, not the material, that was the cause.

Verdict
Murder Road definitely had some interesting elements to it, and there were some themes running through it that I liked. None of these things were fully developed or used in such a way to create that creepiness factor that is necessary to this type of book. There was little to no twist; in fact, I felt like there wasn't much of a denouement at all. Overall, while I didn't hate it, I didn't really like it either. If you are interested in reading this author, I recommend The Broken Girls. ( )

It is July 1995. Newlyweds Eddie Carter and his bride April Delray Carter are enroute to a honeymoon cottage on the coast of Lake Michigan. But they are lost. Instead of the interstate, they are on a dark, deserted two lane road, Atticus Line, and have no idea how they got there.
Up ahead April sees a light shining in the trees and soon they come upon a girl staggering along the roadside, head down, wearing an oversized coat. It’s 2 in the morning and Eddie and April debate whether to stop and ask if the girl needs assistance. They ultimately decide to stop and the girl, Rhonda Jean, reluctantly gets in the back seat.
April turns around to make conversation and notices that Rhonda Jean’s shirt is covered in blood and they realize that Rhonda Jean needs a hospital, the closest of which is in Coldlake Falls. As they proceed Eddie notices a large truck with bright lights speeding behind them with a girl in the bed of the truck.
When the trio turns into the hospital parking lot, the truck drives by. Unfortunately, Rhonda Jean’s injuries, stab wounds, were fatal and while Eddie and April wait at the hospital, two detectives, Quentin and Beam, show up. Eddie and April are astounded to find out that they are suspects in Rhoda Jean’s murder…that is until they find out soon after that there have been a series of unsolved hitchhiker murders along Atticus Line dating back twenty years. Eddie and April are the closest things to witnesses (and potential suspects) that Quentin has found.
The newlyweds are forbidden to leave town and are put up at a local B&B. They soon learn of an urban legend, the Lost Girl, who has haunted Atticus Line since her death in in 1976…the unidentified first victim. The legend continues that if you see a light shining in the trees, you will be the Lost Girl’s next victim.
Even though Eddie and April finally are absolved of the crime, they decide to stick around Coldlake Falls and look into the identity of the initial murder victim. The pull of the Lost Girl is too strong for them to step away. By doing so, however, secrets come to light, those of Eddie and April and the town. Will the revelation of these secrets pull Eddie and April apart or bring them closer together? Will the Lost Girl win and keep her stranglehold on them?
In an interview, Ms. St. James said that she set the time frame of the story in 1995 because it was pre-internet and people could truly get lost. There was no digital footprint or virtual directions. The victims for the most part were young, disenfranchised men and women who would not necessarily be immediately missed if they disappeared.
While the influence of the paranormal is less in Murder Road than it is in some of St. James’ other books, it still plays a significant, but not overpowering, role in this story. The police procedural with the detectives and the Carters is realistic and Quentin at times could be malicious; anything to solve a crime. The story line holds readers’ interest and St. James has populated the books with a variety of interesting characters including the unlikable Detective Quentin, the cranky B&B owner, Rose and the energetic Snell twins, who I won’t say anything about.
One reviewer said that St. James “…offered a gripping tale of crime tinged with the supernatural...” Murder Road is another Simone St. James crowd pleaser. ( )

A very unsettling book that doesn’t really go anywhere. In spite of all the shock and awe scattered throughout the pages, I just never got engaged with the characters or with the story. The characters are quite stilted and single-dimensional. The secrets revealed and the twists and turns kept me reading until the end, even though the end was unsatisfactory and left everything up in the air. ( )

St. James's specialty are fast-paced stories about ghosts and murder. In MR, she does not disappoint. April and Eddie, two newlyweds on their honeymoon, find themselves on a deserted, spooky road--aka Janet Leigh's character in PSYCHO--where they pick up a bloody hitchhiker and take her to the nearest hospital. All hell breaks loose from there, and April and Eddie are on the run to solve a murder in order to free themselves from local suspicion. ( )

Being a good Samaritan doesn’t always work out.​

Eddie and April Carter were heading to a resort for their honeymoon and made a wrong turn.​​

That wrong turn put them on a deserted road that had a young girl needing a ride.​​

They didn’t know that she had been stabbed and was bleeding when they offered her a ride.​​

They picked her up, took her to a hospital where she died, and now they are murder suspects.​​

We follow the tension as the police try to get them to confess and as they try to figure out this murder and others that occurred on Atticus Road. ​​

Ms. Simone has given us another spine-tingling page turner with paranormal scenes and characters with secrets kept from each other and of course from us.​​

I’m not a fan of paranormal, but I always enjoy how Ms. Simone incorporates it into her books.​​

The ending is a good one. 4/5

​​Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ( )