Articles on Vivian talk about how vivacious and popular she is, when her narrative shows her to be quiet and reserved. Similar to today the responsibility is placed on women – rather than being victims the articles all hint at how these women must have been asking for it, even that they deserved it. When the murders of those young women are all first reported on by the media in this novel, the articles are biased. I think the main reason I love this book so much is because of the parallels between female victims then and today. I couldn’t imagine a place not having wifi but if anywhere did it would be The Sun Down Motel, making the experience of staying there even more miserable. In fact everything and everyone seems stuck in this town, which is made incredibly clear by the absence of real technological advancement. The motel is haunted by those that died there, all of whom are unhappy and stuck. Similar to Wuthering Heights, it’s a place stuck in time and haunted by its residents (living and otherwise). The motel itself acts as the anchor across both time periods it remains unchanged. The transitions were smooth and helped cultivate a fast paced atmosphere as we move with both Vivian and Carly to track down the killer. The jumps between times were seamless for me, I found myself not recognising whether I was in 1982 or 2017 at points. I liked the use of alternating timelines for the narrative checking out synopses of St James’ other books this appears to be a preference for her. Throughout the book we jump between 19 Fell, alternating between the perspectives of Vivian and Carly as they solve the mystery that surrounds The Sun Down Motel and it’s inhabitants. She visits Fell and finds herself falling down the same rabbit hole as her aunt and discovers Vivian wasn’t the only tragedy of that era quite a few young women were murdered in and around Fell. In 2017, following the death of her mother Carly decides to investigate and find out what happened to her Aunt Viv. Her body was never found and she was soon presumed dead.

In this book we transcend time as we join Carly to solve decades old mysteries once and for all. They are preyed upon but fight, silenced but still vocal. But women also investigate, research and hunt. The Sun Down Motel is a novel centred around women. Genre: thriller, murder mystery (serial killer edition)

The sun down motel review