Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Paranormal Activity but Passive-Aggressive

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St James

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Bingo Square: B (Book) This wasn’t my favorite St. James, though it was still an entertaining read. But when reading a Simone St. James novel, I guess I just want a bit more ghost story to it all. Of course there is a ghost and a supernatural connection because it is after all a novel by Simone St. James but after a spooky set up in the beginning, the supernatural elements feel a bit less relevant for the plot than in some of her other […]

Two and a half cigarette men!

The Sundown Motel by Simone St. James

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I saw this recommended on reddit, bought it on audible and literally the next day zirza panned it on here. Sadly, zirza was right, it’s not great. A cross between a mystery and a ghost story, The Sundown Motel tells the story of nefarious things happening in the small town of Fell, NY, where Viv Delaney disappears after her night shift at the titular motel in the 80s, while her niece Carly investigates the case in 2017. The POV switches between these two women and […]

“Their wives … their mothers … sitting in silence and screaming into darkness”

Lost Among the Living by Simone St James

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While they write in different genres, authors like Fiona Davis, Simone St James and Sarah Beth Durst all hit a similar mark for me – novels that I know will be at minimum solid and dependable, sometimes even more, and all authors still have a bit of a back catalogue left for me. Sometimes you discover an author and immediately devour all their work. With these authors, I’m slowly working my way through but they are my fall back plans when I am not sure […]

Break your silence if you would/before the sun goes down for good

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

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It’s 1982, and small-town Viv has big-city ambitions. Mostly, she just wants to get out of the town where she has lived all her life; she has a vague ambition to move to New York and become an actress, so off she goes in spite of her mother’s protestations. One dodgy hitchhiker later and she ends up at the Sun Down Motel, a run down establishment in the town of Fell, New York. The hotel manager offers her free board in exchange for running the […]

(Fictional) True Crime Dual Timeline

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

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Split between Fell New York, 1982 and Fell New York, 2017 the story follows two women (Viv in 1982 and Carly, Viv’s niece in 2017).  Viv goes missing in 1982, leaving Carly, the niece she never knew with a family mystery on her hands.  Carly goes to Fell in search of her aunt and takes a job working at the same Motel (the Sun Down Motel of the title) her aunt was at before she vanished.  She ends up working the same shift her aunt […]

Hitchhiking Once Again is a Dangerous Game

Murder Road by Simone St. James

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Murder Road by Simone St. James is a supernatural mystery/thriller and I’ll be honest I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it.  I read it in one day, so that says I wasn’t bored or distracted by it, but I also was left feeling a little “well …”  So for me, it’s a solid three-star read.  Fun, did its job by entertaining me but all felt a little … ephemeral at the end. Set in 1995, the story follows newlyweds April and Eddie who […]



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