Murder Road by Simone St. James
SYNOPSIS
July 1995, April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.
When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects.
As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.
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Simone St. James continues to be the reigning Queen of paranormal thrillers. I’m yet to be disappointed by a St. James book and Murder Road, although not having a very subtle title, was one of my favourites to date. This books mystery and horror was very reminiscent for me of The Sun Down Motel which is my favourite of hers so I had a great time reading this one. We follow Eddie and April as they discover a series of hitchhiker murders put a dent in their honeymoon plans. Not only is the setting extremely creepy, but St. James drew on our old deep seated horror of ghostly vehicles like Christine (that movie haunted me as a child) and the very real and very true danger of hitchhiking, especially in the 80s and 90s. I also love that these books always tend to contain some form of romance without making it a major plot point. Eddie and April were the perfect duo and their mysterious backgrounds added so much depth and interest into the mystery they find themselves enmeshed in.
We start off with action right from the hop. April and Eddie have just gotten married and are on their way to a resort when they find themselves lost and on a desolate county road. Queue a lonely woman walking alone. They stop. It’s the 90s so why wouldn’t they??? No true crime podcasts to be found in this decade. Once the girl is in their car, they notice her panic, she’s terrified, and she’s warned them that “he” is coming. And then they begin to be chased by a big truck that won’t get off their tale until they hit the town limits. Once the girl dies of her wounds, Eddie and April are the prime suspects and get stuck deep in the hierarchies and dramas of this small-town police force.
The entire book is from April’s point of view but we get great insight from other characters that made it feel like we had multiple POVs. St James does a great job of bringing supporting and side characters to life on the page. The characters did not disappoint throughout this entire book. We had mysterious, hard-ass cops who didn’t seem to be portraying their true selves, we had a surly B&B owner with a tragic background, we had curious true crime obsessed teens/web sleuths that helped break the case, we had a heroine with a sketchy past and a ruthless side, and a love interest we couldn’t quite read.
I really loved April. She was the opposite of what a lot of thriller women are. Confused, drunk, paranoid, and helpless tends to be an unfortunate norm for most thriller female characters but not for St. James (hallelujah to women thriller writers). April’s ability to stay calm through pressure, and her quick flip of a switch when someone hit one of her triggers made her almost as scary as the mystery in this book. I loved that, out of all the suspicious characters, she was the MOST suspicious yet we’re in her mind so you’re not really sure what to think. I loved that Eddie was the perfect foil for April’s hardened heart and I didn’t know through the entire book whether I could trust him or not. His and April’s relationship had me rooting for them yet their dynamic and dark histories also had me unsure of their innocence throughout the entire story. I LOVE a good unreliable narrator and this book came through on that.
I love that Simone St. James does justice for the subject matter in her thrillers. This book focused on runaways, hitchhikers, the cast-offs that no one seems to care about and how, just because their rootless, does not mean they are less important. The horrific and unsolved things that happen to nomadic teens and young adults and the unfairness on how the world treats them, especially after death, was a major spotlight in this book. They become a sensation, a story, a fascinating mystery in their death and people forget, they were real people, victims of something terrible. I like how St. James can keep us hooked and thrilled while also driving home an important lesson.
The setting couldn’t have been creepier. A lonely highway, a mysterious truck that chases people down. A light in the woods, people hitchhiking alongside the road, no one around for miles, a small town with a horrific backstory. It was all there and I’ll admit, I had to read this book during daylight or I got a little too freaked out. I also, shall never use a dark room again, so thanks for that one Simone.
I loved this story and I’m excited that at least one of my favourite thriller authors has failed to disappoint. Murder Road is the perfect summer thriller to set you on edge during what remains of this beautiful summer season. I gave this book 5 stars.