Murder Road by Simone St. James

Simone St. James’s Murder Road takes readers back to the summer of 1995, where newlyweds April and Eddie are searching for the small lakeside town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. After taking a wrong turn onto a dark, deserted stretch of road, they stop to help a young woman walking alone. Once she’s in the car, they realize she is badly injured, and by the time they reach the hospital, it’s too late. Suddenly the couple finds themselves at the center of a murder investigation, and as they dig into the history of the town and its notorious road to clear their names, they uncover a string of deaths that may not be entirely of this world.

I’m usually one of St. James’s biggest cheerleaders, so it pains me a little to say that this one fell flat for me; I gave it 2.5 stars. What I’ve come to adore about her novels is the creeping, can’t-turn-the-lights-off spookiness, and that atmosphere just never fully arrived here. The haunted road had all the ingredients of a great ghost story, yet it never felt as menacing or alive as the settings in her earlier books. The characters didn’t help; April and Eddie felt dull on the page, and I struggled to stay invested in what happened to them.

I also had a hard time suspending my disbelief. It felt like a far reach for a young couple on their honeymoon, who are themselves under suspicion, to insert themselves so deeply into a police investigation of this caliber. Instead of feeling like amateur sleuths in over their heads, they often felt like they had wandered into the wrong story.

That said, one disappointing read won’t change how I feel about Simone St. James. The Sun Down Motel and The Book of Cold Cases still hold a special place on my shelf, and I will absolutely be first in line for whatever she writes next. If you’re new to her work, I’d recommend starting with one of those; if you’re a longtime fan, you may still enjoy Murder Road as a lighter, road-trip flavored mystery with a supernatural twist.

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