Title: Murder Road

Author: Simone St. James

Publisher: Berkley 2024

Genre: Thriller/Horror

Pages: 341

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf Project; Spooky Season

Where I Got It: BOTM March 2024

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 a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker 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.

Not my favorite of St. James’s books (that’s The Book of Cold Cases), but still an enjoyable thriller/horror book. I enjoyed the random throwback to the 90s as we follow Eddie and April on their ill-fated honeymoon. They are both carrying secrets and I enjoyed seeing them be revealed throughout the story. Our book opens with a great propulsive sequence, so of course I was intrigued. Once the Carters start investigating the murder and the mystery of Atticus Lane, the book slowed down. There was a lot of circular conversations and actions in the middle that started to drag things down. Thankfully it picked up towards the end and we barreled across the last pages. I didn’t love the neat-as-a-bow wrap-up, but overall enjoyed this book with moderate ghost involvement.

Next up on the TBR pile: