Book Review: Murder Road | Simone St. James

Simone St. James has a way of writing what I would describe as intellectual gripping supernatural psychological thrillers. But since that is a confusing mouthful, let’s just say that while all of her books have a supernatural element to them, they also appeal to psychological thriller readers. The way she crafts her stories would allow the supernatural element to be completely removed, and the story would still work. The mix of the genres, though, is what makes her work captivating and unique. St. James writes psychological thrillers for fans of supernatural mysteries, and at the same time she writes supernatural mysteries for psychological thriller fans.

In Murder Road, a newlywed couple find themselves tangled in a long history of murders that were committed on along a remote stretch of road.

About the Book | Murder Road

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.

Review | Murder Road

The novel is set in summer of 1995 and something about the throwback to that time period before cell phones and social media made this story feel like it really might have happened. There’s something romantic and nostalgic about stories that take place in a small town that is largely uninfluenced by the media and populated cities. There are abandoned or not-well traveled roads that are blanketed in darkness, untouched by light or even life most days.

April and Eddie are newlyweds and make a wrong turn on their way to a small resort town where they booked their honeymoon. April later says that she saw an ad for the resort and thought it looked cute. This relatively mild comment is one of many things in the story that make the reader question if something else drew these two to the area.

The wrong turn leads them to a deserted road called Atticus Line. On this dark and lonely stretch of road, April and Eddie notice a lone hitchhiker. With no one around for miles, they stop to help the girl who they learn is named Rhonda Jean. However, after she gets into their car, they notice that she has blood seeping through her clothing and a truck with bright lights is barreling down the road after them. Rhonda apologizes, and days eerily, “He’s coming.” At the hospital Rhonda Jean dies before she can be treated, and April and Eddie suddenly realize they are covered in her blood.

The police pretty quickly have suspicions about April and Eddie. It’s a small town and the road is not one that is frequently traveled. The wrong turn theory also seems suspicious to the police, who question why the couple would be going here for their honeymoon over other places. For their part, April and Eddie aren’t exactly sure why the wrong turn happened or how they ended up in Coldlake Falls, but the police have a lot of questions about it. Have they been here before? Do they regularly pick up hitchhikers? What road did they find Rhonda Jean on?

The story ends up revolving around a string of murders that have happened on the road where they found Rhonda Jean over the years—Atticus Line. The murders all involve hitchhikers—someone traveling alone on that road by foot. Not many cars pass through but that particular road attracts more than its share of death. At the police’s request, April and Eddie stay local while they investigate Rhonda Jean’s murder. Eventually, the police track down the driver of the pickup truck and arrest him, but the mystery isn’t over.

April and Eddie feel compelled to stay and help with the investigation when they encounter the ghostly visage on that same road. They learn that murders occurred over a 19-year period, and that all of the victims have been identified except for one—the Lost Girl. The Lost Girl was murdered in 1976 and she was the first. She was discovered wearing a letterman jacket from a local high school, but no one ever came forward to identify who she was.

“Stories don’t always end the way they’re supposed to. They don’t always end at all.”

The rest of the book centers heavily around the mystery and lore of the Lost Girl. Who was she and why does it appear that she’s haunted that stretch of road ever since? The murders all seem similar, but different people were accused of each. There are other strange pieces to the mystery and the alleged murderers that can’t be merely a coincidence. As they investigate April and Eddie meet a few other locals around town, and some of them have theories about the murders that took place on that road. Is there a serial killer? Or something else?

“Everyone underestimated Eddie. Everyone but me.” – April Carter

Intermixed throughout the mystery are stories about April and Eddie—who they are, how they came to meet and get engaged. There have only known one another six months. April has a rich and troubling backstory, and it had largely caused her to avoid getting too close to people. Until Eddie. She says at one point that she accepted his proposal so quickly because she saw someone who had darkness inside that mirrored her own. But April starts to wonder if Eddie had more knowledge of the area than she realized. She doesn’t know much about his life before her—he served in Iraq and suffers from PTSD. Eventually Eddie learns there is a lot he doesn’t know about April either.

“Before Eddie I had been asked out all the time. There’s no accounting for taste.” – April Carter

There are so many secrets buried in this town, and April and Eddie seem to be the ones destined to help uncover some of them. There is something unexplainable that pulls lost and broken people to that lonely road. As more secrets are uncovered, there are more questions. How many more bodies may be buried along that road? And how do they tie to the Lost Girl?

The mystery all comes together with a blend of supernatural and real answers. This was the scariest of Simone St. James’ books, in my opinion. I loved how it could exist solely as a ghost story, and it could exist solely as a mystery. What makes it special is the way that it is both—the genres are woven together so elegantly within this novel that I can’t imagine the story coming together any other way.

Captivating, eerie, and brilliant!

Audiobook Review

The audiobook version of Murder Road is narrated by Brittany Pressley, who is one of my favorite audiobook narrators. I thought the audio format worked very well for this story because it added to the eerie feeling of the plot. Pressley’s narration was a perfect fit. She chose a softer, lower tone than she usually speaks with, which gave the feeling that April was scared and speaking in a hushed tone with gravitas. There are some pretty tense scenes in this story, including one where April is directly interacting with a ghostly presence and the narration was panicky to match April’s tone. The style of these chapters made my heart rate pick up, which had the effect of immersing me in the story.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and Penguin Random House for my copy. Opinions are my own.

About the Author | Simone St. James

Simone St. James is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of THE BOOK OF COLD CASES, THE SUN DOWN MOTEL, and THE BROKEN GIRLS.

After years of writing and collecting rejections, Simone’s debut novel, THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE, won two RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. AN INQUIRY INTO LOVE AND DEATH was nominated for another Arthur Ellis Award.

Simone spent twenty years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full-time. She lives just outside Toronto, Canada, with her husband and a spoiled rescue cat. She is addicted to sushi, rainy days, coffee, and My Favorite Murder.