“The Sun Down Motel” is the end result of someone taking a handful of darts and throwing them at a wall, and on the wall there are several index cards that say “ghosts, motel, crime, drama, love?” and the darts hit all of those words. Not necessarily a bad thing in theory! I’ll probably be trying to make my mind up over this one for a while. “Sun Down” has all the elements that make me go “ooo” and “ahh” but it didn’t quite trip my trigger like I imagined it would.

The dual/split narration drove a lot of the creative edge and I appreciated the back and forth across decades: it added tension, kept me focused on the plot, and I got to point at the clues like that Leonardo DiCaprio meme. The contemporary dialogue was self-aware and refreshing compared to some less thought provoking thrillers I’ve picked up.

But, it got a little dry and a lot jumbly. On top of being a bit repetitive, so many things kind of just plopped in your lap in the last forty or so pages and it was hard to hold in my brain, and not in the fun “what the heck did I just read?!” kind of way. More of the, “I don’t know what to do at this point so here have another plot line.”

3.5/5 bumped to 4 because it’s a good book I just wanted more time with the ghost part.