The Sun Down Motel | WWS Book Club
I just finished reading The Sun Down Motel on the Libby app! I’ve mentioned this app a few times- but I have to mention it again, because I love it! It’s an app that connects to your public library using your library card. You can place on hold or borrow digital copies of books, and audio books through the app. If a popular book is unavailable, the app tells you how long until the hold is up, and notifies you when its your turn to borrow a book. Once you borrow it, you have 21 days to read it!
the plot
The Sun Down Motel switches viewpoints between Viv Delaney in 1982 and her niece Carly in 2017.
In 1982, Viv leaves home at 20 years old to head to New York City to be an actress. Not having a lot of money, Viv hitchhikes her way there, and ends up at a motel in Fell New York, where she’s looking for a place to stay for the night. Not having anyone to work the night shift, the manager offers her a free room if she works the front desk. Viv is intrigued with the Sun Down Motel and the town of Fell, and decides to stay there. But, The Sun Down Motel is full of secrets and ghosts of the past, and Vivian is determined to uncover them no matter what.
In 2017, 20 year old Carly is grieving the recent loss of her mother, and decides to take a break from college to head to Fell, NY- the town where her Aunt Vivian disappeared without a trace 35 years before. Carly follows in her aunt’s footsteps, moving into her old apartment and taking a night shift job at The Sun Down Motel. Not a lot has changed in Fell in 35 years, and the same ghosts of the past that haunted The Sun Down in 1982 are still lurking about. She knows the local residents of Fell know more than they let on, and assuming her aunt is dead, she is determined to find out what happened. As Carly dives deeper into her aunt’s disappearance, she uncovers a decades long secret. Will the truth be more than she bargained for?
discussion
Warning- the following contains spoilers!
I LOVED how seamless it was to switch between Viv and Carly’s viewpoints. I never found it annoying or confusing at all, and it honestly made the book 10 times better than it would have been if we only had one point of view.
I really enjoyed reading The Sun Down Motel. The lead up to what really happened was exciting and I never felt bored. I LOVED Viv’s Character and her tenacity. I loved how determined she was to find out the truth about The Sun Down.
SPOILERS: I really enjoyed the supernatural aspect of the novel. At the beginning I never would have guessed that the ghosts at the hotel were trying to warn Vivian that there was a serial killer (the traveling salesman) who targets women staying at the hotel. I thought the “vilan” of the novel was going to be the ghosts, not one of the guests. I loved how Vivian tried so hard to warn the last victim that she was being targeted by the salesman, and in the end took things into her own hands. Finding out that the salesman also disappeared 35 years ago tipped it off that maybe Viv did kill him- which she did before disappearing and getting a fake identity. I loved that her friends that she made in Fell helped her “disappear”.
I was really disappointed in the ending. Once Carly pieced together what happened 35 years before and found out her aunt was alive, she was angry that her mother died not knowing that her sister was still alive. I spent the entire novel loving Viv’s character so much, and I felt like she didn’t get the ending she deserved. I liked that Viv finally turned herself in and confessed to murdering the serial killing salesman, but I hated that she ended up going to jail and getting cancer.
I would have loved for it to end with Carly finding out that Viv was alive, and that she had been in communication with her mother & family the entire time (that’s would explain why her mother never liked talking about Viv, because she was trying to keep her secret). And then when she confessed, I would have loved it if she didn’t go to jail, because I felt there was enough evidence to prove that the salesman was targeting and killing women and deserved to die. It technically would have been self defense since he attached her at The Sun Down Motel once he found out that she knew his secret. The ending just was not a satisfying ending to Viv’s story.
Overall I did enjoy reading it (it was SUCH a page turner!) and would recommend this novel!