January 22, 2023 BORN THIS WAY

 

Celebrated another birthday last week. Made it another 365 days. Thankful. But it seems to me that birthdays should be celebrated by the mother too. After all--if the mother didn't give birth then there wouldn't be any reason to celebrate right? Whenever we celebrate a birthday--I tell my kids the story of their birth. The whole drama--well most of it. They get all embarrassed but it's fun to reflect back on those days so that they can appreciate their own quirky arrival on this planet. After all-- every birth is different--and it's nice to know the circumstances surrounding your own birth. So--I'm really into Simone St. James these days. She writes mysteries,  thrillers and even ghost stories. I really enjoyed her novel from 2020 The Sun Down Motel. This thriller begins in 1982. Viv Delaney leaves her hometown enroute to New York City. On the way, she stops in Fell, New York, to work as a night clerk at the Sun Down Motel to earn extra money. One day she disappears and is never seen again. 35 years later, her niece, Carly Kirk, decides to take a trip to Fell to visit the motel and find out what happened to her aunt. Strangely, the motel hasn't changed at all since 1982. In order to learn more about the motel, Carly take a job as the night clerk and finds herself wrapped up in the mystery her aunt found herself in years earlier. The story switches back and forth between Viv and Carly with several plots, twists, turns, and ghosts, but is easy to follow. Find out what happened to Viv in 1982 and if Carly becomes the latest victim when you read this 336 unsettling, page turner for yourself. BOO.