Member Reviews

Murder Road follows April & Eddie Carter, a newlywed couple on a road trip to begin their honeymoon. After a wrong turn, they find themselves on a deserted road where they come across a lone, injured hitchhiker. Unable to leave her, they offer to take her to the nearest hospital when suddenly they realise they are being pursued by her attacker. When the girl eventually succumbs to her injuries, the couple become the main suspects in an ongoing murder investigation. This is not the first person to die along that road.

In a desperate attempt to clear their names, they dig into the strange town’s history - however, some things just can’t be explained.

I’ve read and loved some of Simone’s previous books so this was one of my most anticipated reads for 2024! Murder Road is packed with suspense and had me hooked from the first page. I loved the cast of characters (Rose and the Snell sisters were great!) but I did find the second half a bit slow, and the ending was quite underwhelming. Definitely one to check out if you enjoy supernatural thrillers. 3.5 stars

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This is my first read by this author, and now I need to read her back catalogue.

I really enjoyed this mixture of ghost story/urban legend with a cold case/current murder mystery. I guessed the twist quite early, but that didn't distract me from watching it all play out.

It was very enjoyable and entertaining and gave me goosebumps thinking about what happened on that road.

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3.5 ⭐

Lots going on here.
I liked that both Eddie and April had a lot of baggage that slowly got revealed through the story.
I liked we had good cop/bad cop going on.
There are some genuinely creepy moments in this book, that made me not want to ever drive along a lonely stretch of road at night.
Part mystery, part ghost story, its going to appeal to a lot of people.

I certainly enjoyed it.

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This novel is part murder, part ghost story but I really enjoyed it. From the beginning the plot captivated me and it unfolded at pace. Well written, this novel creates a sense of atmosphere so tense you can almost feel the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end. It’s so easy to visualise the scene as the murders take place. Supernatural is not usually my go to genre but I look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley, Michael Joseph Penguin Random House and the author for the chance to review.

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I've always loved thrillers or horror stories that centre on deserted highways or long car drives, especially if they're set in the United States and/or during snowy or foggy weather, and especially if they channel some of that 90s teen slasher energy. Riley Sager's Survive the Night springs to mind, for example. Simone St. James's Murder Road, therefore, sounded RIGHT up my street, especially as I'd previously loved her atmospheric The Sun Down Motel. On paper, the only box it didn't tick was that it's set in summer, but everything else was perfect: it's 1995, and a young couple driving off on honeymoon take a wrong turn down a deserted road, where they pick up a dying female hitchhiker. After they report this to the police, they discover that there have long been rumours about a ghost who haunts this stretch of highway: if you see her, you'll be the next to die.

Murder Road is not a bad novel, but I felt it could have done a lot more with its premise. Most obviously, the book lacks the atmosphere that The Sun Down Motel was absolutely steeped in. There is barely any description: the writing is very functional, switching between the narrator's internal monologue as she tries to figure things out and dialogue with other characters. This means that we also lose the sense of the 90s setting, which is only evoked by a few clunky find-and-replace references like 'Tonya Harding on TV' or arguing over mix-tapes. I also felt that the brilliant pitch was over-complicated in the novel itself. I loved the central reveal about why the hitchhikers are dying, but it ultimately has nothing to do with the idea that 'if you see her, you will die'. For example, our central couple, April and Eddie, encounter both the dying hitchhiker and a separate ghostly apparition in the first couple chapters, and I felt it would have been better if they'd just met the hitchhiker at this point, allowing a clearer through-line.. Murder Road is more effective as thriller than horror: I liked the way April and Eddie's relationship, and their backstories, were handled. It was hard, though, not to see this as simply a less compelling version of The Sun Down Motel. 3.5 stars.

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