The Sun Down Motel/ Simone St. James/ 327 pgs

Simone St. James delivers again with a spooky, creepy emotional tale. The Sun Down Motel is not only the title of the book but also a character unto itself in the story. In 1982, Vivian Delaney took off from her home in Illinois to become an actress in New York City. That was the vague plan, but she ended up in an upstate New York town called Fell and worked the night shift at the Sun Down Motel. Months later she disappeared. Thirty-five years later, her niece Carly heads to Fell to try to find out what happened to her aunt. Carly discovers, as Vivian did, that someone is killing young women and it all started when one of the women, Betty, was killed and dumped on the construction site of the motel. Betty, and others, haunt the hotel. This is downright creepy but it's also fascinating that the characters in the book just accept the existence of the ghosts without question. The story alternates between Vivian and Carly's points of view as they each work to achieve justice for the murdered women. This book has layers upon layers and is an all-around fantastic read.

A Madness of Sunshine/ Nalini Singh/ 352 pgs

I've always wanted to read something by Nalini Singh but she writes paranormal romance which is not my thing. So I was happy to see she'd written a suspense novel. This one takes place in a remote little town in New Zealand and the descriptions of the landscape really make me want to travel there. Anahera returns to her small hometown after the death of her cheating husband. A lot of ghosts still reside in town, including that of her abused mother, now deceased, and her abusive father, still living. As soon as she returns, a young woman goes missing while on a run. The only police officer around is Will, an outsider banished to this remote town after an "incident." The cast of characters are well done and Singh lets you see them from outsider Will's eye as well as Anahera's, a local but one who's been gone for twelve years. Add in some missing hikers from years ago and the insulated location and this is a tense, well-done suspense. I hope she writes more of them.

Force of Nature/ Jane Harper/ 326 pgs

I really enjoyed Harper's first novel, The Dry. This one was a bit disappointing after that. The writing is still stellar--Harper does atmosphere very well. It's the plot that lacks here. The setting is still Australia only this time it's a rainy, wooded, mountainous region in the middle of nowhere instead of dry farmland in the middle of nowhere. Five women and five men head out on a corporate, team-building adventure in the forest. The men return on time at the end of the weekend. The women return late and one of them is missing. Our federal agent from the first book, Aaron Falk, is called in because his financial team was investigating the company the hikers worked for. The plot here is mostly unbelievable and entirely predictable. There are a couple of red herrings thrown in but they lack substance and so do not add to the already weak suspense. Falk and his partner, Carmen, seem to have no direction. They wander here and there, not really helping with the search directly and even their interactions together lack focus until the end of the book. I'd love to read another book from Harper but I hope it's more like her first novel than this second one.

Don't You Cry/ Mary Kubic / 320 pgs

I've read a few other books by Kubica and have never been wowed by them but she's so popular I thought I should give her another try. Unfortunately, I found this one underwhelming as well. It's told from two different view points. The first is that of Quinn, a twenty-something who lives and works in Chicago. Her roommate, Esther, is missing. The second viewpoint is that of Alex, an 18-year-old living across Lake Michigan in a small Michigan town who notices a new girl hanging around. As a reader, this book lacked tension because of a key piece of information we don't know. And a suspense book without tension is just...not that great. There was no sense of urgency and honestly the mystery itself was just not that compelling.

The Perfect Stranger/ Megan Miranda / 336 pgs

The Perfect Stranger is a mystery/suspense set in western Pennsylvania. Leah is a former journalist for a newspaper in Boston who has moved to rural Pennsylvania to "start over." She's now teaching high school and living in a cabin on a lake with a roommate, Emmy. Leah and Emmy also roomed together briefly after college. Leah was forced to quit her job at the newspaper because of an accusation she made in an article she wrote. The details of that are dribbled out slowly. Meanwhile, a young woman named Bethany was found coshed in the head with a rock near Leah's house and is in a coma in the hospital. Also, Leah's roommate Emmy appears to be missing, though she's not really sure since Emmy works odd shifts and is a bit flighty. The story essentially revolves around these three young women, Leah, Emmy, and Bethany, and how their lives are related, or not, as the case may be.

I thought this was a solid read, although maybe not quite as good as Miranda's first book, All the Missing Girls. The mystery unravels bit by bit and there is a creepy element with someone stalking Leah. Some of the details of earlier circumstances remain murky even at the end, so that was a little disappointing. I also thought the "romance" subplot fell flat because the characters didn't really know each other but aside from those flaws, I would recommend this one.

Missing, Presumed/Susie Steiner/350 pgs.

Edith Hind is a Cambridge graduate student, and has gone missing. Her live-in boyfriend, Will Carter, comes home to an unlocked door, a broken glass, and some blood. He notifies Sir Ian Hind, Edith's father, and also surgeon to the Royal Family, who notifies the police.  Detective Sergeant Manon Bradshaw finds herself on the case, along with her boss,  DI Harrriet Harper, and DC Davy Walker. The novel is told in chapters reflecting various characters' viewpoints. There are twists and turns, and in addition, the reader gets an insight into the personal aspects of the characters' lives. It has a satisfying conclusion, and I highly recommend it!