A Box Full of Darkness

A Box Full of Darkness/ Simone St. James
NY: Berkley, c2026.
337 p.

I'm a big fan of fellow Canadian author Simone St. James. I read all of her books as they come out. This one is another spooky story told in her ghostly family drama style. But it's even more about families than usual. 

St. James returns to Fell, NY, the site of her previous novel The Sundown Motel (a fave for me). Strange things happen in Fell. There are drownings, children having heart attacks at far too young of an age, and finally the disappearance of six year old Ben, the youngest sibling of the three Esmies, a family who left Fell 18 years previously but are now reconvening thanks to a reported sighting of a ghost who may be Ben. 

The three siblings have all dealt with their childhood trauma differently -- Violet, the oldest, sees dead people and has had her life upended because of it in so many ways. Vail, the middle, used to be a diver but he is now a UFO true believer and drifts around the country searching for proof of aliens. Dodie, the youngest, is a brittle personality, living in NY City and working as a hair and hand model, but keeps people far away from her, emotionally. They have to come back to Fell and face up to who they were then and in the intervening years when they didn't really stay in contact too effectively. 

I really liked this. The characters were interesting - the interactions between siblings was unsettling, they were all so prickly and independent, but had to depend on one another as they are pulled back into their childhood trauma. Returning to a childhood home is always a great plot device but here it is to a mostly abandoned, haunted childhood home -- even less likely to lead to warm fuzzies! It had ghostly bits that were scary, but also real life encounters with nasty people. And the need for the siblings to break down and be honest with one another was another plot driver. It was fun read even if the plot wasn't quite as tight as some of her earlier books. 

Murder Road

Murder Road / Simone St James
New York : Berkley, ©2024
342 p.

Now for some contemporary mystery reading! I enjoy Simone St. James and will always pick up her books. This is the latest one, and it reflects her shift toward true crime inspired fiction that has informed her last couple of books. 

Set in 1995, it features a young couple, April and Eddie, who have just somehow gotten married and are heading for a country inn for their honeymoon. But it's late, and they miss a turn, and then they are suddenly on a dark and lonely stretch of highway where they pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to be bleeding heavily. They rush her to the nearest hospital, but she dies, and April and Eddie can't leave town - they are now the main suspects. 

This feels nostalgic, like it should even be set in 1985, with that tinge of Stranger Things vibe going on. April and Eddie are staying at a b&b with a no-nonsense policeman's widow who gives things to them straight. They also meet two odd sisters, high school students who are obsessed with true crime and give them the lowdown on the pattern of murders along that highway over the years and the many theories as to the killer's identity. 

But it's darker than everyone thinks, and there is a reason that April and Eddie have ended up there. Supernatural chills, mystery, library research, young love, and small towns combine into a book I really enjoyed. I found it chilling and spooky, but also liked the other parts of the book - the characters, the way this small town was described, and the final reveal. Great chilling summer reading for crime fans.


 

Bones of the Story

 

The Bones of the Story / Carol Goodman
NY: William Morrow, c2023.
326 p.

If you like academic gothic, I’d dare to suggest that Carol Goodman might be an author for you! Most of her novels take place in and around schools and academia, and I’ve really enjoyed most of her works. The latest, The Bones of the Story, is set during a wintery school reunion. A group of high achievers is coming back to Briarwood Academy, where they all belonged to an elite writer’s group led by a charismatic professor, after 25 years away.

But during their last weeks of their final year, a girl went missing, followed by a faculty death. This group has been keeping dark secrets for many years, and it’s all about to shatter around them. 

There are a variety of characters here; as always in Goodman’s books, we’re viewing the story from the vantage point of an outsider. In this case, it’s Nell Portman, now a dean at Briarwood. She started there as a scholarship student, scrabbling her way into this dazzling world of rich and privileged students. She’s still there, and still haunted. When all her fellow students return for the fancy event that had been planned, they end up being the only ones left on campus as a winter storm rolls in & cancels the shindig – all you need now is Poirot. 

They start to reminisce, trying to avoid all the prickly things they know but don’t want to discuss. The only ones still on campus, besides these entangled writers, are Ruth, the efficient departmental secretary, and Nina, a student who strongly reminds Nell of herself years before. Eventually one of them, who didn’t come to the gathering, arrives: he’s the local police chief. 

And the only student missing is their shining star, the centre of all their high school lives, the glorious and promising Laine, who had cut off contact with everyone after graduation but who still manages to shape all their interactions. 

Then one by one they begin to die, in the same gruesome ways they’d described in a long-ago writing assignment about their deepest fears. Who will be left to tell the tale? 

This is spooky, atmospheric, and well-plotted. I enjoyed the writing and all of these annoyingly self-absorbed, self-important characters. Goodman is able to create characters who are appallingly selfish and petty, but who also make you feel like you know them. There are ‘types’ among the characters but the story moves quickly and uses these elements well, and you don’t really know what’s going to happen as the story begins. I’d guessed by about ¾ through the book what was actually going on, but the descriptions and revelations are so well handled that it was an exciting read. Dark academia indeed! Great pick for timely seasonal reading. 

The Sun Down Motel

The Sun Down Motel / Simone St James
NY: Berkley, c2020
327 p.

This is another favourite author who I read as soon as her newest book comes out; it's dark and true crime-y, which I hadn't expected, so read the first chapter and put it down for quite a while. I picked it back up a couple of weeks ago and found that while I didn't think I'd like the murder themes, it was a very well plotted, exciting and fast moving read that I ended up loving. 

Starting in Fell, NY in 1982, we meet Vivian Delaney, who ended up in Fell on her way to NY City after running away from home. She stumbles upon a job as night clerk at the new but not so salubrious Sun Down Motel. Strange things happen in the night; doors open and close, figures appear and disappear, she smells cigarettes when there is no-one there. And even more terrifying are the real people, the creeps, who check in in the night. Then one night, Vivian disappears. 

Flash forward 35 years. Carly Kirk, 20 year old niece of Vivian Delaney, has been haunted by her aunt's unsolved disappearance her whole life. Her mother, who wouldn't talk about it, has just died of cancer, and in her unsettled state, Carly decides to ditch college, go to Fell, and investigate Vivian's disappearance herself. 

Here is where all the true crime comes in. Carly is a follower of true crime, and the roommate she finds in Fell is similarly interested. Together they begin to pick apart the story of Viv's life in Fell and her disappearance. It felt quite realistic in the sense that the tiny local papers from Fell in the 80s are not digitized and so Carly has to go to the media room in the tiny little local library and do some hands-on research. While she's there she meets a young man about her age who is very interested in history, and helps her out. Slowly, over a few encounters, she starts to feel that there is something slightly off about him. 

While Carly uncovers small facts and tries to piece them together, she also takes the same job that Viv held -- night clerk at the Sun Down Motel. The son of the original owners still owns it, though as he tells her, he tries to be there as little as possible. Carly starts to experience some of the same weirdness as Viv had, quite scary paranormal events at times. 

As Carly finds something out, the chapters flip back to Viv so that we are getting the story from her side. I found Viv's story more compelling than the present day but they did mesh pretty well, and the way the story unfolded was very suspenseful. 

When the stories finally come togehter at the end, it felt a bit anticlimactic. The final 'showdown' didn't have much emotional heft considering all that came before it. And the decision made about a 35 year old murder seems a bit ridiculous to me. So while the very last bit of the ending didn't really do it for me, the climax of the search for Viv's story and the end of the Sun Down Motel was spectacular. This was an unexpectedly good read that has really stuck with me. Definitely a great read for sunny afternoons -- I couldn't read it at bedtime, fair warning ;) 

The Sea of Lost Girls

The Sea of Lost Girls / Carol Goodman
NY: William Morrow, c2020
320 p.

It took me a little while to feel in the mood to read a suspenseful gothic tale, after bringing this one home just before my library closed down due to the pandemic. I finally opened it a couple of weeks ago, and read it pretty quickly. 

This is a classic Carol Goodman story. Set in an elite boarding school with shady beginnings, it follows the drama of a murder investigation that starts in the opening pages of the book and puts the main character's son and husband under suspicion. 

Academia and inappropriate teacher-student relationships play a huge role in the life story of our main character, Tess, who was a scholarship student at the Haywood School and is now a teacher there. Her 17 year old son Rudy is a troubled boy, and his actions make him a suspect in the death of his close friend Lila Zeller. But as Tess and Rudy's past comes to light, there is more lurking in her inner circle than she anticipated. 

Like most of Goodman's books, this one moves from the present to the history of the school and all the wrongdoings of its founders that were hidden for decades. People who are thought to be upright are proven to have dark secrets; those that are denigrated in the beginning have stronger characters than were guessed at. Lots of academic intrigue alongside unreliable personal relationships and a main character with a troubled backstory = classic Goodman. 

I found this novel was much more akin to her earlier works than the last two I read; there is a return to the boarding school setting (so ripe for intrigue) and to secrets of the past. I enjoyed this one, even if it was slightly predictable. The inclusion of a legend of girls who have disappeared from the school and been turned into standing stones in the sea was rich and gave a folkloric richness to the story, something found in some of her earlier works with a thematic thread of fairy tales or legends. A student performance of The Crucible given shortly after Lila's death is chilling and brings in power dynamics and past lessons, as well.

This combination usually works very well for me. I liked it here, but didn't quite love it as much as some earlier titles by Goodman. Still worth picking this one up if you like domestic suspense with a thread of academia and the gothic.