The Best Book I Read This Month: The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

I read some very good books this month, but the best of them was The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. The story is a dual timeline ghost story/murder mystery. A while back, I read and reviewed another book by St. James—The Haunting of Maddy Clare—and this one is so much better. It’s clear that St. James has grown as a writer and honed her craft.

The Sun Down Motel tells the story of two young women, Vivian Delaney in 1982 and her niece, Carly Kirk, in 2017. Viv disappeared in 1982 while working the night shift at the Sun Down Motel in a small town called Fell, NY. Thirty-five years later, Carly is determined to find out what happened to her.

Not much happens in the first six pages—it’s just Viv sitting in her car—but it was some of the spookiest writing I’ve ever read. I’ve been working on a spooky story myself, and I reread those first six pages multiple times as a master class. The rest of the book isn’t as spooky, even with the ghosts that populate it, but it is gripping and a very solid mystery. (Two mysteries, actually, but I don’t want to spoil anything.)

With this book, Simone St. James became one of my favorite writers, and I’ve added two more of her books to my TBR (to be read) list.

The Best Book I Read This Month: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

I wasn’t sure I was ready to read a book set in a pandemic, seeing as we’re still in the middle of one ourselves, but I did and it turned out to be the best book I read this month.

Emma Donoghue’s The Pull of the Stars is set in Ireland during the 1918 flu pandemic, over three days at the end of October 1918—when the Irish were fighting not only the flu pandemic but also World War I. For the characters in the story, neither had any end in sight. (The war ended on November 11, 1918, almost two weeks after this story concludes. The flu pandemic lasted two more years.)

The main character, Julia Power, is a nurse assigned to a special hospital ward for pregnant mothers who have the flu. The flu has left the hospital short-handed, and Julia struggles to balance her now-overwhelming duties with the care of her brother, a veteran suffering from PTSD.

The Best Book I Read This Month: The Dry by Jane Harper

The best book I read this month is a mystery set in a dying Australian town. Jane Harper’s The Dry was published a few years ago and was recently made into a movie on Amazon Prime. It follows Australian federal agent Aaron Falk as he investigates the deaths of his childhood best friend and the friend’s family. I can’t speak for the film adaptation, but the book was gripping. I finished it in a weekend. Once I started, I could not put it down.

The story takes place in a small farming town suffering an extreme drought (hence, the title). The town’s desperation feeds the tension in the book. As a reader, I could feel that the town was on the brink, surviving by little more than a frayed shoestring. Add to that the unexpected murder of a family and the memory of the unsolved murder of a teen girl and The Dry is born.

Harper’s sparse prose kept the focus on the unrelenting tension of the story, and the twists and turns of the mystery were masterful, with plenty of expected and unexpected turns.

Honorable Mention: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Until I started The Dry, I was sure my choice for best book of the month was going to be Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet. I love Shakespeare, so of course I picked up this book, which is a fictional account of Shakespeare’s marriage and the death of his son Hamnet. Scholars believe that Hamnet’s death inspired Shakespeare to write Hamlet., and O’Farrell’s story follows this line of thinking. (At the time, the names Hamnet and Hamlet were interchangeable.)

Hamnet was beautiful and heartbreaking. In contrast with Harper’s sparse prose and harsh mood in The Dry, O’Farrell’s prose is lyrical and poetic, with plenty of long sentences to get lost in, creating a softer mood.

But if you’re expecting a book with Shakespeare as a main character, Hamnet will disappoint you. The Bard is a minor character in this tale and appears only sporadically. The focus instead is on the family he left behind, especially his wife Anne (aka Agnes). The vast majority of the book takes place in Stratford. We don’t see Shakespeare in London or the theatre until the end of the book, when his wife leaves Stratford to see him and his new play, and that scene packs a powerful emotional punch.

The Best Book I Read This Month: Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin

The best book I read this month was a refreshing break from my usual line-up of murder mysteries and Stephen King horror stories. I picked up Hana Khan Carries On because of its cover. It’s bright and colorful and a visible contrast to all the black covers on my bookshelves. (Apparently, black is the color of choice for books about murder.)

Hana Khan Carries On tells the story of a young Muslim Canadian woman and her quest to save her family’s restaurant and launch her own radio career. Along the way, she deals with visiting relatives, the owners of a rival restaurant, an online flirtation, and a boss with her own agenda. In the story’s climax, Hana must come to terms with a hate crime. Of course, because this is ultimately a romance, the story ends with Hana finding her version of a happily ever after.

I found Jalaluddin’s story and writing delightful. Hana is a compelling main character. Her cousin, Rashid, is part hero and part comic relief. Her visiting aunty is equally colorful.

This book just was the bit of sunshine I needed.