Book Review: Murder Road by Simone St James

Twenty-somethings April Delray and Eddie Carter have simply gotten married within the sizzling summer time of July 1995. They’ve taken about 5 days off from their actual life in Ann Arbor and are heading to the shores of Lake Michigan, a number of hours away, for his or her honeymoon. Whereas driving down a abandoned stretch of nighttime highway en path to their vacation spot, they see a slight determine strolling unsteadily alongside the verge. They decelerate, apprehensive about anybody touring alone at that hour, and supply the considerably disoriented younger lady a journey within the again seat of their automobile.

As they preserve going to the subsequent city over, they uncover that Rhonda Jean, because the hitchhiker introduces herself, has been damage. Whereas April narrates, navy veteran Eddie calmly asks their passenger:

“Do you want a physician, Rhonda Jean?”

 

“I don’t know.” Rhonda Jean’s eyes blinked open, and for a second they had been unfocused. “I don’t assume a physician will assist.”

 

I let the map slide from my fingers, right down to my toes. I saved my gaze on the lady within the again seat. The whole lot turned clear and nonetheless in my head. I knew now that this was why she had checked out me at first like she acknowledged me. It was as a result of she did. We’d by no means seen one another earlier than, however we acknowledged one another. Girls like us acknowledged one another on a regular basis.

April and Eddie aren’t your standard all-American couple. Eddie doesn’t like to speak about his time in Iraq although it’s apparent that navy service has marked him indelibly. April has a equally traumatic previous that she doesn’t like to debate both. Regardless of the percentages, or maybe even due to this shared aloofness, April and Eddie fell in love solely six months in the past and rapidly turned a group. In order that they instinctively know to assist Rhonda Jean by protecting her awake and speaking as they rush her to the hospital in Coldlake Falls, whilst a black truck bursts out of the darkness behind them and provides terrifying chase.

The younger couple are thus devastated when their passenger doesn’t survive her ordeal. Worse, the cops nearly instantly suspect April and Eddie of getting one thing to do with Rhonda Jean’s deat. Seems that she isn’t the primary useless hitchhiker to show up on that stretch of highway generally known as the Atticus Line. April and Eddie, nevertheless, are the one individuals who’ve ever come near saving one.

Whereas there’s no concrete proof indicating their culpability in Rhonda Jean’s homicide, April and Eddie are pressured by the authorities to remain on the town. Unwilling to take a seat quietly whereas a case is being constructed in opposition to them, the newlyweds determine to research for themselves. With the assistance of a number of unlikely allies, they uncover a legacy of terror on the Atticus Line that stretches again a long time. Will they be capable to lay the ghosts of the previous to relaxation, or will they turn out to be the subsequent victims of a murderous rage that can not be contained by the legal guidelines of time or actuality?

Homicide Highway is a brilliant and deeply humane tackle the paranormal thriller. It’s my favourite form, too, the place the supernatural facets are solely there to underscore the evil of all too mortal folks. The monstrous pressure behind the killings continues to be an harmless in comparison with the wicked and really human will that created it within the first place, a will that April and Eddie should confront and produce to justice in the event that they want to free themselves from suspicion and the Atticus Line from its curse.

I very a lot liked April and Eddie, in addition to the group of misfits who come to their support. Simone St. James is aware of methods to write characters who you need to root for, regardless of them being deeply flawed and typically not probably the most likable folks. A newly married couple who’ve solely recognized one another six months and preserve vital secrets and techniques from each other hardly look like the form of protagonists to anticipate heroism from, but their devotion to at least one one other is unfaltering, as they focus on the subsequent step of their unsanctioned investigation:

“It’s a horrible concept.”

 

“We’ve had horrible concepts earlier than. A minimum of, I’ve.”

 

“Like marrying me?”

 

The query was a shock. I’d by no means given him an inkling that I didn’t need to marry him. Had he questioned about this with out telling me? “No,” I mentioned. “Just like the time I drank vodka earlier than going to the autumn truthful and consuming a funnel cake. I’ll by no means eat a funnel cake once more.”

 

His shoulders relaxed. This was the way it labored: I eased him down, and in return I obtained to look at a few of the ache depart his physique and his face. He’d by no means met a woman who was keen to place the work in. Properly, he’d met her now.

I used to be genuinely shocked by how shifting I discovered this thriller, not solely due to April and Eddie’s tenacious however tender bond, but additionally due to Rose, their prickly non permanent landlady who has secrets and techniques and grudges of her personal. As delicate as it’s suspenseful, that is a kind of horror novels that appears totally believable due to how grounded it’s in human emotion. I liked it.

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