I’ve really enjoyed all the books by Simone St. James I’ve read so far, but this one is my new favorite.

The Esmie siblings have always been considered odd, even in a town where weird things are the norm. The mysterious disappearance of their six year old brother, Ben, when they were all children just adds to the strangeness of the family. Having left town and the house they grew up in as soon as they could, all three siblings are now back twenty years later to try and find out exactly what happened to Ben.

I liked that the book was set in the 1980s; it made the characters’ research a bit more interesting than just googling everything online. I thought there were a few creepy parts in this book, especially in the family house. The Esmie siblings made for some very interesting characters.

Simone St. James creates a superb spooky storyline like no one else can. Returning to the eerie town of Fell, New York, St. James creates her own unique cast of characters and places that straddle the supernatural veil. Well written plot and characterization that kept you engrossed in the tragic take of the Esme siblings. Highly recommended! #aboxfullofdarkness #simonestjames #netgalley #goodreads

This wasn't my favorite read but it was good. I felt like it started good and I felt getting to know all three of the siblings and how Ben comes back into the story. It keeps you going strong and invested in the story then the ending just goes blah and is disappointing.

I have read everything Simone St James has written. No one does a ghost story quite like her. I loved the return to the creepy town of Fell, New York. This is definitely a unique story line and had a twist I didn’t see coming.

This was a slow burn, and that's usually not my cup of tea for a mystery/thriller. However, I really liked the ending and thought it was wrapped up nicely.

Simone St. James is a master of her craft. Her ability to weave a tale is unmastered. I am particularly enamored by this book, as it brings us back to Fell, the setting of The Sun Down Motel, creating an eerie universe in which St. James’ works and characters live. This story hooked me in from the very beginning, and kept the hooks in right until the very end. There were the wonderful references to the Sun Down Motel and even some more backstory on Fell. The mystery in the book was a deep, layered one. The haunted house aspect of this one was done so well, with each character bringing their own unique perspective to the mysterious forces at work in the Esmie childhood home. The characters were beautiful broken and well developed. Each so deeply scarred and carrying childhood baggage. I would have liked some more backstory on the family and why they were and more on the parents. St. James bridges the gap between horror and thriller and uses her signature paranormal elements to really elevate this story. The jump scares were perfect, the paranormal elements were so well written and just truly believable and the atmosphere was eerie and anxiety inducing. Overall this was an addicting read that I just couldn’t put down.

Simone St. James’ writing keeps you guessing and wanting more and this book has no shortage of both. The life of the Esmie children growing up was something to be desired. When they could get out of their family home they all ran as fast as they could. There was only one thing that could ever bring them back to that house, and when it called after 20+ years, they went. Follow their journey to figure out a mystery that has kept them wondering but hiding away from. You don’t want to miss out on this book.

I enjoyed the plot line of this book, but couldn't get very attached to any of the characters. I was a little thrown because it sounded like the book was leading towards a murder mystery in a search for the characters' missing brother, but went in a different direction. It had some good scares, though.

Strange things happen in Fell, New York. A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For the Esmie siblings—Violet, Vail, and Dodie—the final straw was the shocking disappearance of their little brother.

Simone St. James it the Queen of Mystery/Thrillers. This book was definitely my favorite by her and I will recommend it time and time again. Her story arc, the characters everything is just incredible.

There are haunted houses, and then there are haunted towns. Fell, New York is the latter, a place of grief and many, many missing persons. In A Box Full of Darkness, we return to Fell, the site of the Sundown Motel.

This time, the Esmie siblings—Violet, Vail, and Dodie—take center stage, as survivors of a childhood that is difficult to explain. Quite wealthy, the three barely speak and never want to return to Fell. Back when they were children their little brother Ben disappeared during a game of hide-and-seek. No one could locate him and his disappearance remains a mystery.

The eldest daughter Violet sees ghosts—literally—and when she hears that Ben has been spotted in her old home she has n problem believing it. Haunted by a terrible ghost from her childhood that she refers to as "Sister," Violet calls the others and demands they meet at the empty family home.

St. James bring the slow-burning dread and a pulls together three complex but compelling siblings. Her previous stories click together in this book like Easter Eggs and you begin to get a much clearer, and much. more haunting view of the town of Fell

I loved the eery story and the resolution. I cannot wait to visit Fell again or whatever St. James brings us next!

#betkley #aboxfullofdarkness #simonestjames #returntofell

Holy Ghost story! I love SSJ so much for just owning her creepy ghost stories and this one even more because she revisited Fells, home of the sundown motel, and built up more of the eerie and sinister ambiance of this town. She also made reference to places in her other books.

This one was creepy and engrossing from the start with three siblings being called home as adults to solve the mystery of their missing little brother. Did I mention they were called home by a ghost? It starts weird and gets weirder and I could not put it down.

I love this authors previous book so was super excited for this, pleased to say I enjoyed it! A slow burn paranormal thriller, plenty of twists and a captivating plot, was hooked from the start!

An absolute delight and the ghost story I’ve been hungry for. Simone St. James dedicates the book to Stephen King, but I enjoyed this infinitely more than Never Flinch. She has consistently delivered and I look forward to her next book.

Here is another book I was super excited for. I loved the cover, the synopsis, and I enjoy this author. However, the book started off super strong for me, getting to know all three Esmie siblings, and then the book kind of tanked for me throughout the middle. The ending was decent again, but not enough for me to bring up my rating. And although all the Esmie siblings were adults, I got a YA vibe from this book the whole time I was reading it, and I’m not sure why 🤷🏻‍♀️

This story starts with all three Esmie siblings: Violet, Vail, and Dodie, returning back to the home they grew up in in Fell, NY. Their brother Ben, who disappeared 20 years ago has beckoned them back. Ben disappeared when he was six years old during a game of hide & seek, and he was never found. He was lost without a trace…

Once the three siblings meet back up in their childhood home, we get flashbacks of how their life was growing up. There are many paranormal/supernatural activities in this story that take place- so if that’s your thing you may enjoy this story a lot more. Also, if you are a fan of Simone St. James and have read The Sundown Motel, there are many references to that motel as well. I thought that was kind of cool.

While I thought that this book was good, not great- I still say give it a shot as you may enjoy it much more than I did!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing Group, and the author for a DRC of this book. All opinions are my own.
Publication date: January 20, 2026

✨This book hooked me from page one and didn’t let up until the last page was turned. It was a perfectly paced-slow burn paranormal thriller with all the best elements. Ghost stories? ✅ Alien abduction investigations? ✅ Haunted house? ✅

✨Woven through the horror narrative is the story of three broken siblings struggling to recover from their tragic childhood. There are themes of loss, grief, healing and redemption in these pages, and the character development here is remarkably written with profound depth of emotion.

✨Can we talk about the jump scares and the pervading sense of doom throughout the book? The eeriness was so real that at one point I had to go outside to read because I was too scared to be inside my house alone. ☺️ That hasn’t happened to me since 1989 when I was reading Stephen King’s IT.

✨I absolutely love a good literary Easter egg, and the author has left some entertaining breadcrumbs from the world of THE SUN DOWN MOTEL and THE BROKEN GIRLS.

✨I highly recommend this one and think it will be huge when it hits shelves in January. Don’t miss it.

🌿Read if you like:
✨Old-school Stephen King
✨A mystery to solve
✨Old abandoned home settings
✨Late 80s vibes
✨Paranormal thrillers
✨Fractured sibling narratives
✨Upstate New York locations
✨Ghost stories
✨Alien abduction tales
✨Literary Easter eggs

My thanks to @berkleypub and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book before its publication date.

I’d like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I am a huge fan of this author so I was excited to read this, unfortunately this one fell a little flat for me. I’m all for slow burning novels but this one felt way too slow and there was a lot of build up but felt like nothing happened till the last quarter of the book. I still look forward to her next book regardless.

There’s slow burn, and then there’s so slow I’d rather go and watch the grass grow burn. Let’s just say my lawn is seeming pretty attractive right now. I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting for something to happen, and by the time it finally did I cared more about counting down the remaining pages than I did about the events of the story. I nodded off a few times, but that also might just be the fact that my life has devolved into a chaotic, soul-crushing mess that’s preventing me from achieving more than three hours of sleep per night. But I digress…

These annoyingly-named siblings were absolutely grating. I didn’t like any of them, and really wished they would spend less time being self-involved nincompoops, and more time doing what they came back to their house to do. Like, can we please focus on finding our ghost brother already?

I usually like St. James’ books, so I’ll just chalk this up to being an outlier, and one that many people apparently enjoyed. I guess what I’m saying is that this very well could be me. I might be the broken one, and this might be a good book.

This author knows how to tell a good story! I was so invested from the first chapter and went through this book as fast as I could. I also read primarily horror and this one was even pretty creepy. My only complaint is I wanted a little more from the ending.

Goodness. There’s something about a ghost story that makes me not able to walk away from it. Especially when Simone St. James crafts her characters into the story so that I’m so invested in their wellbeing I can feel the cold air from the haunting when they do.

Any St. James fan will greatly appreciate A Box Full of Darkness and her nods to her previous novels. This story concentrates on the Esmie siblings and the loss of their brother years earlier. Their brother who is still haunting them and their childhood home.

There are a couple things I have questions about but since they involve things in the later portions of the book, I don’t want to spoil anything. Overall, 5 stars for suspense and enjoyment of the story. I’d highly recommend reading it for anyone who has read SSJ previously or if you enjoy Jennifer McMahon or Jason Rekulak.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The adults with very strange names return to their very strange hometown of Fell and try to deal with the literal ghosts of their past. Simone St. James fans, buckle up! It might add to your reading to refresh your knowledge of "The Sundown Motel" before reading this one, as it is set in the same town and frequently mentioned.
Violet, Vail, and Dodie (yes, all those names are correct) lost their youngest brother (yes, literally lost him during a game of hide and seek) when they were children. They never got over the loss. As adults, Violet (who sees dead people...because of course) is told by one of her ghost besties that Ben wants her to come home...so off all the siblings go! Creepy things happen and all the characters are haunted by their own psychological demons...as well as actual ghosts.
Spooky story, but not too gory, I guessed the plot twist fairly early on. Still an enjoyable read by St. James. It was like "A Series of Unfortunate Events" for grown ups.
I would recommend it for a light spooky read with a happy(ish) ending.