Crossroads — Laurel Hightower

July 24, 2020

Crossroads by Laurel HightowerTITLE: Crossroads
AUTHOR: Laurel Hightower
GENRE: Horror
AGE RANGE: Adult
PAGES: 110pg

How far would you go to bring back someone you love?
When Chris’s son dies in a tragic car crash, her world is devastated. The walls of grief close in on Chris’s life until, one day, a small cut on her finger changes everything.
A drop of blood falls from Chris’s hand onto her son’s roadside memorial and, later that night, Chris thinks she sees his ghost outside her window. Only, is it really her son’s ghost, or is it something else—something evil?
Soon Chris is playing a dangerous game with forces beyond her control in a bid to see her son, Trey, alive once again.

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The first time Chris buried a part of herself by her son’s roadside cross, it was an accident.

Sometimes, horror is about jump scares, blood and viscera, torture, agony. Sometimes, it’s about unsettling legends, looming creatures in the night, vicious entities out for revenge. And sometimes, as in Crossroads, it’s about making you come face to face with the most nightmarish, suffocating outcome you could possibly imagine — and the realization that, if forced to trade places with that protagonist, you’d consider those same desperate, unspeakable measures, too.

Crossroads plays equally well the parts of an eerie horror story and a tragic ghost tale, but what it does best of all is depict the imminent and unstoppable descent that befalls so many parents who lose their children. It was absolutely brilliant, terrifying, and heartbreaking. Watching Chris make the worst possible decisions, yet knowing that, if I were in her shoes as a mother, I’d do anything, too — there’s something very real and horrific about that, yet I couldn’t look away, because alongside all of this hurt and fear comes a gorgeous, powerful writing style and a sense of looming dread that had me tense, on the edge of my seat until the very last page.

Whether you’re a parent or not, Crossroads is an absolutely stunning ghost story full of grief and rage and fear and dread, and it shook me to my core. It’s been days since I finished this little book and I haven’t been able to stop dwelling on it since closing the final page because it was just so damn good. This story was beyond worth every ounce of heartache it put me through, and I can’t wait to read everything from Laurel Hightower I can get my hands on, because her writing is truly stunning and I can’t wait to see what else she has up her sleeves.

Thank you so much to Off Limits Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

 

content w a r n i n g s →

(highlight for spoiler-y CWs) gratuitous self-harm, suicide attempts, suicidal ideation 

d i v e r s i t y →

t l ; d r →

Stunning, terrifying, dreadful, and beautifully written.
WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? YES!

destiny

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More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, reading, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

8 Comments
    1. I loved this book so much! I just knew I was going to be a wreck by the end, and I was not mistaken.

    1. This wasn’t even on my radar, but I’m definitely adding it now. Awesome review!

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