Hey, there. How are you doing? Welcome back to Fully Booked! I’m Briana Morgan, and today, we’ll be discussing Crossroads by Laurel Hightower, published by Off Limits Press. Since its release, this book has been all over the Internet and I had to get my hands on it as soon as possible. I preordered the book before it went live, but I kept moving it further and further down my list of books to read—that is, until it came time to write this review. I jumped at the chance to read it, and as soon as I read it, I had to share my thoughts on it with you.
But before I do that, here’s the back cover text:
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.
This short little book absolutely destroyed me, and I mean that in the best way possible. I read the whole thing in one sitting. I honestly could not put it down. I knew this book was going to wreck me based on everything I’d heard about it, but I didn’t fully understand what I was getting myself into.
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Full disclosure here, for those of you who only know me online: I’m soft. Softer than anyone might think. I love spooky things and write lots of violence and terror and hauntings, but it takes next to nothing to make me cry. Show me a commercial about a puppy or a soldier coming home from afar to meet his new daughter and I fall apart. So, going into Crossroads, I expected to feel something. What I didn’t expect was the range of emotions I went through while reading this book.
One of Laurel’s biggest strengths as a writer is her nuanced characterization. Chris feels like a real person. She feels like someone I know, someone close to me. Although I have never dealt with the loss of a child, I empathized with Chris and felt her pain as if it were my own. In her struggle to reconnect with Trey, she didn’t do anything I wouldn’t do if I found myself in a similar situation. I fully understood her thought process and her desperation and—more than anything—I wanted her to find some closure and a way to cope with losing her son.
In Crossroads, once Chris pricks her finger, she wonders if shedding more blood will strengthen her connection to her dead son. It’s a difficult concept to come to terms with—as emotionally fraught as it is intriguing. She’s willing to go through almost anything to speak with Trey again, and the depth of her yearning shows. At times, it’s hard to read. Laurel goes to some very dark, very real places that anyone who has ever lost a loved one is sure to recognize. And, as much as it hurt me, I loved every second of it. I loved how much it made me feel.
And Crossroads is easy to read in one sitting because it’s short. The only downside to talking about shorter books like this one is twofold: One, I can’t go into too much detail without spoiling significant plot points; and two, the story ends sooner than I would like. That’s not to say Crossroads left me feeling incomplete. The story feels as long as it needs to be, fully realized even in a compact form. When the book finished, I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. I mean that as a compliment to Laurel’s expertise.
Author, Laurel Hightower
This is one of the only horror books I’ve read to make me full-on sob. Horror with heart is one of my favorite things in the world, and Crossroads offers heart in spades. Laurel has a knack for weaving powerful prose and a gripping, evocative narrative for a story that never stops moving, never stops putting you through the emotional wringer. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I read it, and even after writing this review, I think this book is going to stick with me for a long, long time.
I’ll be sharing a table of contents with Laurel in the upcoming Slash-Her anthology from Kandisha Press, and it’s truly an honor to be in any way associated with her. Crossroads gets five stars from me. If you’re interested in reading this book, you can get it on Amazon or from Off Limits Press directly. You can also follow Laurel on Instagram and Twitter. More Off Limits Press reviews coming soon.
Briana Morgan (she/her) is a horror author and playwright of books such as THE TRICKER-TREATER AND OTHER STORIES, UNBOXED, and BLOOD AND WATER. She is also a proud member of the Horror Writers Association. Briana lives with her partner and two cats in Atlanta, GA.
