Crossroads
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Crossroads
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Narrated by:
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Linda Jones
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Written by:
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Laurel Hightower
About this listen
How far would you go to bring back someone you love?
When Chris' son dies in a tragic car crash, her world is devastated. The walls of grief close in on Chris' life until, one day, a small cut on her finger changes everything. A drop of blood falls from Chris' 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.
©2020 Off Limits Press LLC (P)2020 Fireside HorrorWhat the critics say
"There's a single note that plays through all of Laurel Hightower's Crossroads, and in that note you can hear a mother's justified devastation, a lover's acceptance, and the haunting displacement of a ghost. Refreshingly nuanced character, down to earth in the rightest of ways, Crossroads will sincerely move you. There is a big mind, and an even bigger heart, behind this book." (Josh Malerman, The New York Times best-selling author of Bird Box and Malorie)
What listeners say about Crossroads
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- b r
- 2021-04-26
Dark, eerie, gripping
Content/Trigger Warnings: Suicidal ideation, cutting and self-harm, suicidal thoughts, graphic descriptions, blood/gore
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Some years have passed since Trey died at twenty-one in a horrific car accident.
His father, Beau, still grieves the loss of his son, but goes home to a new family each day. A distraction, a way forward, a gentle ebb and flow away from the sickening blow that comes with the loss of a child. But for Trey's mother, Chris, her grief remains raw and claustrophobically private.
Buried in her work, avoiding conversations with her dysfunctional mother, and seldom seeing anyone except her cat and neighbor, Dan, Chris finds little peace in the day-to-day grind. In fact, the only real peace she can find is by being close to her late son. But closeness for Chris is not visiting the cemetery. Closeness comes from baking Trey's favorite sweets, from talking to Trey as if nothing has changed, and from visiting the white cross that rests along the roadside...a place she visits every day.
This is the only way Chris can find solace. The only way for her to beckon her grief to settle to a simmer, rather than remaining a constant, rolling boil. That is, until Chris accidentally buries a part of herself by Trey's roadside cross....
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Laurel Hightower has woven a story with dark and grisly elements. For a novella, there is a lot to unpack. Hightower nailed the pacing of the book, and although the novella is quite bleak at times, Hightower was able to create tension and dread with every page. No words go wasted. Hightower's writing is precise, cutting like a sharpened cleaver.
This novella is riddled with grief, but more than that, there is something so dark about it. The ending left me thinking about it more, and more, realizing just how dark Hightower went with this. It's not just "how far will you go to bring back someone you love?", but how far will the things that lurk in the dark go to lure you down that path?...and just how many victims has it taken so far? Hmm...
Final note: I think this is an audiobook that needs to be listened to all in one go. Straight through, right 'til the end! I think that if this audiobook is put down and picked up again later, there's too much potential for the tension and build up to die down, which might make the audiobook bleak and boring.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Tracey Lough
- 2021-03-28
Unhealthy Portrayal of Self-Harm and Suicide
I read a ton of horror books. Lots of them include mental illness such as self harm and suicidal thoughts as part of the story, and it can work well.
As I read this book I just constantly had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that this story crossed a line and was idolizing or romantisizing these behaviors. Any thoughts that the main character had about those things being wrong were quickly brushed away with the excuse that she was grieving and anything that helped her deal with that was Ok. She had a love interest who saw what she was doing to herself and ignored it in order to have a romantic relationship with her. it was implied that since he loved her he could overlook these behaviors as flaws and something she needed to do. in reality if he loved her he should have done everything in his power to get her hospitalized so she can get the professional help she desperately needed and to keep her safe.
yes, this book is about ghosts and paranormal stuff and the self harm ties directly into that. but it wouldn't have bothered me as much if she was completely isolated and we could see it as a descent into madness, and if the author made it clear how screwed up it all was.
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