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A review by sjgomzi
Crossroads by Laurel Hightower
5.0
Laurel Hightower’s debut, Whispers In The Dark, was delightful in every way, showcasing an author who had already found her voice and who could already tell a hell of a story.
Well, as great as that first book was, this new story solidifies her place as one of the finest new voices in dark literature out there. Not a word is wasted. This is a devastating front row seat to one woman’s sorrow and pain. And I don’t mean physical pain. I’m talking the pain of losing a child, a pain that must be inconsolable and bone deep and complete. As a parent, I can think of nothing that would even come close, which is probably why stories dealing with this type of pain and loss resonate so deeply with me.
This also happens to be a great ghost story. Not a bump in the night, cold wind on the back of your neck ghost story, but one of the phantoms of lost loved ones, poor decisions of the past, and deep regret.
This is not a happy book. I cried at the end. I wished I could climb into the book to try and help Chris, the person going through this terrible ordeal, deal with some of the pain, and to try to steer her away from the inevitable outcome due to her actions. Speaking of Chris, she really came alive for me. My wife and I had our kids late, not by choice, but because of multiple miscarriages, so her flashbacks to her own conception issues and how after a miracle does finally occur, overcoming these problems just make your children that much more precious and miraculous, thus at the same time, making the pain of losing them all the more devastating.
Laurel Hightower is a must buy author who should be on everyone’s book buying radar. She ripped my heart out with this one, and I hope to be reading her future works for decades to come. A big thank you to Laurel for writing this story, and to Samantha Kolesnik, a brilliant author in her own right, and to Off Limits Press for providing an early copy. One of the best books I’ve read all year!
Well, as great as that first book was, this new story solidifies her place as one of the finest new voices in dark literature out there. Not a word is wasted. This is a devastating front row seat to one woman’s sorrow and pain. And I don’t mean physical pain. I’m talking the pain of losing a child, a pain that must be inconsolable and bone deep and complete. As a parent, I can think of nothing that would even come close, which is probably why stories dealing with this type of pain and loss resonate so deeply with me.
This also happens to be a great ghost story. Not a bump in the night, cold wind on the back of your neck ghost story, but one of the phantoms of lost loved ones, poor decisions of the past, and deep regret.
This is not a happy book. I cried at the end. I wished I could climb into the book to try and help Chris, the person going through this terrible ordeal, deal with some of the pain, and to try to steer her away from the inevitable outcome due to her actions. Speaking of Chris, she really came alive for me. My wife and I had our kids late, not by choice, but because of multiple miscarriages, so her flashbacks to her own conception issues and how after a miracle does finally occur, overcoming these problems just make your children that much more precious and miraculous, thus at the same time, making the pain of losing them all the more devastating.
Laurel Hightower is a must buy author who should be on everyone’s book buying radar. She ripped my heart out with this one, and I hope to be reading her future works for decades to come. A big thank you to Laurel for writing this story, and to Samantha Kolesnik, a brilliant author in her own right, and to Off Limits Press for providing an early copy. One of the best books I’ve read all year!