Rating: 9.0/10
Synopsis
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.
Review
Thanks to the Fireside Horror, the narrator, and the author for an advance listening copy of Crossroads. This did not influence my thoughts or opinions.
Crossroads is a heartstring puller of a novella; one that will have you mopping up your emotions long after the last page is turned.
I’d been hearing amazing things about Crossroads from the horror community, but just hadn’t had the time or, honestly, the emotional occupancy to get through this 110 page novella. I read the synopsis, had a Q&A with the author, and even flipped through several reviews, but 2020 has just exhausted me to the point where this novella could truly break me. Luckily, it didn’t, but by George did it come super close.
Hightower immerses you completely into her story of loss, grief, and a very bleak sense of hope while also telling a story that feels so real. I cannot close to imagining what it is like to lose a child and I believe that played a huge part in how I quickly became emotionally tied to Chris. I can’t say I would go to the same lengths as she did, but grief does some crazy things to the psyche.
It is hard to put into words exactly how great this novella is without:
A. Spoiling it
&
B. Finding said words
but I’m going to leave it at this: Hightower’s novella feels like required reading in the horror genre. It has all of the elements that a 400 page novel could produce in such a short form, and will leave you an emotional wreck (still waiting to see how long it lasts as I just finished the story).
Also, if you have the opportunity to give it a listen, Linda Jones knocks the narration out of the park. Looking forward to seeing more titles from Fireside Horror.
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