{"id":14572,"date":"2020-08-05T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T11:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=14572"},"modified":"2020-08-03T22:46:46","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T02:46:46","slug":"review-crossroads-by-laurel-hightower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-crossroads-by-laurel-hightower\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Crossroads by Laurel Hightower"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"14573\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-crossroads-by-laurel-hightower\/crossroadsfrontcover\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CrossroadsFrontCover.jpg?fit=750%2C1200&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"750,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"CrossroadsFrontCover\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CrossroadsFrontCover.jpg?fit=640%2C1024&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-14573\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CrossroadsFrontCover.jpg?resize=219%2C350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"cover of Crossroads by Laurel Hightower\" width=\"219\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CrossroadsFrontCover.jpg?resize=219%2C350&amp;ssl=1 219w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CrossroadsFrontCover.jpg?resize=640%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/CrossroadsFrontCover.jpg?w=750&amp;ssl=1 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 219px) 85vw, 219px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.offlimitspress.com\/laurel-hightower\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong><em>Crossroads <\/em>by Laurel Hightower<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Off Limits Press (August 10, 2020)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>93 pages; $12 hardcov\u00a0$7.01 e-book<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Reviewed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aesiraki\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A.E. Siraki<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thomas Campbell famously remarked: \u201cTo live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.\u201d This proves painfully true in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crossroads<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the newest release from rising horror superstar Laurel Hightower. Her previous novel, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whispers in the Dark <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(2018), garnered tons of well-deserved accolades. This time around, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crossroads <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">explores a mother, Chris, mourning the loss of her son, Trey. There is plenty of real-life horror in that itself. Things take a turn toward the supernatural as Chris recalls the concept of a crossroads demon, like the one that Robert Johnson was famously rumored to have sold his soul to in exchange for musical success.\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grief can make people see and believe all kinds of things, including the deepest desires of their hearts. Chris is no exception. Hightower reminds us that a mother\u2019s grief in particular is a powerful and fearsome force. She further explores how grief can be monstrous, how it changes people, how the ripple effects of one death can bleed into another. Most of all, she delves into how the suddenness of such a close death can ravage a person in ways I don\u2019t have the words to explain. It is an unspeakable pain that others question, but that to the griever, make perfect sense.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the mourner can\u2019t accept that the dead are gone, it never leads to good things. Even though we have seen this concept play out countless times, Hightower manages to present it in a way that seems new and hits home in a meaningful way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have not checked out Hightower\u2019s work, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crossroads <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a devastating and impactful place to start. Here\u2019s to hoping we see many more releases from this bright and talented author.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crossroads by Laurel Hightower Off Limits Press (August 10, 2020) 93 pages; $12 hardcov\u00a0$7.01 e-book Reviewed by\u00a0A.E. Siraki Thomas Campbell famously remarked: \u201cTo live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.\u201d This proves painfully true in Crossroads, the newest release from rising horror superstar Laurel Hightower. Her previous novel, Whispers in the Dark &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-crossroads-by-laurel-hightower\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: Crossroads by Laurel Hightower&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[1810,2098,2097,2099,79],"class_list":["post-14572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-a-e-siraki","tag-crossroads","tag-laurel-hightower","tag-off-limits-press","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Crossroads by Laurel Hightower - Cemetery Dance Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A.E. 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