Desert Crossing

Gr 8 Up—Spring break has just begun for 14-year-old Lucy Martinez. She's traveling with her 18-year-old brother, Jamie, from Kansas to Phoenix, AZ, to visit their dad. Riding shot gun is Jamie's best friend, Kit. While traveling through a very remote part of New Mexico during a fierce rainstorm, they hit a bump. Jamie and Kit are convinced it was a coyote, but Lucy isn't sure and convinces Jamie to turn the car around. They find a dead girl lying on the side of the road. A solitary house in the distance, owned by an artist named Beth, has the only phone for miles. A preliminary investigation proves that the girl was dead prior to her body being dumped. Yet the girl's open, empty eyes haunt Lucy and propel her to help find the murderer. The relationship between Lucy and Kit leans toward normal, but the sexual fling between Jamie and Beth, a 30-something divorcee, stretches the line pretty thin. The tone and pace of Amy Rubinate's narration is perfect, especially when voicing the range of Lucy's emotions. Elise Broach's page-turner (Holt, 2006)—part mystery, part love story—reminds us that in the blink of an eye, encountering a detour in life's path can change you forever.—Cheryl Preisendorfer, Twinsburg City Schools, OH