The Night Road by Kevin Lucia

 

For most of her life, Grace Donaldson's passion has been running. As a star in Cross Country and Track and Field, Grace ran to win, because losing wasn't an option. For her, running was freedom, and she was only ever her true self when racing toward the finish line.

Her senior year, that all changed. Afterward, instead of running toward something, Grace started running away. From her pain, her anger, and her guilt. Now, as her younger sister lies on her deathbed from attempted suicide and Grace's darkness threatens to consume her, she discovers The Night Road, and the chance to run toward something again, instead of away... if she's willing to pay a terrible price.

Grace used to love running cross country, and track and field. Her sister Lilly was also a runner for a time, but it is Grace who won too many trophies to count.

These days running is not so much something she enjoys, as something she is bound to do. It is an uncontrollable urge, her drug of choice, her escape, and the only thing that makes her life bearable. She runs to forget, to be released for a short time of the guilt she feels, over her sister being in the hospital, close to death. 

She is out for a run when she first spots the crows, and another mysterious runner in black, the identity of whom she feels compelled to discover.

This is a story of love and guilt, regret and betrayal, told at a quick pace with a dash of Irish folklore to give it a nice kick. I was dying to know what led to Lilly's grim prognosis and why Grace blamed herself. There was mention of an "other thing" That Grace didn't want anyone to know which really piqued my curiosity and kept me turning pages to the shocking conclusion.

There are also some incredibly haunting illustrations included which I loved.

4 out of 5 stars

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My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications for the advance copy.

About the author

Kevin Lucia's short fiction has appeared in several anthologies, most recently with Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Bentley Little, Peter Straub and Robert McCammon.

His first short story collection, Things Slip Through was published November 2013, followed by Devourer of Souls in June 2014, Through A Mirror, Darkly, June 2015, and and his second short story collection, Things You Need, September 2018. His novella Mystery Road was published by Cemetery Dance Publications May, 2020.