[Book Review] Sarah’s Cross by Dean M. King

Sarah’s Cross by Dean M. King is the best ghost story that I’ve read in quite some time! Centering around a little girl that passed away in a car crash, but was still tethered to the world, this tale was heartbreaking but also full of love.

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book by the publisher on behalf of the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.

Let’s dive in!

My Thoughts on Sarah’s Cross by Dean M. King

When the story begins, we meet our main character, Tommy Ryan. He’s clearly a bit shaken from meeting a girl, but before we learn much else, he suddenly hits a fawn that crosses his path in his driveway. Tommy then focuses on trying to help the fawn by calling in a local vet.

When that emergency quiets down, we get back to learning about the girl and find out that she’s a ghost who can’t move on. She also can’t speak, but she guides Tommy through the woods to point to a house on the other side of a lake. Tommy wants to help her so he decides to try to find that house. Once he makes it there, he’s left with more questions than answers so he decides to do some research about the crash. Little does he know, there is a darker force in play here…

I absolutely loved the main character! I adored that he was so kindhearted and determined to go the extra mile to help whenever he could. I also loved how quickly he was drawn to the little girl as he wanted to protect her.

The writing style was wonderful. Everything was described perfectly so the scene was set in my head. The dialogue was realistic and the characters were perfectly developed for their roles. The pacing was also excellent! This was a book that was extremely difficult for me to put down! Thank goodness I picked it up on a day off!

The elements of mystery in this one kept me so engaged! I was nervous but also very excited to see Tommy research the crash and slowly learn more as some of the puzzle pieces began to fall into place.

My goodness, the action and horror in this one. The author certainly didn’t shy away! I mean… the murder of crows?! It may be because I watched The Birds when I was far too young, but the second we saw this gathering, I got spooked. The scene in the junkyard had me tensing my whole body like I was the main character, getting ready to run at a moments notice.

One last thing that I wanted to note… The scene of Sarah’s death shown only to Tommy with what happened to her body was absolutely heartbreaking. 

Needless to say, this one kept me on the edge of my seat!

My Favorite Passages from Sarah’s Cross

I thought about that for a moment. The President of the United States wants to spend a half-billion dollars to put a man on the moon, and here I am worrying about a fawn nobody would miss if I had killed it outright. I’ve always believed that little things matter, and though, while not very important in the grand scheme of things, right now the only help that fawn was going to get was me, and it mattered.

I climbed out of my truck and stood by the open door taking in my surroundings. The breeze was coming from the direction of the lake and the morning air was redolent with pine and dew-dampened earth and the aroma of the trout lily that cover the forest beneath the maples, basswood, and hemlocks. A cluster of Jack-in-the-pulpit had thrust up from the soil near a rotting stump to my left, and everywhere, nodding trillium were preparing to bloom.

He couldn’t see her. She was right there in my peripheral vision, and I could feel her gloved hand, smooth and cool, holding onto mine, but he could see only me seated on the birch log. 

I left my memories to hang in the air over the bandstand and pulled myself away from the window. 

There didn’t appear to be any logic to the distribution of the several thousand junked vehicles. They lay strewn about as if left haphazardly by some giant child after playing with his toys. 

My Final Thoughts on Sarah’s Cross

I loved this story so much! Everything from how the story line traveled from the very first chapter to the last, to the characters and the paranormal elements… This one was a home run for me!

If you enjoy ghost stories with a lot of heart, you gotta check this one out!

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Thanks for reading!
Have you heard or read any ghost stories lately? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!