Desert Crossing

by Elise Broach

Book Overview

There are some kinds of trouble you never see coming, like those thunderstorms that start from nothing at all. One minute the sky is bright blue and distant. Then, all of a sudden, it's dark and thick with clouds, pressing down right on top of you. The leaves turn silvery and twist in the wind, the air starts to hum, and the rain comes, so heavy and fast you can't even see. You almost never make it to the house on time. A dead body on the road--who...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805077626
• ISBN13: 9780805077629
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Very Good Book! :)

Wow! This was a very good book! :) If you like, murder mysterys this is a perfect book for youuu! :) loll. it was great i just couldnt put it down! I did this book for my bookkkk report for school. :) lolll. I recomend this book to others. :) Hope you read it sometime! :) lollll.

Outstanding YA mystery

I checked this book out after meeting the author. I found her very interesting and couldn't wait to read her work. I am not a fan of mysteries and probably would not have picked this book up at all based on that and the fact that the cover does not appeal to me. (I know, don't judge a book by its cover and all, but, well...) Let me just start the review by saying that I could not put this book down. I read 3/4 of it in 2 hours and finally had to go to bed because it was midnight. I finished it the next morning. The story is told from 14 year old Lucy's perspective. She is going from Kansas to Arizona with her brother and his best friend. Within the first few pages the action starts. Kit, the best friend, pulls out a six pack of beer and hands one to Lucy's brother, Jamie, who is driving. A terrible rain storm has kicked up and they cannot see anything but water. No sooner had they had a few sips of beer they hit something with the car. Worried that it is a dog and may still be alive, Lucy makes Jamie turn around and go back. What they find on the side of the road is not a dog. It's a girl. Jamie is taken to the police station while Kit and Lucy are taken in for the night by a local woman named Beth. I almost hate to tell you anything else. There are a lot of twists and turns, but all very likely and well put together. I really do not enjoy crazy mysteries where everything is unexpected and unlikely. Broach does a fantastic job of weaving in a lot of unexpected events while keeping the story real. Her characters are wonderful. I find as an adult I do not relate many YA characters. In this case I relate to them, but not as an adult. I can actually see my 14 year old self in Lucy. She also does a wonderful job of walking the line between teen sexuality and censoring her charcters. I hope Broach has another YA book coming out soon.

Gripping mystery

Riveting story - the opening scenes are some of the best I've ever read in a YA book. I loved Lucy's character.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

DESERT CROSSING is a teenage road trip gone wrong. Lucy Martinez is headed cross country to her father's for spring break. She is in the backseat, her brother is driving, and his best friend is hogging "shotgun". They are driving through the desert of New Mexico on their way to Phoenix. It's dark and rainy, the guys have been drinking, and they hit something in the road. Lucy convinces her brother to turn around and check it out. When they retrace their path, they discover a dead girl. Oh man, now what? The three teens are in shock. The nearest house is owned by an artist named Beth. She helps them out by dialing 911 and taking them in out of the rain. The police arrive and begin the investigation. Due to the presence of beer fumes in the car, Lucy's brother Jamie is hauled to jail for the night. Beth agrees to let Lucy and Kit stay the night at her house. The teens are soon cleared of any wrong-doing when it's discovered that the girl died of a heart attack and was probably already dead when her body was left at the side of the road. Jamie is released from jail, and the three remain at the artist's house until the investigation is wrapped up. Meanwhile, Lucy can't sleep and believes she must help catch the person who left this girl on the side of the road. DESERT CROSSING grabs the reader right from the start. Lucy's first-person narrative is real and honest. Many things complicate the teens' situation. Jamie is attracted to Beth the artist, Kit and Lucy begin a questionable relationship, and there are tense phone calls to update Lucy's parents. All are surrounded by questions about the dead girl, but Elise Broach keeps things flowing so smoothly, the pages seem to fly by. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

You will devour this book!

"There are some kinds of trouble you never see coming," is the opening line that instantly drew me into the pages of this gripping mystery. Through the voice of 14-year-old Lucy Martinez, I was quickly pulled into the unpredictable twists and turns of this fast paced plot. Broach cleverly chooses the stunningly raw beauty of the New Mexico desert as a backdrop to highlight the development of her characters as they discover the body of a dead girl along the road and the page turning journey that follows. And without being heavy handed, this dramatic road trip invites a thoughtful exploration of the equally dramatic journey from adolescence to adulthood that would make great fodder for teen discussion. But it is Broach's fluid writing style, zooming in and out like the lens of a camera, capturing with blind-siding surprise each new twist and turn, that ultimately creates such a believable and hugely entertaining story. You won't want to put this one down!