Back Roads (Warner Forever) [Mass Market Paperback]

Susan Crandall (Author)

Book Description

Series: Warner Forever | Publication Date: June 1, 2003

Sheriff Leigh Mitchell is approaching 30 and needs a change. When sexy Will Scott, a man full of secrets, waltzes into town, he sweeps Leigh off her feet, but is soon suspected of a terrible crime, which puts Leigh's newfound independence to the test. Original.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Back Roads is Susan Crandall's debut novel. In her first career, she was a dental hygienist. However, her love of reading soon expanded into a love of writing and she left her gentle tools of torture behind and began to pen novels. After spending several years in the big city (Chicago), she returned to the Indiana town where she grew up. There she and her husband share their home with two children, a rock band (in the basement), and an eighty pound labsky (half-black lab, half husky).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

If you stand in one place long enough, your shadow will move on without you. As the sun and moon arc overhead, the dark silhouette of your body slips silently across the ground, anchored only by the souls of your feet. Leigh Mitchell had seen herself thus, standing stock still on the courthouse square of the southern Indiana town where she'd been born, as her shadow and her life, slid slowly and unremarkably by.

She'd been county sheriff for two years, elected against all odds, she felt, because of her brothers' lifelong popularity in their community. Not that she wasn't qualified; she was. But there was a certain pecking order in law enforcement. She'd bucked the system and won. Still, the tedium of drunken teenagers, games of mailbox baseball, speed traps, and old man Grissom's constant calls about UFOs hovering over his corn field were wearing unbearibly thin.

Her thirtieth birthday had settled on the horizon, hunched like a stone gargoyle, dismally staring her in the face. In everything around her, she saw the quiet accusation: you are wasting time. A sense of near panic took root in her belly as the blossoms of spring gave way to the rustling green leaves of summer. By the Fourth of July, the fruit of that seed sent tendrils of dread squeezing her windpipe.

Her restlessness occasionally threatened to take over her good sense entirely. But it was nearly autumn before she gave in to it, driven by the certainty that if her life didn't change, she'd end up as withered and dusty as the parched ground under her feet.

Still, had she known the crosswinds from that malcontented summer were going to blow in the fall from hell, she'd have gladly remained dull and dusty.

The diesel could enveloped Will as the truck driver pulled away from the intersection. He stood on the side of a dark two lane highway with all of his earthly possessions crammed into a road-worn backpack, deciding which direction to take. Heart warred with head, his good sense telling him not to venture down this road. It had been paved with good times on his previous visit, why take the chance on ruining it? But he'd been pulled across the miles by the innocent and secure memories engraved during the one carefree summer of his youth. How he longed for the simple comfort of familiar surroundings, of childhood dreams yet to be born, and to be, even for the briefest time, away from the ugliness that stained his adult world.

The shroud of exhaust cleared, and there before him was the sign: GLENS CROSSING 4 MI. Will looked at the red taillights of the truck receding into the night, then in the direction of town.

He'd just walk a little closer, camp nearby, then decide in the morning. Tonight, painful thoughts of his current situation made it far too easy to crawl back into the past. The darkness had a way of distorting both past and present, making them more hideous and more marvelous than they actually were. In the light, he could see things more clearly -- the horror of the last months less pronounced, the delights of the one wonderful summer less remarkable.

He walked a good part of the way toward the town. His aching feet told him he'd covered over two miles, when it caught his eye. There, across the wide open expanse of a bean field, rose the lighted spokes of a Ferris wheel. A harvest moon, so large and low in the sky it appeared to be painted on the black of night, sat on the horizon, seemingly side by side with the carnival ride. A filmy haze sent three gray fingers across the enormous golden disk. One of those fingers was crooked and beckoning.

Well, hell. A sign? The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and rose as the skin at the base of his skull tightened. Had he been thirty minutes later, that moon would have been up in the sky where it belonged, away from the thin clouds, the inviting golden light brightened to a cold blue-white.

Instead of being calmed by the thought of divine intervention, he sighed heavily with the weight of too many miles, too many memories. He closed his eyes briefly and told himself, once again, to wait.

Tomorrow. A word which had for the past four months become his mantra.

He glanced around, looking for a good place to bed down for the night, and heard the steady thrum of a sub-whoofer pounding ever nearer. A long minute passed before he saw the headlights of the car.

It sped past him, the reverberation from the speakers battering him in the chest. He watched it pass, wondering how the hearing of the car's occupant could ever recover. Immediately, the brake lights brightened and the car slowed. The driver slammed the car into reverse before the tires stopped rolling forward, adding a squeal to the bass and the smell of burnt rubber to the air.

The car stopped in front of him, nearly rolling over his toes. The tinted window came down and a girl in her late teens leaned across the passenger seat. For a moment his heart skipped a beat. If he didn't know she was dead, he'd have sworn he was looking at his sister, Jenny -- same shoulder-length brown hair, same tilt to the green eyes.

Then the girl smiled and the eerie similarity disappeared, the smile too wide, the lips too full.

"Need a ride?"

He started to tell her no when she added, "I'm just going to the carnival, but I can give you a lift that far."

The carnival. The Ferris wheel. Well, damn, he didn't have to be hit over the head to get the picture. He was destined to walk the streets of Glens Crossing once again.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Forever; Warner Books Ed edition (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446612251
• ISBN-13: 978-0446612258
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,092,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Indiana native Susan Crandall's women's fiction and romantic suspense novels have garnered national awards, including the coveted RITA(c). With the exception of seven years in Chicago, she's spent her life in her Indiana hometown. When not reading, writing or watching movies, Susan spends time with her husband, children and plethora of pets.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read! Couldn't tell it was a debut, December 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Back Roads (Warner Forever) (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this in one sitting. Will Scott. Leigh Mitchell. Both were very believable characters. Sub-characters were lacking, but not enough to detract from the beauty of the story.

Will is on the run. He is hurting. He is real. He chooses the right, based on the information that he has.

Leigh is on the verge of becoming. She is good, solid, and mature.

They are good for each other. Strong enough to love, protect, and support one another. Mature enough to stand alone when need be.

I will definitely read Ms. Crandall's next offering: The Road Home.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT first book, October 6, 2005

By 

Donna Strause (Richland, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Back Roads (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book. It kept my interest all the way through the book. I ordered her other books but I am not that big of a fan for sequel books. But we shall see. Leigh was a 3D character, that you found yourself holding your breath that she would come out on top. Same with Will Scott. I believe that you will enjoy this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful debut, October 1, 2004

By 

Judy "book reader" (Cincinnati, ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Back Roads (Warner Forever) (Mass Market Paperback)

Back Roads is an amazing debut novel by Susan Crandall.

Sheriff Leigh Mitchell has always been the good girl, never veering from the straight and narrow path. A milestone birthday is approaching and she feels edgy. A sexy outsider comes to her small town and set her world on fire.

Will Scott has returned to a place that had brought him happiness as a child. He is just passing through until he sees Leigh. Will has secrets he cannot share but finds himself wanting to share everything with Leigh.

A crime is committed and the new man in town is the target of the gossip. Leigh is torn between what her heart knows and her job.

Back Roads tells a tale of fighting for what you believe in and taking a stand. You can really feel the conflict and the passions that these characters are dealing with all through the book. It's a must read.