This story is about a girl Lucy who goes on a road trip with her brother Jamie and his friend Kit. They are traveling at night during a storm when they hit something. Lucy wants to go back and see what they hit but when they go back she wishes she never asked. The three of them find a girl laying in the ditch, dead.

As the story progresses Lucy becomes obsessed with finding out what has truly happened to the girl. And she refuses to leave the area until the girl's identity is found and her killer brought to justice. ( )

Reviewed by Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

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. ( )

Classy, scary novel in the vein of “I know what you did last summer”. Luce and her brother Jamie & his best mate Kit are driving across the New Mexico Desert to see her father in Spring Break. There is a sudden rain shower, Kit has opened a beer for him and Jamie when they hit something. Jamie swears it is a coyote but when they go back they find a dead girl. Did J hit her? Or did she die hours before and someone dumped her there? And why does L steal her bracelet? And what about Beth, the artist who they are forced to stay with by the police? What is it about her that J finds so attractive? p.12-“It was almost dark” to p.18 “The girl”