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"Forget the future, Forget the past. Life is over: Breathe your last.” - Clive Barker, Abarat

Juliet Harryhousen nee Langenthorpe is on her way to her mother's place to get away from it all. her husband Colton is at the wheel, remorseful and guilty over his indiscretion. the long drive is punctuated by silence and occasional arguments when a Mercury coupe with a JXSAVES license plate catches Juliet's attention.

bad things - very bad ones do happen to good people as attested by Edward Lorn's novellete. a couple's marriage is on the line and what would have been an ordinary trip across state lines turns into one horrible nightmare that the Harryhousens - specifically Juliet - had to live through.

the writing is well-executed. it starts out "slow" but not in a bad way then it steadily builds up as the story progresses. Juliet's internal monologues, the couple's dialogs and the descriptive details are also well done.
 
i did feel a certain Stephen King/Joe Hill vibe to the story especially with the appearance of the creepy coupe with its creepier driver. readers who are familiar with Charles Manx and his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith will know what i mean. however, the "vibe" ends there. Crawl offers a different kind of thrill and horror.

another star would have made this a perfect five for me except that the ending was a little puzzling that i had to read the last six sentences multiple times. i'm still puzzling over it.

still, this was a great short read and i look forward to reading the other Lorn books in my Kindle.