Crossroads

The novel’s title is the name of Rick Ambrose’s youth group, but it is also the name of a song by blues musician Robert Johnson, released in 1937. Fittingly, it was covered in 1966 by British rock band Cream just four years before the novel begins. A popular legend about Robert Johnson tells that he once met the devil at a Mississippi crossroads and exchanged his soul for otherworldly guitar skills, subsequently becoming a blues master. Each of the five Hildebrandt point-of-view characters faces a crossroads over the course of the novel, and while each might not be fraught with existential implications, each demonstrates how difficult it can be to align good intentions with good actions.

To the outside world, many of Russ’s actions look virtuous. He counsels his parishioners, visits the sick, and gives of his time and talents to under-resourced communities. Yet the reader sees behind his actions and inside his thoughts, which are full of callous cruelty toward his wife, childish jealousy of his fellow pastor, and unbridled lust for Frances Cottrell. He justifies his thoughts with vague appeals to biblical principles like “enjoying God’s creation.” Marion, meanwhile, gives of herself constantly to her husband and children.