The Dark Road by Kathleen Rhodes

On the surface, Shelly seems to have it all: a stable real estate career, a loving husband, and her precious daughter, Josie. But under her carefully held-together exterior lies a deep-seated fear, a relentless paranoia that threatens to consume her. Her sessions with a psychiatrist reveal hidden scars from her past, yet the images that haunt her grow more intense and twisted, leaving Shelly increasingly isolated from Paul, her ever-patient spouse.

Meanwhile, John battles his own demons, remnants of a traumatic upbringing by a mother who was anything but nurturing. His rage lies dormant but dangerous, disrupting every attempt at closeness and casting shadows over his life.

Their lives collide one stormy night on the wet, winding roads of Oregon when Shelly uncovers a devastating truth about Paul and flees, only to suffer a brutal accident. She awakens in a surreal limbo, a place where memories and nightmares entwine. Here, she follows a ghostly child named Red into the depths of her past, piecing together fragments of forgotten trauma. Along the way, she encounters John, a man who’s not only trapped by his own history but also seeking retribution. Together, they journey through this shadowy realm—both fighting to reclaim their lives and escape the grip of their darkest fears.

In this haunting psychological thriller, Shelly and John must confront the secrets that have bound them and decide if they can survive the perilous path that fate has set before them.