If you have never heard of the author Kristen Hannah and you are interested to learn more, pick up a copy of her book Night Road. Readers become invested in the characters lives and stories. Night Road follows the journey of three high school students who make the decision to drive drunk and have to life with the consequences. The main characters Jude, Lexi, Zach and Mia struggle throughout the novel with tragedy and emotions. Warning: The remainder of this article contains spoilers from the book; so if you plan to read the novel, do not continue the article!
The novel begins with
Lexi Baill, a former foster child who moves into twins Mia and Zach Farraday’s
small town to live with her aunt Eva. Mia and Lexi quickly become friends and
Lexi is welcome into the Farraday family with open arms. Since Zach and Mia are
twins, they have a special bond and have always been close. Lexi and Zach begin
dating and the three of them become inseparable.
Jude Farraday, Mia and
Zach’s mother, has always been a helicopter parent and becomes even more strict
with her kids once they approach their senior year of high school and they
begin going to parties and drinking. After Jude gets a call from the kids
who are stranded at a party one night because they are too drunk to drive home,
she punishes them by not allowing them to attend the next big party of the
school year. So when Lexi, Zach, and Mia are in the same situation a few
weeks before their high school graduation, they make the decision to let Lexi
drive home, because she was the least drunk of the three. A block from the
Farraday home they get into an accident when Lexi hits a tree on a hairpin
turn. Mia, who was in the back seat and not wearing her seat belt is thrown
from the car and dies later in the hospital. Zach’s injury were less severe but
was almost blinded from the acid in the air bags; he was left with scaring on
his face. Lexi escaped the accident virtually unharmed with only a broken arm.
The accident goes to
court and Jude Farraday wants Lexi to suffer, while Zach and his father are
able to see it was not completely Lexi’s fault. Even though this was
Lexi’s first offence she was still sentenced to time in jail. While in jail
Lexi discovers that she is pregnant with Zach’s child. She has a baby girl who
is taken and raised by Zach while Lexi finishes her jail sentence. While she is
in jail, she has no contact with the Farradays. Jail changes Lexi , she gets
into multiple fights and she is no longer the sweet girl they all knew. After
jail she has no family, college degree, job, or money. Once decision that she
made when she was 18-years old changed her entire life.
Although the characters
in the story are fictional, the events frequently take place all over the
country. Driving drunk, getting in a car with someone who is drunk, or allowing
someone to drive drunk is never the answer. There are always other
options, Never Drive Drunk.
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