Desperation Road - Michael Farris Smith

After completing an 11 year jail sentence, Russell Gaines believes his debt to society has been paid. But when he returns home, he discovers that revenge lives and breathes all around him. Meanwhile, a woman named Maben and her young daughter trudge along the side of the interstate. Desperate and exhausted, the pair spend their last dollar on a room for the night, a night that ends with Maben holding a pistol and a dead deputy. With the dawn, destinies collide, and Russell is forced to decide whose life he will save - his own or those of the woman and child.