This is by far one of the best debuts I have read in a while. I loved the characters and the story was well written. This is described as queer Stephen King and it certainly is. The ways that the author uses horror to showcase the town is amazing. I loved the added element of football in the book as well. It really shows how a small town community can be rocked by things that have happened in the past and how they might the effect the present. This book just really tugged at me and I kept wanting to read more.

For some reason, my brain is shorting out on words for this review, but it was a fun read. Fast-paced chapters and your typical Southern pulp amount of drama make for a solid thriller, which I enjoyed. It was also nice, as a gay Southerner from a smaller, sports-centered town, to see lived experiences as the basis for genre fiction instead of the typical literary fiction fare.

Typical of a debut, this one is a little messy. I didn't think the "true reason" behind the drama was doled out well enough over the course of the book to explain why it was necessary, and I think the book would have worked just as well without it. I also thought the Southern mannerisms and idioms were used too sporadically to be "local color" and came across more as random reminders that said, "Remember: These people are backwards hicks, which means their bad and the main character is good!" Also, I love the idea of Sodom and Gomorrah as much as anyone, but man were there a lot of gay men for such a small town .......

If you're looking for a fun beach read, I think this one has the right ingredients!

For Readers Of: The Only Good Indians & Meddling Kids

The cover made it seem like a YA book but absolutely not-- it was a horror/thriller and I really liked it. It wasn't the best literature but it was extremely thrilling which is the entire point of the genre, so I was really excited with this book.

I've had this book for awhile and I'm so mad at myself because I continued to out it off. I shouldn't have because I absolutely loved it. The story as whole was so impacting and the characters were relatable to connect me more with this story.

The Bright Lands is a fantastic addition to the mystery genre. It's refreshing to read a mystery with a queer POV character, and each character in this books is complex and well-rounded.

With more and more queer fiction coming out all the time, I’m very excited to see some quality queer horror joining those ranks. This horror is tinged with the eroticism of the locker room fantasies so many of us grew up with

Texas, a thriller and a diverse cast of characters?! Sounds like the perfect book, but I just couldn't get into this one. It's a long one and after the first 75 pages, I had to call it quits.

I realize I'm more of an action book type of girl, this just wasn't engaging. I wasn't even sure where the story was going, and I was easily 1/3 of the way into the book.

I just can’t get into this one for some reason. I’ve tried and nothing. I think this story just isn’t for me.

Rural Texas is obsessed with football, but the town of Bentley takes obsession all the way to life and death. A football hero is not just a player, but holds the reputation of the town in his hands, and those who fail the town in any way will fall prey to its vengeance. Joel Whitley wasn't a player, but his younger brother is a star, and when the boy calls Joel for help, he comes home from his busy life in New York City to discover his brother has disappeared. In looking for answers, Joel dregs up way more history and malice than he expected. Dark and creepy

Thank you to the publisher for my copy of this magnificent book - all opinions are my own.

This book is incredible.  I don't know that there are other words to describe a story so unique in nature, that also feels so relevant and contemporary at once.  I LOVE that this is a book that effortlessly combines aspects of literary fiction, thriller, horror and fantasy into one masterpiece of storytelling.  I love that this book is fast paced and so compelling that you don't want to set it down, as you might miss even a second of the action and you cannot wait to see how it plays out.  I love that this book doesn't pull any punches and comes out swinging against the absurdity of homophobia in this day and age.  I love every single thing about this book.

This is also a book you don't want to say too much about, as it would ruin the experience for a new reader, so what i will say is that you NEED to read this book.  Absolutely put this on your TBR and let this book make you think, feel and experience a story so wild and so utterly relatable.

couldn’t finish. i think the author is going for a stephen king vibe—small town with lots of characters, murky motivations, some pop commentary—but nothing is distinctive or memorable enough for me to want to finish. i made it a quarter of the way through, which i feel is fair.

It started out as a murder mystery in a small town, but slowly built to become more of a supernatural story. Small towns are the perfect location for scary, haunting legacies. All in all, a pretty good book.

I’m not sure if it was the writing or the main character that were so unlikeable but this one wasn’t for me. I struggled so much though from seeing other reviews I’m the only one..

A mixture of realistic fiction/thriller and supernatural, this is an intriguing story about a missing brother and returning home to a place that never felt quite like it.

This novel was haunting and filled with fascinating and complex characters. I was drawn into the small town drama and life, and the main character was compelling. The supernatural undertone was an added plus. Outside of Clive Barker and Christopher Rice, there haven't been many contributions by LGBTQ authors in the horror genre. This was an astonishing debut novel and I am looking forward to whatever else Fram puts out next.

I was excited when I saw that The Bright Lands was set in Texas. I was also intrigued by how football, dark secrets, and the paranormal all come together in this chunky book.

Football may be king in Bentley, Texas, but there is something much darker that rules this small town. 

Joel Whitley thought he left Bentley ten years ago for good. Now, living as a successful, gay man in New York he is worried about his younger brother Dylan. Dylan is the star quarterback of the football team, but he has been sending Joel odd texts lately. Upon Joel’s return to Bentley, Dylan claims he is heading to Galveston with a few of his football buddies; Dylan never makes it home.

Joel teams up with Deputy Starsha Clark, his old high school girlfriend, to find answers about Dylan. What they expose is a tangled network of corruption and gruesome secrets that have been controlling this town for decades.

The one thing, in my opinion, that could have been left out is the paranormal element. I like a little spookiness, but for me, this added a bit of confusion into the story. Overall, this was a keenly-written murder mystery full of lies, secrets, and corruption. It has a full cast of characters being that the football team and most of the town was involved. And the ending was action-packed and quite a surprise.


Thank you to @netgalley @hanoversquarepress and @john.fram for this advance copy for review.

I have complicated feelings about this debut novel and almost wish I could give it two separate ratings…one for the first 50-60% and one for the remaining 40% or so. The first segment reads like a Friday Night Lights-esque (and a bit of Beartown) literary thriller with an undercurrent of eerie supernatural elements and an #ownvoices LGBTQ perspective. I was quickly turning the pages and appreciated the serious issues the story addressed (prejudice, history repeating itself, and the immense pressure put on high school athletes in towns like this). Fram also paints a vivid and haunting picture of the small, Texas town that doesn’t have much to pin its hopes on beyond football. I’d rate this segment 5 stars. The story then took a hard left turn into horror (those eerie supernatural elements that I could tolerate because they were in the background became much more prominent) and the ending went off the rails even if I ignored the horror portion. There were major elements (that are unrelated to the horror theme) that I felt totally unrealistic. Unfortunately, the last 40% or so would be 2.5 stars for me. How to reconcile this into an overall recommendation and rating? I’m settling on 3.75 stars because A) I couldn’t stop turning the pages, even when I was reading the outlandish parts B) the journey of a book is important to me and this one was excellent (i.e. a less than stellar ending doesn’t kill a book for me) C) but, I do have to dock the rating a bit for that ending. However, John Fram has obvious talent and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does next. For a more in-depth discussion of my thoughts on this book, check out my Summer 2020 Book Preview podcast.

I'm not typically a horror reader, but I thought I'd branch out, and a I heard a lot of good things about this, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's...fine. How it works as a genre book, I can't really say. As a  slice of small town life and a mystery, I think it mostly succeeds. The characters are all good, but I never really loved any of them, either.

I tried this one but it wasn't for me - I think you either love it or don't... started off too slow and never was able to really get into it.