No Road Home checks all the boxes for a high-stakes suspense thriller. An eery gothic mansion, a family full of secrets and sin, an impending storm of biblical proportions, and a small dose of the supernatural.

This story has a lot to unpack - homophobia, transphobia, racism, incest, rape, murder, religious horror and so much more. I think the plot is extremely clever, but the execution was confusing at times. There were so many twists that I think some could have been removed to help streamline the overall plot and mystery more. I did enjoy Tobias’s insistence on playing detective and reading as he pieced more and more pieces of the puzzle together.

The atmosphere was my favorite thing about the book. Not only were delving deep into the family’s secrets, but also diving deeper and deeper into the family’s home. I liked how the setting reflected everything the family was trying to bury, right down to the cabin in the woods. If you’re looking for a book heavy on LGBTQIA+ representation with themes of atonement and revenge, this thriller is for you!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Toby Tucker has tried to be a good single Dad to his sensitive son, Luca. When Toby marries Alyssa, the daughter of a famed televangelist, he agrees to take Luca and visit the compound where her family lives. But when her famous Dad turns up dead and murdered, things take a dark turn, and Toby must do whatever it takes to save his son.

The good...I like Fram's writing and the pacing of his stories. However, the subject matter just isn't for me. It's about bad televangelists, and I get that, but there are plenty of stereotypes that I don't like, and there are so many horrible characters. I'm clearly not the intended audience.

NO ROAD HOME
John Fram

Entertaining and full of commentary, John Fram’s summer horror release was as much fun to read as it is to write about. It’s twisty and twisted and it’s the book I’m talking about today.

Toby loves Alyssa. Alyssa loves Toby. And his son, Lucas. Recently married Alyssa is bringing Toby home to meet her notorious religious family.

Toby thinks he is prepared and would do anything for Alyssa so as they approach the sprawling estate, he tries to put all his misgivings aside. Whatever happens, she’s worth it.

Once they arrive it becomes abundantly clear that Alyssa has downplayed how wealthy her family is, how creepy they are, and how “religion” is referring to The Old Testament.

Her family runs a huge church that televises their sermons and events. Each family member is expected to work for the church and participate in the televised sermons.

It takes a while for this to dawn on Toby that this now includes him and Lucas. Before he can wrap his mind around this fact the patriarch of the family ends up dead. Toby’s focus becomes how to keep him and Lucas safe and get them out of the creepy house.

What he doesn't know is that it'll take everything he has within him to make that happen.

Toby is a frustrating character. He often walks hand in hand with the things that ail him and walks arm-in-arm into death with the monsters that are killing him.

Addiction horror is scary to those who have danced with the devil and lived. Black horror is both terrifying and affirming. And touching on those themes successfully all while having a religious horror backdrop was an effective combination.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy! It was a pleasure!

NO ROAD HOME…⭐⭐⭐⭐

A gripping and atmospheric novel with elements of gothic suspense, family drama ,religion, and psychological tension. A cleverly crafted plot.
Many thanks to Atria, and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

After four years, John Fram is back ladies and gentlemen and he’s better than ever! Fram’s upcoming summer 2024 release, NO ROAD HOME, is the perfect combination of GOOD RICH PEOPLE (Eliza Jane Brazier) meets television series The Righteous Gemstones. The book is centered around Toby Tucker and his young son Luca. Toby and Luca have such an incredible bond and Toby is a dedicated and loving father, but his parenting comes into question after he marries Alyssa Wright. Alyssa is the granddaughter of Jerome Wright, the famous televangelist who uses religion as a basis of hate on his popular television program. The Wrights are extremely wealthy and live in a small town in Texas where they basically run the county. When Alyssa invites Toby and her new step-son Luca to her family home, Toby enters the lion’s den. Alyssa claims that her family is “too rich to be bigoted” but when Toby and Luca arrive, they realize that something isn’t adding up with the Wright family. The situation grows worse when a storm cuts off the transportation in/out of their home and they lose WiFi and Internet service and the family wakes up with a murder. When all suspicions lead to Toby, he must figure out who’s really guilty while also protecting his son at all costs.⁣
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This book is very different than Fram’s last book, THE BRIGHT LANDS, but the metaphorical messaging still gives you Fram vibes. Even with over 400 pages, I read this book in two sittings because I couldn’t put it down. The action starts very early into the story and the twist is SO F**KING GOOD! I’m telling you now, you will never expect how this book develops. There’s three characters who I absolutely loved (no spoilers), a lot of characters who I loved to hate, and a lot of twists and turns that I did not expect. I absolutely loved this book and it’ll be in my top reads of 2024. John, please don’t have us waiting four years ever again bb!

(I will be sharing this in a piece for CrimeReads.) John Fram’s sophomore book is a thrilling rollercoaster, a Texas gothic featuring a sprawling isolated estate, a rich televangelist and his sinister brood, an apocalyptic rainstorm, and serpentine hallways leading to strange rooms. Of course, there’s also a little murder. My advice to you while reading this is don’t trust anyone.

Toby will do anything for his son, Luca. When he marries into the Wright family, they head to the family home for a meet and greet of their new family. Luca is trying to find the true version of himself and that doesn't quite fit in with the Wright's family faith. When a storm hinders anyone from leaving and someone is found murdered it becomes clear all is not okay in this family. Everyone seems to harbor secrets that could ruin someone else's life. Who has the biggest motive to keep the others quiet. Toby and Luca will serve a large purpose for the family. The lengths Toby will go to in order to protect Luca will be tested. Who knows who will make it out of the storm alive.

This is a slow burn with a locked room setting. Toby is a well done character who's willing to stop at nothing to protect his son. The entire Wright family might be completely bonkers. There's a small super natural element but I don't think it really added or took away from the story. I think for some readers this will be a knockout book, unfortunately for me I wasn't into it until the last 50 pages of so. That's what made the story for me. Toby is what kept me reading until that point. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Lust, greed, homophobia, religion, revenge, incest, family drama, and more mix with a revengeful ghost and the murder of a millionaire televangelist on a dark, stormy night. All members of the prophet’s family have reasons for wanting him dead, but who killed him? Tobias (who had just married the slain man’s granddaughter) had arrived that day at the family’s palatial home with his seven-year-old son Luca. Being new to the family makes Tobias suspect number one, so he decides to play detective to figure out what happened.

As he begins to uncover the secrets of their millions, Tobias soon finds that the family has a tangled web of lies and secrets that go back decades. In addition he discovers they have big plans for Luca which don’t include him. The love he has for his dead sister’s son is strong, and he will die before he lets anyone hurt his boy. What he doesn’t know is that the Wrights will stop at nothing to get what they want.

This eerily told story of the lengths a family will go to hang on to money and to hide their many sins, has much truth. Though the reader may have to suspend disbelief at some points, it makes for interesting reading to figure out whodunit. I was completely wrong.

Recommended for Adults.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.

I read the author's previous book so I was interested in reading this one. Unfortunately I found this one quite dry. The writing and the characters were fine.. The plot was slow moving and I just was not invested enough to complete this book.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

This is the first book I have read by John Fram. It is a locked room mystery with a gothic lilt. Great addition to mystery genre with lovely queer rep.

This locked room thriller was like nothing I have read before in the best way! John Fram is a new author to me, but I look forward to reading future books.

In 2020 when I read John Fram's debut novel THE BRIGHT LANDS, I was Over-the-Moon excited and astounded. In fact, I was more akin to orbiting Pluto! So learning that THIS AUTHOR has a New Novel Upcoming! sent me right back into orbit. NO ROAD HOME is absolutely INCREDIBLE! That's not a "sweetness and light" happy Incredible, though: NO ROAD HOME rocked my foundations. (Just when I thought I'd read it all...) In 2024 I've been reading a number of perturbing (disturbing) novels, including some seriously dysfunctional family groups. In terms of evil families bound up with evil homes, I'm just going to mention two other exceptionally perturbing novels, so you can get a flavor of what you'll be falling into as soon as you open NO ROAD HOME:
2023's THE SEPTEMBER HOUSE by Carissa Orlando, and 2024's THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS by John Connolly. Welcome to--not just the Dark Side--but a realm of unconscionable, genetic and nurtured, Dysfunction. You might never be the same.

The rain came down in a torrent, soaking the grounds, flooding the roadway, and causing the already deteriorating house to decay some more. It was dark, eerie, with an evil lurking on the premise as he wandered the halls of this unfamiliar palace. Something was wrong and he was determined to figure out what it was.

No Road Home is a suspenseful horror mainly following Toby who is traveling with his wife to meet her family for the first time. But this family is unusual and not in a good way. Something sinister is going on.

This story had some things going for it… like the atmosphere, the isolated setting, the creepy decaying home, the gothic vibes… but the majority of the book dragged for me. There was a lot going on (a lot!) and you really had to pay attention, which isn’t something I like when it comes to horror novels. There were so many repetitive things as well that just took away from the story. The plot was a really captivating concept, but the execution was lacking for me. Definitely a lot of good twists though!

If you love religious horror, isolated settings, and dark family secrets, then you may enjoy this book!

John Fram once again has created an absolutely stellar horror novel with real-world issues and concerns that makes me feel seen and understood without sacrificing any amount of gore or terror. The ending twists are unpredictable and unforgiving and I'll keep picking up any and everything Fram publishes.

This was my first time reading this author. I went in to it expecting a great mystery or thriller. There were mystery elements, but I feel the whole plot could have been flushed out more.

There is a lot to unpack in this well written complicated book. I think it is one read best going in knowing nothing and letting the story reveal itself as the author intended. Hard book to read in places but an author I will read again for sure

Thank you to Atria Books @Atria @AtriaThrillers and Netgalley @Netgalley for the e-arc. All thoughts are my own.


Toby has done his best to keep his sensitive young son, Luca, safe from the bigotry of the world, but things don’t always go as planned.

When Toby and Luca take a trip to the Wright family, a televangelist, things take a turn for the worst. The situation grows worse when a freak storm cuts off the roads and then someone is found dead via stabbing.

Suspicion turns to Toby who swears he saw a figure in black lurking around the house. Toby realizes that the Wright family has more than murder to be afraid of but no one is prepared for the lengths Toby will go in the fight to clear his name and protect his son.

This book is told mostly through Toby’s POV, with a few others sprinkled in. It started with a bang by introducing the murder victim, but then we don’t hear from them until almost the very end. I felt that the story was unbalanced, being all Toby and I would have enjoyed it more had we heard more from some of the other characters. I did appreciate that all the points of views were clearly marked, a huge must for me. I appreciated how descriptive this book was, it was very vivid. However, I felt that at times it was almost overwhelming especially when talking about addiction and mental health struggles. These are sensitive topics for me, so I do have high standards when reading about them and while this book was alright, it wasn’t exactly when I needed. I found the story to be too long for me. Coming in at about 420 pages, I think that it would have been better about 100 pages less.

Overall, I didn’t mind this story, it had some strong points, but I think that it did fall a little flat for me.

No Road Home tells a story of Toby, a single father whose new wife is the granddaughter of a televangelist tycoon. Toby and Alyssa's relationship was a whirlwind; from meeting to marriage was only 6 months! Now, Toby and Alyssa venture back to Texas to her family's estate. Toby meets Alyssa's odd, wealthy family and is a bit worried about the influence they will have on his son. Soon, a storm hits, the roads are blocked, and the televangelist patriarch is found murdered on the roof. It's now up to Toby to get himself and his son to safety, while unraveling family secrets he'd rather not know.

I thought this book had a wonderful premise: Toby, keeping his son as safe as possible from the bigotry of the world, dropped into the world of ultra wealthy, ultra conservative, ultra religious televangelists. As Toby goes through the book, I was hoping for slightly better "secrets". I think the author had good ideas, but I think that too many were tried to be incorporated at once. Without giving spoilers, I thought the reveals were "too much". I think there are so many ways this book could have been written to include certain secrets while staying away from other "familial relationships".

Although I enjoyed the idea of the book, I think the writing missed the mark for me. Overall I didn't enjoy this book as much as others may have. I think I wanted something better. I wanted to root for Toby to unravel the bigotry and hatred of this family in a realistic yet thrilling way, exposing them for their hatred. Ultimately, I was underwhelmed.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sorry this was too disturbing for me. Check the trigger warnings as there's a lot of really unsavory topics discussed in here. It's relevant and timely but way too dark for me

No Road Home by John Fram

416 Pages
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: July 23, 2024

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Family Dynamics, LGBTQIAP+, Religious Organization

Televangelist Jerome Write is the patriarch of a dysfunctional family and religious organization. So many secrets but at the bottom of them is greed. Alyssa Wright and Tobias “Toby” Tucker are newlyweds. She is a pediatrician with several houses and was drawn to Toby and his son, Luca. Shortly after they get married, they decide to leave California and go back to Texas to visit her wealthy family. Once there, the family expected them to become part of the ministry. What Toby did not know what Alyssa was due to come into her inheritance once she turned thirty but there was a stipulation. She must be married and have a child. Toby is afraid for Luca. He is so different, and the family is talking about sending him to camp to toughen him up.

Disaster strikes the family and then a terrible rainstorm moves in making the roads impassable. The phones and internet are down, and no one is going anywhere. They are trapped with an unknown evil. The family will do anything to protect the family business alive, including murder. The story was fast paced, the characters were developed, and it was written in the third person point of view. There was psychological intrigue and so many twists and turns that I was unsure who was the good guys.