Thriller meets horror. I'm not sure what else to describe it. The cult feel of this was something that drew me to the book. It was fast paced and a bit freaky at times. Definitely not a book I read late into the night. Perfect for someone looking to get their hear rate elevated!

I feel like this was a bit of a chaotic story but I think that was part of the point. I think that this book definitely keeps you on your toes and keeps you guess. I enjoyed that all of the characters were flawed and unlikeable and that stayed consistent. I think that this author has promise so I will try more. Not my favorite read of the year but definitely entertaining.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an eARC of No Road Home in exchange for my honest review!

The Bright Lands by John Fram has always been floating around my TBR pile, so it caught my eye when I was able to be approved for an eARC of his latest book. And let me tell you, it makes for an enthralling time as a claustrophobic murder mystery that dips into Gothic horror territory and makes me genuinely wonder sometimes if there's a paranormal element to the tale. The atmosphere and the tension oozes off the page as I'm forced to become confined with the Wright family in all its conniving, greedy, bigoted, and perverted nature. It helps that following the majority of this effectively paced narrative via Toby's POV creates a psychological mood that always keeps me a little off-kilter in regard to what's truly going on and what dark secrets are being held.

Then this is able to hit sincerely and touchingly when it comes to its queer themes, which are a central aspect of the book as it unpacks internalized homophobia, the hypocrisy and hate of religion, dysfunctional families, the gross and predatory ways in which humans can behave within the shackles of bigotry, and faith. Now, there's something we learn about the story late in the game that does make me ambivalent, and I feel like this could have been handled in a more smooth and respectful fashion, especially when it's deployed as a way to shock us readers. That being said, I appreciate how the third act ultimately ties together the threads we've been arranging throughout the first two acts. It lets us reach a moving and satisfying ending that puts me in a positive spirit after emerging from the book.

Overall, I'm officially rating No Road Home 4.5 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding up to a full 5 stars. I'm definitely bumping The Bright Lands higher up my TBR pile.

TL;DR: John Fram burst onto the scene a few years ago with his 2020 queer football horror novel THE BRIGHT LANDS -one of the weirdest, craziest books I’ve ever read- and ever since, I’ve been eagerly anticipating to see what the guy does next. Well he’s back, with NO ROAD HOME, a southern gothic whodunit about single father who must protect his queer son from the televangelist family he’s married into. The book is incredibly well-written, brimming with subtext and religious/queer symbolism, complex character stories, and a haunted house of horrors that will keep you turning pages late into the night. And oh man, does Fram land the ending here. All of the story threads come together in such a satisfying, emotional, jaw-dropping way. Dude knows how to stick a twist ending. If I had any issues with the read, I think it’s 50 pages too long (there’s a lot of running around the house, haha), and I struggled with character motivation a couple times. But these are minor quibbles, and overall this book had me completely captivated from start to finish. A big recommendation from me, and Fram immediately becomes an auto-buy author moving forward.

Toby Tucker and his sister Willow grew up spending hours every Sunday with their guardian, Uncle Exra, watching The Prophecy Hour. The televangelist program is hosted by a fire-and-brimstone televangelist preacher named Jerome Jeremiah Wright. Jerome refers to himself as “America’s prophet” and he uses a grandiose, flashy-style of preaching the virtues and lessons of the Old Testament.

Now an adult, Toby is recently married to Jerome’s granddaughter, Alyssa Wright. Toby has a son, Luca, who is a sensitive and free-thinking child. Toby has protected him from the world where he was raised—a world that was covered by the shadow of Alyssa’s grandfather—as much as possible. As Alyssa is about to celebrate her thirtieth birthday, the family takes a trip to the Wright family compound in Hebron,Texas. Religion, wealth, bigotry, and power swirl around the Wright family compound, and the Wrights seem to have secret plans in store for Toby and Luca.

Toby has never had much stock in Jerome’s predictions. Still, he can’t help but feel unsettled when he learns about Jerome’s most recent predictions at the end of The Prophecy Hour and that they were specifically about Toby and Luca. Things are off at the Wright compound from the beginning. Strange messages on doors that are brushed aside. When Jerome is murdered the night that Toby and Luca arrives and a bad storm rolls in, Toby realizes they are trapped for now with a family that believes Toby’s arrival may have caused Jerome’s death (some might argue it was the knife that stabbed him). Luca has conversations with a mysterious, unseen figure wearing a black suit. With every cop funded by the Wrights, Toby realizes they may blame him for Jerome’s murder.

The Wrights have plans for Toby and Luca, not the least of which is sending Luca to a church-run wilderness camp to “fix him” (they all refer to Luca as a girl, but Toby said Luca identifies as a boy and he has no problem with it). The Wrights may have plans, but they have secrets too. Secrets they don’t want exposed. Something isn’t right with the Wright family, and Toby won’t let them try to ruin him and Luca.

This book is majorly creepy and unsettling. The brand of religion that the Wrights preach is not what most of us are used to. The book gave me Get Out vibes (which if you haven’t seen it, add it to your list; it’s fantastic and eerie). The story has a claustrophobic feel to it, and it seems to press in more and more the longer Toby and Luca are at the compound. Atmospheric, chilling, and dark, the story has a flawless southern gothic vibe that added to the suspense. The whole book has a mood.

Toby has embraced Luca’s gender identity, but the Wrights clearly have not. The bigotry starts before they’ve even arrived at the compound, when a woman working in a Cracker Barrel comments on Toby’s “daughter”. He politely corrects her, but this is only the beginning of what the father and son will have to deal with.

I didn’t trust Alyssa. She’s a Wright, after all. While she seemed to have good spirit and good intentions with Toby, it all seemed a bit strange. She meets him in Los Angeles, quickly forms a relationship, asks him to get married, then asks him to move back to Texas. Something must be off, right? It was hard to tell. Alyssa clearly had secrets, but what sort of secrets was she keeping? One big one is revealed about a quarter of the way in, and it is a juicy one.

There’s also the scar on Toby’s arm that is mentioned subtly but frequently from the very beginning of the book. A fish-hook-shaped white scar stretching from his wrist to his elbow. People keep commenting on it, making Toby uncomfortable. The scar is allegedly from the accident that took his parents’ lives as a child and that he and Willow survived. But this is the sort of book where I questioned everything. The Wrights are the sort who can control someone’s own life narrative if they choose to. Did Toby really know what happened to him?

No Road Home is a Gothic story of Toby and his son Luca, along with their experiences in the mansion among the Wright televangelist family. As soon as they arrive, things start to go very wrong, and murder and mayhem ensue. There were a variety of twists and turns, both literal and figurative, throughout the story -- some were predictable, others were surprising, and the final one (for me, anyway) was simply confusing. I wouldn't not recommend the book, but I'm also not sure who I would recommend it to...

Toby and his new wife, Alyssa, are returning to Alyssa's childhood home to visit her extended family. Toby's 7 year old son, Luca, is along for the ride and feeling anxious about this visit. Once they arrive, Toby realizes that Luca's anxiety is well founded. The darkness in this family runs deep and he will do anything to get his son out of it safely.

This one missed the mark for me. This book is more gothic horror than thriller, which is not something I usually enjoy. I had a very hard time following the complicated part and I'm still not entirely sure I understand everything that happened. I could see how others could like this book, but understand that this doesn't fall into a traditional thriller story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC of No Road Home.

This story is told in third person and follows Toby as he journeys with his son, Luca, to visit his new wife’s family in Texas for her thirtieth birthday celebration. Alyssa worked as a pediatrician in Los Angeles when Toby met her. She comes from the family of a well-known televangelist with a compound near the small town of Hebron, Texas, where everyone knows your business or so they think. Toby and his sister, Willow, were raised in Texas and grew up watching Jerome Wright’s show, The Prophecy Hour. Things start off strange when the local Cracker Barrel checker gives Toby an ominous message purportedly from the prophet himself.

The Wright family has a lot of members, so the beginning of the story can be a bit overwhelming. There’s a handy list of the “Wrights Who Matter” written up for Toby by Alyssa at the beginning of the book that’s very helpful in keeping everyone straight. This family is all kinds of eccentric and messed up with odd power dynamics that quickly change as the story unfolds. They all have some involvement in the family business. Toby has always encouraged his sensitive son to be his authentic self but becomes afraid for him when the family makes quick moves to change him to fit the conservative family dynamic. I wasn’t always enamored by Toby’s choices and motives, but Alyssa and her family were clearly on their own journey.

A storm hits taking down the internet, and flood waters cut the house off from the town, leaving the family isolated, when Jerome is found murdered and the family points their finger to the newcomer, Toby. Toby begins to investigate the murder to prove his innocence, but his investigation uncovers family secrets that tie in neatly with the rest of the story. I loved the chilling atmosphere and twists in the way the story played out.

Recommended to lovers of atmospheric locked-room style thrillers and southern gothic themes. I’ve seen this labeled as horror, but it has more of an edgier Simone St. James feel to me, so I’ll call it supernatural suspense.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for a copy provided for an honest review.

This book had a great, unique premise. I was totally sold on this corrupt televangelist family and their twisted life bringing in an outsider and his gay son, but I quickly realized this book has way too much going on to make that intriguing storyline shine through or make any sense. It’s like the author took every twist and every taboo topic and threw it at the wall and somehow it got published in a book. There were way too many characters to keep straight and the book jumped all over the place. I didn’t truly see the twist coming, but it was so wild and outlandish, I had to roll my eyes. This one needed editing. My hopes were high and very dashed. 2.5 rounded up only because when I switched to the audio I was slightly more engaged.

For a book with such a promising premise, it's disappointing that it was so poorly executed. There are far too many characters who are difficult to keep track of because only a handful are genuinely relevant. The structure is a bit confusing and all over the place. The protagonist is boring and seems to do nothing interesting until the last few chapters. The "twists" are...not worth it at best and insulting at worst.

I expected a thriller/murder mystery to at least be engaging, and yet, the first 3/4 of the book practically put me to sleep. It picks up toward the end, but by then it's too late.

This was a fast paced and quirky mystery that is hard to put down. The family is so fun and engaging, the mystery unfolds cleverly, and the plot moves at great pace. Mystery fans and gothic fans will love this book.

I found this one a little dry. Didn't find this to be nearly as exciting as I had hoped for it. Maybe next time from this author

What a wild ride! No road home is like the 700 Club, meets a telenovela, meets poltergeist. I really enjoyed the twisted fun and games Fram created to give some phony evangelicals their just desserts. There was perhaps a little too much “memory palace” nonsense and a lot of typos that I hope the publisher fixed before this went on shelves, but minor complaints for a pulpy, fun, thriller that’s perfect for the end of summer.

Thanks to the pub for a free read in exchange for my review.

John Fram's No Road Home is a riveting blend of psychological thriller and supernatural suspense. The novel plunges single father Toby Tucker and his sensitive son Luca into a world of wealth, religion, and hidden dangers when Toby marries Alyssa Wright, the granddaughter of a notorious televangelist. The tension escalates rapidly as the family’s compound in Texas becomes the backdrop for murder and supernatural intrigue.

Fram’s character development is a standout feature. Toby's protective instincts and his relationship with Luca are portrayed with depth, making their predicament all the more gripping. The dynamic between Toby and Alyssa’s family is fraught with tension, and the unfolding mystery adds layers of complexity to the narrative.

The plot is tightly wound, with a blend of real and eerie elements that keep the reader guessing. The murder of the family patriarch and the eerie presence of a spectral figure create a chilling atmosphere that is both compelling and unsettling. The suspense builds effectively, and the resolution provides a satisfying twist.

However, the novel occasionally leans into melodrama, and some plot twists might stretch credibility for certain readers. Despite these minor issues, the overall narrative remains engaging and well-crafted.

No Road Home is a gripping read that masterfully combines suspense, psychological drama, and supernatural elements. Fram’s ability to weave these elements together results in a captivating story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. For fans of intense thrillers with a supernatural twist, this book is definitely worth picking up.

American neo-gothic
Horror
Televangelist
Religious cult vibes...

I was IN! And I was not disappointed. This was a fun ride, and while it seemed a little chaotic and twisty at times, it also felt like the point... and it worked for me.

An entertaining read due to all the bits above. It did drag a bit for me at times, and felt a little scattered. There could have been fewer characters so a little more time could have been spent better developing the ones we did get.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A story about Toby and his LGTBQ+ son who are invited to his new wife’s family home. During a storm, everyone is trapped inside with no access to the outside. The very rich grandpa is murdered and Toby’s son Luca is accused. Toby must find out who had motive to protect his son. The atmosphere of the book is tense but there’s a lot of characters to keep track of so that’s challenging. The story does jump around a bit with all the characters as well.

This was a little slow and had a lot more to do with religion than I usually like to read about, but it totally worked for me! I can't wait to pick up the previous work fom this author because I found his writing to be so engaing and I was immediately invested in the story. Just the right amount of spooky.

This intense supernatural thriller will push your claustrophobia to the limit! Picture this: you meet your wealthy televangelist in-laws at their sprawling Texan estate, only to discover that your wife and her family have something far more sinister planned than a simple family reunion. Soon, the family patriarch is found dead with a knife through his heart, while a massive storm of biblical proportions traps you and your child inside. To make matters worse, a ghostly, shadow-like specter roams the halls. It might sound overwhelming, but trust me, you won't want to miss this! The book perfectly combines a Southern Gothic setting, a highly atmospheric plot, diabolical characters, and supernatural elements.

This was a wild ride and kept me hooked from the beginning.

The writing of this was so well done - the atmosphere is amazing. Creepy vibes, stuck in a singular place was exactly what I was hoping for with this. I also loved how the characters were set up. They all felt so real. There are some terrible people in this but the way the author wrote them made them jump off the page. Truly, the way this was done was so good.

I was a bit conflicted by the end of this. There were parts I loved and others that I wished had been done differently.

Overall though, this was an atmospheric, anxious time that kept me wanting to know more.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the eARC.

I am a huge John Fram fan - this book was so good. Gothic vibes, a chaotic rich family, death. Really a great read.