This is a good unique story set in the Utah desert. I found it a very satisfying read although I think it is somewhat convoluted. There is a lot going on that doesn't have anything to do with the main story line. When I received this book I didn't realize it is second in a series and if I had read the first this one would have been more interesting. Ben who is the narrator and main character is a truck driver who delivers products on a 100 mile stretch of treacherous terrain. He is very likable even though he is a bit of a rogue. All in all I liked it a lot .

A couple of days after I finished reading Lullaby Road by James Anderson I kept going to pick it up to keep reading it. Then I'd remember that I'd already finished it and I'd feel a little sad that I couldn't go back and spend some more time out on 117 with Ben Jones and the collection of characters along his truck route. Oh, well.

Lullaby Road has a great sense of place and interesting characters. I hope the final cover is different than the ARC art -- I'd never pick it up if I saw it on the shelf as is.

Ben Jones is a delivery driver along a stretch of desert highway in Utah. Like many of his customers, Jones is a taciturn man with a past full of fighting and drinking. Although he has given up the second, the first never seems far away. He is also a man who likes his own company, a good thing since most of his customers prefer theirs. A nod is enough conversation for most. Every morning, he stops at the Stop ‘n’ Gone Truck Stop outside Price to gas up. This morning, however, he is told Pedro, a man who he barely knows, has left him a ‘package’ – his maybe five-year-old son, Juan, and his dog. There is a note with the child saying that Pedro is in ‘bad trouble’ and asks Ben to look after him. Only Juan is clearly traumatized, doesn’t speak very much and then only in Spanish, and turns out to be a girl.

After some hesitation, Ben sees no other option but to take the pair. This is just the first of several events that Ben will encounter in the next few days including the hit-and-run of an itinerant preacher who carries a cross along the highway; a few fistfights, all of which leave him bruised and bloody but still standing; a meeting with three witches…er, Mexican women with a food truck; another deadly accident; several encounters with guns and, eventually, in an attempt to protect the little girl, a last and possibly fatal encounter with a gun.

With all of these goings-on in Lullaby Road by author James Anderson, there is little time for either Ben or the reader to catch their breath. And although the short time period did stretch my willing suspension of disbelief, this is still a compelling and exciting read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crown Publishing for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

The premise was original -- a long haul truck driver being saddled with a baby, a dog and a toddler just as he embarks on his daily trip into a lonely stretch of Utah highway with no cell service. His clients are few and far between and they're an exotic cast of characters. A slow simmering thriller and a very enjoyable read.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the e-review edition of this book.

In LULLABY Road, James Anderson does a beautiful job of capturing the desolation of the Utah desert in winter. He has also created an engaging protagonist in Ben Jones, an ordinary guy with a soft spot for the strange inhabitants that live along Route 117. Ben delivers things they order, and sometimes saves a life or two along the way. When Ben has to take an infant, a small child and a large dog with him along his route, things become a lot more interesting than he anticipates (or wants). Anderson gives us a good story with some of the most interesting characters I've run across in a long time. If you haven't read Anderson's earlier Ben Jones tale, THE NEVER-OPEN DESERT DINER, you might to start there, because there are spoilers in LULLABY ROAD that give away the ending to the previous book. Both are great reads and I look forward to the next installment.

Ben Jones, first introduced in "The Never-Open Desert Diner", is a Utah truck driver who delivers along a 100-mile stretch on a minor desert highway. He knows most of the people along the way, including the state troopers and town residents, the hermits living off-road in old trailers and storage containers, and other oddities, such as Preacher John, who wanders the highway carrying a huge wooden cross and preaches in a deserted True Value store, audience or not. (There's a wonderful scene in which Ben, John, and a state trooper share an imaginary cigarette along the side of the road).

In the previous book, Ben lost the woman he loved, and he is still mourning her and adjusting to the horror of her death. One morning he arrives at the local truck stop to gas up and finds himself tasked for the day to look after a baby, a young girl, and a dog - while on his route. He's not particularly pleased but sees no way around it, so off they go, despite forecasts of winter weather and Ben's bad feeling about the whole situation. His instincts are proven accurate, and for the next three days he travels back and forth along his route trying to find a missing parent and avoid entanglement with transient thugs (and the state police) while still making deliveries. And then there are the three Mexican ladies who run a food truck with some of the best cooking around, even as they silently communicate among themselves and warn Ben that he's in great danger.

Just delightful.

This book really pulled me in about 1/3 of the way though. I was disappointed with the ending.

This book was interesting. It didn't wow me in any way though. A good storyline, well-developed characters.

There was so much I enjoyed about this book – the eccentric cast of characters, the convincing descriptions of the desert and a desert winter, Ben’s insight, Ben’s own life, the easy writing style, the story itself, and the very clever humor – wry and sardonic at times – throughout.

Many situations occur, each interesting, each with no eye-rolling from me. The ending was terrific, nothing contrived, nothing hard to believe.

There was a little bit of a mystery throughout, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a mystery novel. This was more a tale about life in the dreary desert in the middle of a winter storm with all the challenges that go with it. It was a tale being told to me by Ben. Sometimes, I felt like someone actually was telling me a story rather than me reading it. Well done, Mr. Anderson.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this book to me before its publication. I enjoyed it immensely. I wish there were decimals in the rating system, since I can’t quite give it five stars, but would give it 4.5 or 4.6.

It was an ordinary night for Ben at his usual truck stop until he finds something left behind on Island 8. A pile of clothes. A dog guarding a small mute child. Pinned to the child is a note begging Ben personally to look after this child in the midst of a father’s strife. ”Bad trouble…Tell no one.” Reluctantly he places the child in the cab of his truck along with the dog and drives off onto his usual Route 117… into the unforeseen dangers of the Utah desert.

Lullaby Road is a clever and intriguing story told by Ben in present day. The main story unfolds in a backdrop of the quirky people and small isolated businesses scattered along his route. As Ben makes his deliveries, we learn his endearing backstory through his relationships with other people in the story. Many events happen along the the 117 which all culminate towards the saga’s end.

Although the original description for the book promises to deliver a thrilling mystery the main story line gets lost at first in all of the eccentric characters in the book (each personality a novel within themselves). I was expecting this mystery to barrel down the highway but it slowly unfolded with each interesting stop the truck made. The ending did deliver the mother load in the last few chapters and left me thunderstruck. Overall, a great second novel by James Anderson.

As a post script, Lullaby Road offers a continuation of Ben’s story from The Never-Open Desert Diner, Anderson’s first book. I might have to take a closer look at Ben and his story.

Thank You NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Review: LULLABY ROAD by James Anderson

In this sequel to the outstanding THE NEVER-OPEN DESERT DINER, our protagonist, short-haul Utah desert trucker Ben Jones proves his even more admirable character. In the earlier novel, he and a number of the other characters experienced tremendous personal loss, both contemporaneous and far in the past. That pattern continues here, and there are many heart-wrenching moments in this novel. Yet Ben, although not perfect, nevertheless perseveres, his massive integrity carrying him through, even during danger and at tremendous personal cost. I can't highly enough praise both of these novels, and I hope Ben Jones will return yet again.

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for making it available!

An intriguing, interesting novel. The first few pages made me feel as if I was in a haunted desert story. That feeling continued throughout, not in a scary way, but adding to the surreal nature of the story. The basic premise is a man named Ben, a truck driver delivering things to people in the Utah desert who have chosen to live off the grid. The characters along his route and their stories are a lot of what keeps this novel moving, and there are enough story lines in these characters to write a whole series of books. Some of these people you'll like, some you won't, but you'll always want to know what happens to them next.

At the heart of the story is a small child. I love this kid and the relationship Ben develops with her. Heartbreaking in a way that's not too graphic; quirky in a way that made me wonder if I'd missed something earlier in the book; but mostly heart grabbing as the story of this child's life unfolds. I'm certainly going to miss reading about Juan/Manita!

"Lullaby Road" is the second book James Anderson has written about the Utah desert and the people who live along his delivery route. Several times this book referred to events that had happened in the first book. It didn't make this book hard to follow, but until I realized that, I kept thinking I'd missed a part of the story. It definitely spurred an interest in reading "The Never-Open Desert Diner".

Mr. Anderson weaves an intriguing, page-turning story. Little bits are revealed all along the journey, but he never just comes out and gives the answers. I don't like having to work to figure out the whodunit in a mystery, but I also don't like it all vomited on my lap in the last few pages. Mr. Anderson did neither.

Two small complaints: There were several times I wanted to get to the next part of the story and instead found myself in more descriptions of the desert, the mesa, the highway, the sand, the fog, etc., that just seemed excessive. These descriptions did help put the reader into the scene, and it's probably just an indication of a well-written story and my impatience for the story to continue; secondly, there were several characters that were introduced, caused intrigue, but then mostly dropped. I suppose that's because they'll be more present in the next book... (fingers crossed).

One of the things that tells me a lot about how much I enjoyed the book is when I have been reading non-stop for hours to find out how the book ends and then get to the last few pages and really slow down, reading and re-reading, not wanting it to end. That's how this one left me. Hopeful is probably the way I would best describe the ending - certainly not an "everyone lives happily ever after," but maybe they can/will??

There was a little language and some (in my opinion) well-handled, mostly concealed violence.

If you like a quirky, different, page-turner, quasi mystery, I think you'll really like this book! A 4.5 star rating.

Author - 1/2⭐️
Story - 1⭐️
Ending - 1⭐️
Offensiveness - 1⭐️
Recommend - 1⭐️

This book is quite different with a truck driver as the main character. I liked this book, has a good plot and interesting characters!

I attempted to star this book - did not like the writing style. I have a rule that if it does not peak my interest/ well written within the first 50 pages - i dont waste my time.
DNF - Did not finish.
thank you for my copy

I have fallen in love with James Anderson's writing all over again. He breaks my heart, puts it back to together and lifts it high. In Ben Jones, he has written a character to fall in love with and to cheer for. And sometimes to shout a loud "Whoa - don't do it, Ben!" Ben Jones sometimes does the right thing for all the right reasons, and sometimes for all the wrong reasons. Even when he does those wrong things, we're cheering for him. We get to re-visit some of the "Never-Open Desert Diner" folks, and get introduced to a new crew of perfectly written quirky characters as well. Fans of Book One will not be disappointed.