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 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.

Okay, when I picked up this story, it DIDN’T sound like anything paranormal or supernatural was going to happen from the blurb. That is NOT the case, y’all.

Joel Whitley escaped Bentley, Texas right after high school and he’s hardly looked back–not for his mama or his younger half-brother, Dylan. They chat on the phone and stuff, but Joel hates that place, where he was pretty much attacked for being gay, and ohoto evidence of his “depravity” was circulated widely. But, a weird phone call from Dylan rouses Joel from his free-wheeling, occasionally substance-fueled life in Manhattan. And, it gets Joel on a plane to figure out what might be wrong.

In that space, Joel senses the darkness of the town and is frustrated by the lack of assistance when it turns out that Dylan is missing in action, a “fishing trip” to the coast being a ruse for way more dangerous activities. The team seems to have a pact set to confound and confuse any investigations, but the behavior of some of Dylan’s teammates is nothing short of bizarre–if not possessed. Joel’s old friend Starsha, who happens to be a Sheriff’s Deputy is interested in getting to the bottom of this mystery, and her professional duty is rivaled by personal interest–her own brother disappeared in much the same way as Dylan years before.

I will be honest and say this book was not my cuppa. There were a LOT of points-of-view and their points of intersection did not always overlap. That, and the supernatural element was slow to develop, so I couldn’t tell if the heebie-jeebies Joel was sensing were just his own misapprehension, or something “other”. I do not want to spoil wants happening in the story, but I will say that I felt the actual situation in the story seemed to vilify homosexual behavior. That giving in to those “base” urges led to feeding the malevolence that has been growing in influence and power for decades. I get that this is a thriller, but the resolution ended up being violent and unsatisfying for me–again because there was so much negativity that was tied into what was seen by the characters as deviant behavior. Dylan’s story does not end well, and Joel takes it badly–which I did understand. He was sad for his brother and felt guilty for not helping out more. And the whole thing ended sadly and negatively for my understanding.

For people who like horror, thrillers and supernatural reads, this might be the right story for you. Just, do not expect a happy ending.

The Bright Lands was a fantastic book. Many may call this horror, but to me it felt more like a mashup of horror and literary fiction. In places, John Fram's story feels like Stephen King meets Grindr. The characters are well done, and the plot sufficiently shocking and nerve racking. What's more, Fram walks the line of natural vs supernatural all the way up to the reveal, and that's a line thats difficult to walk.

Highly recommend.

Joel gets text from his younger brother, Dylan telling him he can’t stand football anymore. When Joel answers his text, Dylan doesn’t reply. Joel decides to go back to his home town to offer Dylan help again. Dylan isn’t there. Joel hates being back home. Why? Finding out that Dylan is dead, Joel isn’t satisfied with the answer given to him about Dylan’s cause of death. What happen to Dylan? Joel decides to investigate Dylan’s death which becomes difficult even with one police officer who was Joel’s girlfriend. Will she be able to find the truth? They both find more questions to answers. Even with the help from a irl in Dylan’s school, she doesn’t realize that she is running straight into danger. One question that she haas been searching the answer to is “what are th bright lands”? Will she find out? Will Joel get the answers that he is looking for?

In this outstanding novel, there are hint of menace that becomes dark and scary. . It is about betrayal, madness and murder. There I also a monster that plays an indirect effect on the answers that. Joel is looking for. There are many themes in this novel such as: coming of age, sexuality confusion, drugs, family relationships, racism and a supernatural mystery. This is a thriller plus! I loved the devotion that Joel had to find the truth about Dylan.

Small football town in Texas shroud in a thriller of unknown? Yes! Sign me up! John Fram in his debut novel immersed the reader in a full experience of understanding the more complex issues that plague small town Texas life with a bit of a thrilling twist. With exceptional character development and layered history of multigenerational issues and struggles, The Bright Lands is an epic novel that could stand up against Mr. Stephen King himself.

Bentley. A fictitious, perfect-looking, harmless little town somewhere out there in the featureless plains of the Texas countryside. Former cowboy land where a whiff of the legendary Wild West still lingers; a small corner of the world that tries to keep up appearances of a more glorious past, but feels abandoned, defeated, and forgotten by progress; a region where men are still men, women are women, and everybody knows their places. If you’re a teenager, that place would also be Boredom-upon-Despair. Unless you are a football player (for the non-American readers, that would be American Football) or a cheerleader, both of which would lend you an untouchable VIP-status (literally, in this town). Or unless you are openly gay and/or caught in the act. In that case, Bentley is Hell-on-Earth, and you’re an immediate outcast, a despised pariah, and all you can do is run as fast and as far away as you can.

This is exactly what happened to Joel Whitley and exactly what he did. He fled to New York, where, failing to find happiness, he at least became a successful and well-to-do investment consultant. Now, fifteen years later, he receives a text message from his younger brother, seventeen-year-old highschool star quarterback Dylan, a message that sounds like a cry for help. Reluctantly he decides to return to Bentley. But he sees his brother only fleetingly before the youngster disappears to spend the weekend with his pals in Galveston. Joel is flabbergasted, then outright alarmed when Dylan texts him again, saying he can’t take it anymore and won’t come back. The local police doesn’t want to heed Joel’s worries, with the exception of the Sheriff’s Deputy Starsha Clark, Joel’s former girlfriend, whose brother (another local football darling) went missing a few years earlier. The unease grows; everybody in Bentley starts to have odd nightmares, there’s a sense of something old, evil, and rotten lurking beneath the grounds of Bentley, and then… Dylan is found dead near a river. He is almost naked, has been beaten up, his throat has been slashed. And that’s only the beginning of a descent towards darkness…

What a truly compelling read! The ecstatic reviews I had seen both on Amazon and Goodreads somehow made me fear a certain amount of disappointment, but instead I found the book exciting, a real page-turner where I rushed through the paragraphs with bated breath, dreading what was lying ahead and at the same time needing to find out as fast as possible. The (young) author did an exceedingly good job constructing his story, creating and transforming his characters, setting the place and atmosphere, buiding tension by degrees until it became almost unbearable, making me hate and simultaneously love the unease that was growing inside me from chapter to chapter. This book is a showpiece of how to pace a story, how to use multiple points of view combined with cliff-hangers (that annoying but oh so effective technique). It’s also a very good example of how a good writer and the skilfull team of a dedicated publisher can create what I’d really qualify as a perfect read.

Beyond the aspect of a good story told by a master story-teller who is also a gifted writer, I found the undercurrents very intriguing as well. One Amazon-reviewer complained that Bentley didn’t resemble at all the little Texan town he grew up in himself. I think that reader missed the point. Bentley is not supposed to show how things work in a real Texan town but to pinpoint the dynamics of small-town communities by exaggeration and hyperbolization: how cohesion and solidarity are sometimes formed at the expense of some (weaker) elements—the “we” being impossible without the “other(s)”; how some sports have an inherent tendency of force-closeting the sportsmen as well as the public; how lies and shame always harm those involved and how Evil always feeds on these two; the reasons behind and inherent dangers of phenomena such as idolization, tradition, useless and obsolete stereotypes… That’s what makes this such an interesting book. For the lovers of mere murder mystery novels with a horror twist, this is a perfect match; for readers who like their stories to have a bit more depth, this is a highly recommendable read as well.

Wow, The Bright Lands is definitely a unique and fresh look on the thriller genre.

I would say this a mix of thriller, suspense, and tiny bit of horror. I have to say it's a pretty darn good debut novel for the thriller genre.

This thriller is definitely more of a slow burn and it was almost 500 pages so I was a little intimidated by the length but surprisingly it kept my interest for the most part. What I didn't particularly like about this one was so many characters. I felt that this lost my interest a tad and was jumping all over the place. I also felt like it dragged bit and author could have cut the length down.

Overall, it was a pretty decent mystery and would recommend if you're looking for something different!

3 stars!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harlequin/Hanover Square Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 7/7/20
Published to GR: 8/5/20

Imagine if Friday Night Lights was gay in a homophobic town, had murder, horror, and a dash of Stranger Things. Yes, awesome. This also has, hands down, one of the most bananapants endings I’ve ever read. So if you’re looking for a small-town murder mystery that married a horror novel here you go!

Joel Whitley gets a weird message from his younger brother Dylan and returns home to the small town he couldn’t have gotten away fast enough from. It’s a football town, and Dylan is the star quarterback. And he’s missing. Joel is very concerned, but no one else seems to be–at least not at first. Now Joel will not only have to figure out what happened to his brother and what is happening with the town, but also relive his trauma from growing up gay in a homophobic town and what led him to flee and not return until now.

We follow a slew of characters and things get big, and go really out there, but there’s a lot of important questions here with a spotlight on a few things, which I’d love to dive into but you know mysteries and their secrets and spoilers…

(TW homophobia, slurs/ talk of suicide, detail/ brief mentions of domestic abuse case, detail/ fat shaming/ forced nude photos/ statutory)

While this isn't a genre I usually read, I was interested in this one because I saw so much buzz about it online and I wanted to give it a try. I loved the Friday Night Lights vibe. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. However, I know that those who love this genre will love this book! It was super unique and creative.

This book was so interesting! I really liked the dynamic between the main characters and Joel especially was a character I really loved. As a queer girl from Texas, I could totally relate to his feelings about the place he grew up.

I’m impressed that this was a debut novel! Especially considering Fram blended several genres AND utilized multiple POVs—no easy feat!

I would probably read another book by this author

This LGBTQIA /horror/literary fiction debut novel was an enthralling tale of Friday Night Lights meets Stephen King.
Football is life, in the small town of Bentley, Texas.
Dylan Whitely is the star quarterback and he and his teammates are treated like royalty by the residents.
His older brother, Joel Whitely, escaped to New York as soon as he was able. A gay man, now living an affluent lifestyle, relieved to be away from the conservative town, filled with homophobia, male chauvinism and racism.
But when Dylan disappears, Joel must return to the place of his wretched memories.
Looking for his brother leads to a place that night terrors are made, The Bright Lands.
This longish book builds up the suspense with a dark creepiness that accelerates to a wild, crazy, turbulent ending with supernatural overtones.
Can't wait to see what this brilliant author comes up with for his next book!
Thank you Harlequin Hanover Square Press for the e-ARC via NetGalley.

I loved this book so much!!! John Fram will now be an automatic read for me. I loved the nostalgia from Texas. This is just what I needed to pull me out of my book slump.

The Bright Lands needs a focus. Is this a mystery, a horror novel, a commentary on small-town life, an exploration of suppressed sexuality and how that might become something evil and dangerous? I suppose it could be all those things, but in this case, none of them were done well, none of them felt like THE theme, and the uneven pace of the story along with the sheer numbers of characters became distracting. Most of he characters were not fully developed, and in some cases, the dialogue felt forced - perhaps most grating was the tendency for characters to break into a dialect, seemingly just to remind the reader that the story takes place in Texas. Somewhere in the second half of the book, Kimbra suddenly has a moment where we get her thoughts laid out for us in italics: “Better think if something, darling, he’s almost here,” a jarring piece of inner dialogue which pulls the reader right out of the story. The book needs a focus, and some serious editing.