ThaThank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read for review. I recently traveled through New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah and I said the desert is a place where people come to disappear or maybe give up on life and start anew, or just give the hell up. It is lonely, even with people around it was still a lonely place. Everything seems to be in a state of return, returning to its very organic state, I personally loved it, I loved the shimmer that plays with your line of sight, that fuzzy around the edges view of the world, it plays well the storyline I always tend to have running parallel with reality in my mind. The nothingness is so entertaining in this book, the characters are fabulous, I loved it. The whole cello mystery was interesting but not necessary. The characters and the desert carry this book! I am the feature hostess in my book club this month and we are reading James Anderson’s second book written about route 117 and The Never Open Desert Dinner, Lullaby Road. I am excited!

Four Starsnk you for the opportunity to review this publication.

A very interesting story of a truck driver and the different people that he delivers to on his dissolute route. Growing up in the desert and seeing people that lived in the trailers far out of the way and away from the main roads and people, the author shows you what it like with the people that are to themselves and only allow you to see a little glimpse into their world. Ben Jones sees these people and is their only connection with the outside world. What most people don’t understand is that most of the people don’t want contact with others for any number of reasons. I use to take my wife on some of these back desert roads and she always wondered who and why would someone want to live so far out away from civilization and in the middle of the desert. This book gives you a look into it with a fascinating story of love, loss, and murder. Also with Ben trying to not only save himself but also a women he falls in love with and a young girl who is pregnant that comes to him for help, but they help each other. I found the characters to be real at least the ones from the desert. The roads that were describe I have actually been on. The story for the most to be a very interesting and a good way to bring in conflict instead of the usual places of a city. Overall a good book.

The Never-Open Desert Diner is not quite your usual crime fiction book. We follow Ben, a private trucker, who mainly delivers on one route, the 117, which is not your usual road. Almost nobody drives through that road and only the regulars feel like it's safe to take it. Ben knows everybody on that road and we learn to know about the people living near that road along his deliveries. He knows everybody... but one woman. She plays cello, is quite beautiful, free and wild and Ben falls for her. But then strange things happen, new people take the 117 and their intentions are quite unclear.

What's good about that book has a lot to do with the atmosphere, It's strange, quite oppressive, dangerous, captivating and we're never sure what will happen. It reminds me of small town where everybody knows everybody's secrets but nobody talks about them. Except here, secrets a far more explosive! The characters are well done, they're all very different, from the two brothers who live like shut off, Walt the diner's owner or John and his cross. Each of them has a story, a background that we fully know.

So that book is not juste a plot (even if it was good : what will happen with the strange people coming, what do they want?) but a lot of characters, each one intriguing or interesting or sweet or just plainly appalling! And that road! It feels like a character by itself, what with the desert mood it gives.

In a nutshell, not a book for readers who like a solid plot but a captivating book for readers who prefer characters and atmosphere over action .

Review: THE NEVER-OPEN DESERT DINER by James Anderson

I am totally head-over-heels in love with this novel! It's perfect in every respect, absorbing and fulfilling. Deeply delineated characters populate the novel, along with the Desert, a character in itself, perhaps an even greater character than the human individuals, certainly a stronger and more enduring character.

Our very likable (even admirable) protagonist is Ben Jones, an almost middle-aged local haul trucker, orphaned from birth, who for decades has delivered on a single lonely and isolated Utah desert highway. Ben is always broke, poor, living on the edge in a society that only rewards wealth and power. If it rewarded integrity and merit, Ben Jones would be a king.

THE NEVER-OPEN DESERT DINER is gloriously literate, mysterious, thrilling, romantic--and all around wonderful.

A delightfully compelling read of a mystery filled with heart and a tinge of noir, unconventional characters, a seductive romance set in the majesty of the Utah desert.
The lyrical of the language and the charming main character Ben Jones, a local area truck driver of a hard scrabble community pulled me from the beginning. Each of the characters have something of a traumatic past but are respectful of each other’s privacy. Then a woman shows up, Ben is smitten, and drama begins that threaten to unravel the equilibrium of the community. Solving the riddles unearth mysteries with painful consequences. Unexpected surprises and twists showcase the soul of this flawed community.
An impressive debut that will entertain reads with its remarkable character development and flowing storytelling.