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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
The Bright Lands is Friday Night Lights if the plot turned into a creepy (and very dark!) thriller.
The story takes place in a small, football-obsessed Texas town called Bentley. It begins when Joel Whitley, a New York businessman who grew up in Bentley returns after receiving concerning texts from his brother (who is also the star quarterback of the football team), Dylan. When Dylan goes missing shortly after Joel’s return, he becomes increasingly worried about what has happened to him and others’ like him in the town.
I really enjoyed two of the main the characters, Joel and Clark. They were interesting and multi-faceted in a way that is unusual for thrillers. I cared about them booth, I found myself both rooting for them and concerned for them throughout the story.
I also liked that this is a unique thriller — SO many in the genre can be similar, particularly in the ending, which can ruin a good story! That is not the case with this one; it is unique from the first page to the end.
I will say that it wasn’t as much of a page-turner for me as I had hoped! There were parts that had me racing to find the twist, but overall I wasn’t hooked so much that I was thinking about the book when I wasn’t reading it.
Additionally, I was not a fan of the hints of presence of the supernatural. In full disclosure, fantasy is not generally up my alley, so this could absolutely be personal preference but I just generally did not enjoy these sections and I did not feel that it advanced the plot in any meaningful way.
All in all — an interesting and unique thriller! Thank you to Hanover Street Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read early.
For those interested, this title releases July 7th, 2020.
The story takes place in a small, football-obsessed Texas town called Bentley. It begins when Joel Whitley, a New York businessman who grew up in Bentley returns after receiving concerning texts from his brother (who is also the star quarterback of the football team), Dylan. When Dylan goes missing shortly after Joel’s return, he becomes increasingly worried about what has happened to him and others’ like him in the town.
I really enjoyed two of the main the characters, Joel and Clark. They were interesting and multi-faceted in a way that is unusual for thrillers. I cared about them booth, I found myself both rooting for them and concerned for them throughout the story.
I also liked that this is a unique thriller — SO many in the genre can be similar, particularly in the ending, which can ruin a good story! That is not the case with this one; it is unique from the first page to the end.
I will say that it wasn’t as much of a page-turner for me as I had hoped! There were parts that had me racing to find the twist, but overall I wasn’t hooked so much that I was thinking about the book when I wasn’t reading it.
Additionally, I was not a fan of the hints of presence of the supernatural. In full disclosure, fantasy is not generally up my alley, so this could absolutely be personal preference but I just generally did not enjoy these sections and I did not feel that it advanced the plot in any meaningful way.
All in all — an interesting and unique thriller! Thank you to Hanover Street Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read early.
For those interested, this title releases July 7th, 2020.
Poorly written, deeply schizophrenic, at times borderline homophobic (viewed in a certain light) with a monster that barely makes it as a metaphor.
I really liked this! Started out as a great mystery and took some turns that I genuinely didn't see coming. The ending is a little ridiculous, but the author built enough trust that I went along for the ride. If you're looking for straightforward mystery/suspense, this isn't for you; there's a tinge of supernatural throughout that builds to the climax. I really enjoyed Joel and Clark as leads, but I did think there were too many POV characters and it became hard to differentiate some of the younger characters. It's also super gay, which is a bonus in my book.
The audiobook narrator is amazing. His accents and voices were dynamic and varied. Easily one of my favorites, and I hope he does a lot more voiceover work.
The audiobook narrator is amazing. His accents and voices were dynamic and varied. Easily one of my favorites, and I hope he does a lot more voiceover work.
I went into The Bright Lands pretty blind, so I’m not doing a synopsis. All you need to know is the book centers around a small town and it’s secrets. Those secrets get DARK and supernatural.
This book is heavy. It deals with homophobia, being closeted, so much guilt and grief. It got much darker than I expected. The Bright Lands also explores power dynamics specifically in a small town.
When I first started this audiobook, it felt like a mystery/thriller. There’s a crime to solve and nefarious clues to follow. I could not stop listening. The further you get into it, a few horror elements creep in. It felt very Stephen King, a small town with a malicious entity making its presence felt in various ways. However, most of the horror in this book comes from what people will do to each other because of prejudice, jealousy, and fear.
There are A LOT of POVs in this one. I had to really pay attention at the top of each chapter to make sure I know who’s start we were on. I think there were about 5-7 POVs by the end. Speaking of the end, it is a train wreck you cannot look away from. Everything you’ve learned suddenly explodes in your face. I’ve waited over a week to write this review just to process.
The Bright Lands is an excellent horror pick. Highly recommend it when you’re in the right head space for something very dark.
This book is heavy. It deals with homophobia, being closeted, so much guilt and grief. It got much darker than I expected. The Bright Lands also explores power dynamics specifically in a small town.
When I first started this audiobook, it felt like a mystery/thriller. There’s a crime to solve and nefarious clues to follow. I could not stop listening. The further you get into it, a few horror elements creep in. It felt very Stephen King, a small town with a malicious entity making its presence felt in various ways. However, most of the horror in this book comes from what people will do to each other because of prejudice, jealousy, and fear.
There are A LOT of POVs in this one. I had to really pay attention at the top of each chapter to make sure I know who’s start we were on. I think there were about 5-7 POVs by the end. Speaking of the end, it is a train wreck you cannot look away from. Everything you’ve learned suddenly explodes in your face. I’ve waited over a week to write this review just to process.
The Bright Lands is an excellent horror pick. Highly recommend it when you’re in the right head space for something very dark.
2.5 stars, rounded up
At first glance, The Bright Lands would seem to have little that appeals to my usual reading preferences: It takes place I a small Texan town and is for all intents and purposes, a football thriller, but—peel back the surface and find a story about the suppression of both identity and sexuality in the heartland of conservatism, and I was intrigued enough to bite.
Bentley, Texas is the kind of small town I imagine whenever a rom-com author tries to defy my credulity and set a book in a “charming southern small town.” Here, everyone is in everyone else’s business; most inhabitants are narrow-minded, idiotically backward townies that are obsessed with football to the detriment of everything else (education, kindness, every other hobby and sport, etc.). They are racist, sexist, and homophobic, and they barely keep their bigotry contained behind a polite social veneer. So instead, the town simmers in passive (though sometimes overtly assertive) aggressive prejudice, and voila — the premise for The Bright Lands is born.
Our main character, Joel, fled town after some scandalous pictures circulated when he was seventeen. He finally returns after texting with his younger brother, who seems to have it all as the town’s star quarterback, who just may lead the team to whatever championship. Joel’s brother, Dylan, relays a smidgeon of his unhappiness, and Joel feels compelled to return to provide an alternate way out of town, away from football. Lo and behold, on the same night Joel returns, Dylan disappears and ends up murdered. What follows is the unraveling of the mystery of what Dylan, and the town, was caught up in.
The Bright Lands is a supernatural thriller, with hints of something Else living in the Flats outside town, feeding on the town’s hatred. While this was creepy and the Flats is so atmospheric it feels like its own character,
the town’s small mindedness would have been a better, sole villain — or even better if it had created the creature versus the questions I have of why this ancient thing had always been there. (I guess because Texas flatland sucks?)
There are a lot of characters, and the mystery comes together slowly. I wasn’t crazy about this book, but I appreciate the premise. Some of the most interesting and saddest parts of the book were how characters dealt with the shame of their sexuality, being raised in Texas and told forever how unnatural they are.
At first glance, The Bright Lands would seem to have little that appeals to my usual reading preferences: It takes place I a small Texan town and is for all intents and purposes, a football thriller, but—peel back the surface and find a story about the suppression of both identity and sexuality in the heartland of conservatism, and I was intrigued enough to bite.
Bentley, Texas is the kind of small town I imagine whenever a rom-com author tries to defy my credulity and set a book in a “charming southern small town.” Here, everyone is in everyone else’s business; most inhabitants are narrow-minded, idiotically backward townies that are obsessed with football to the detriment of everything else (education, kindness, every other hobby and sport, etc.). They are racist, sexist, and homophobic, and they barely keep their bigotry contained behind a polite social veneer. So instead, the town simmers in passive (though sometimes overtly assertive) aggressive prejudice, and voila — the premise for The Bright Lands is born.
Our main character, Joel, fled town after some scandalous pictures circulated when he was seventeen. He finally returns after texting with his younger brother, who seems to have it all as the town’s star quarterback, who just may lead the team to whatever championship. Joel’s brother, Dylan, relays a smidgeon of his unhappiness, and Joel feels compelled to return to provide an alternate way out of town, away from football. Lo and behold, on the same night Joel returns, Dylan disappears and ends up murdered. What follows is the unraveling of the mystery of what Dylan, and the town, was caught up in.
The Bright Lands is a supernatural thriller, with hints of something Else living in the Flats outside town, feeding on the town’s hatred. While this was creepy and the Flats is so atmospheric it feels like its own character,
the town’s small mindedness would have been a better, sole villain — or even better if it had created the creature versus the questions I have of why this ancient thing had always been there. (I guess because Texas flatland sucks?)
There are a lot of characters, and the mystery comes together slowly. I wasn’t crazy about this book, but I appreciate the premise. Some of the most interesting and saddest parts of the book were how characters dealt with the shame of their sexuality, being raised in Texas and told forever how unnatural they are.
Where to start this one?? The first half of the book was good and intriguing. A Texas superstar football player turns up dead and there is a mystery to solve. Although I felt the plot moved along slowly I wanted to know what happened and read on. And then it just got weird from there. Some supernatural horror themes we’re introduced and just didn’t really evolve into anything and had me scratching my head. And then the big reveal just wasn’t for me (a gay sex club kind of deal). The book also dragged for me at the end. Had I not invested so much time getting into this one I likely would have dropped It but pushed through it (and wished I didn’t). 2/5
brb getting every word of this book tattooed onto my eyelids and shaping my whole personality around it
This was just not for me. Probably a bit my fault for going into it blind and not realizing it was a “supernatural thriller”, but I don’t think I would have loved it even without the supernatural elements. It was slow and clunky. I had to re-read half of the conversations to grasp who was saying what. At one point, two characters gesture to each other, one to indicate ‘yes’ and one to indicate ‘no’ even there was no yes or no question to be answered, and I felt like that summed up so many of my issues with the book.
There were so many characters that felt pointless and plot points unresolved, and I never felt fully invested in any of the characters. I really never considered DNF-ing because I was curious enough to see what was going on, but I really didn’t get any great satisfaction from getting there.
There were so many characters that felt pointless and plot points unresolved, and I never felt fully invested in any of the characters. I really never considered DNF-ing because I was curious enough to see what was going on, but I really didn’t get any great satisfaction from getting there.
This is a very difficult book to review.
I really liked it. I applaud the author for having the courage to write a story that provides a closer look at what it means to be gay in small town America - a football town no less. I thought it was very well written and the concept was very creative and has an important narrative of what it means to acknowledge your true self. I think it's also worth noting how much it must mean to the LGBT community to have this out there in the world. I'm sure the book doesn't even cover one tenth of what it means to grow up gay in a world that doesn't accept you for who you are, but it provides an opportunity for someone who might be feeling lost, alone or helpless that they are seen. (I thought the author's note was very touching on this very point.) Outside of all that - it was just a fun book to read. I loved these characters!! I've seen some reviews where people had a hard time feeling connected, but I didn't experience that at all. I saw every single one of them like they were standing in front of me.
So what's it about? Joel Whitley left Bentley, TX as soon as he could and now resides in NYC. He gets a text from his younger brother (football hero and starting QB), Dylan, that surprises him. His brother is unhappy and wants out of the life he is on the path to lead. Joel wants to be there for his brother so he hops on a flight to TX just in time to witness his brother win an important game. They interact for a few minutes and then he's gone. That's the last time Joel will ever see his brother alive.
While reading this, I often described it to others as a mix between Friday Night Lights and Stranger Things. There definitely is a horror element, but I was disappointed there wasn't more. I think sometimes what makes a particular 'mystery entity' more frightening is the absence of a description or concrete evidence that it exists?? Bird Box is what comes to mind here. I thought this book delivered on that brilliantly, until I was just kind of left hanging. Soooo you're not going to give me a little something after almost 500 pages??? Um okay. So that was kind of a wah wah for me. Maybe other readers would be fine with how it was handled, but I was left wanting more.
Then there is the last third of this book.
All in all, there is absolutely no way I'm going to be able to tell you if you'll like this book. You're just going to have to read it for yourself. I know that despite a feeling disappointed in some ways, I will absolutely consider this a book I'm glad to have read and I will anxiously await John Fram's next book.
Review Date: 09/29/2020
Publication Date: 07/20/2020
I really liked it. I applaud the author for having the courage to write a story that provides a closer look at what it means to be gay in small town America - a football town no less. I thought it was very well written and the concept was very creative and has an important narrative of what it means to acknowledge your true self. I think it's also worth noting how much it must mean to the LGBT community to have this out there in the world. I'm sure the book doesn't even cover one tenth of what it means to grow up gay in a world that doesn't accept you for who you are, but it provides an opportunity for someone who might be feeling lost, alone or helpless that they are seen. (I thought the author's note was very touching on this very point.) Outside of all that - it was just a fun book to read. I loved these characters!! I've seen some reviews where people had a hard time feeling connected, but I didn't experience that at all. I saw every single one of them like they were standing in front of me.
So what's it about? Joel Whitley left Bentley, TX as soon as he could and now resides in NYC. He gets a text from his younger brother (football hero and starting QB), Dylan, that surprises him. His brother is unhappy and wants out of the life he is on the path to lead. Joel wants to be there for his brother so he hops on a flight to TX just in time to witness his brother win an important game. They interact for a few minutes and then he's gone. That's the last time Joel will ever see his brother alive.
While reading this, I often described it to others as a mix between Friday Night Lights and Stranger Things. There definitely is a horror element, but I was disappointed there wasn't more. I think sometimes what makes a particular 'mystery entity' more frightening is the absence of a description or concrete evidence that it exists?? Bird Box is what comes to mind here. I thought this book delivered on that brilliantly, until I was just kind of left hanging. Soooo you're not going to give me a little something after almost 500 pages??? Um okay. So that was kind of a wah wah for me. Maybe other readers would be fine with how it was handled, but I was left wanting more.
Then there is the last third of this book.
Spoiler
To me, it kind of fell victim to a few things. 1) The biggest challenge with any suspense/thriller book is how you go about explaining all the crazy stuff that happened preceding the end. There was a LOT that went down in 100 pages or so and already I'm trying to wrap my brain around a great deal of info (not to mention almost every character introduced in the book all came together in one scene) and it wasn't helped by just how out there the material was. 2) I say 'out there' not in a judgmental way because I really tried to keep an open mind, but it went a lot of places I wasn't expecting. I accused myself of clutching my pearls and was distracted by my brain furiously trying to understand what the author was trying to say. Was I being a prude? Was I being homophobic? There were a lot of very complex and adult revelations thrown at you without much warning. I don't want to speak for the author (particularly because I've never spoken to him, never read an interview about this book so this is completely coming from me), but my conclusion was that Mr. Fram was trying to demonstrate just how much denying who you are can lead to that denial destroying you and those around you.All in all, there is absolutely no way I'm going to be able to tell you if you'll like this book. You're just going to have to read it for yourself. I know that despite a feeling disappointed in some ways, I will absolutely consider this a book I'm glad to have read and I will anxiously await John Fram's next book.
Review Date: 09/29/2020
Publication Date: 07/20/2020
2.5 stars.
This book definitely has its reader, I’m just not sure that I am it.
This book definitely has its reader, I’m just not sure that I am it.