naharobed 's review for:

The Bright Lands by John Fram

3.0

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This book was crazy, especially the end. The beginning of the story and the end actually seem like two completely different books. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it definitely took turns I was not expecting. We are reading from multiple points of view, but we mainly follow Joel who left his conservative home town in Texas 10 years ago to move to New York. He ends up returning to this place when his younger brother, the star quarterback of the high school, goes missing. I thought this was just going to be a straight forward mystery, but it had elements of horror and thriller. Some parts were legitimately creepy and it builds up to this moment toward the end where all hell breaks loose. I thought the characterization was a little lacking as was the organization of the story-line. The writing overall wasn’t bad, but I didn’t care much for the dialogue. What was done best was conveying that claustrophobic, all white, judgmental, small town vibe