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Synopses & Reviews
A Library Journal Best Winter/Spring Debut 2020
"Marks the debut of an already accomplished novelist." — John Banville
The town of Bentley holds two things dear: its football, and its secrets. But when star quarterback Dylan Whitley goes missing, an unremitting fear grips this remote corner of Texas.
Joel Whitley was shamed out of conservative Bentley ten years ago, and while he's finally made a life for himself as a gay man in New York, his younger brother's disappearance soon brings him back to a place he thought he'd escaped for good. Meanwhile, Sheriff's Deputy Starsha Clark stayed in Bentley; Joel's return brings back painful memories ‐ not to mention questions — about her own missing brother. And in the high school hallways, Dylan's friends begin to suspect that their classmates know far more than they're telling the police. Together, these unlikely allies will stir up secrets their town has long tried to ignore, drawing the attention of dangerous men who will stop at nothing to see that their crimes stay buried.
But no one is quite prepared to face the darkness that's begun to haunt their nightmares, whispering about a place long thought to be nothing but an urban legend: an empty night, a flicker of light on the horizon — The Bright Lands.
Shocking, twisty and relentlessly suspenseful, John Fram's debut is a heart-pounding story about old secrets, modern anxieties and the price young men pay for glory.
Review
"Absolutely enthralling. Written with the rhythm of the game Fram writes of. A mystery to get the skin crawling even as you unbury the secrets of those trying to solve it. Despite its nature, there is a warmth to this thriller, and you'll feel like you've come home...a home that still haunts you." Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box
Review
"The Bright Lands is a chilling and fast-paced supernatural thriller that also manages to be a heartbreaking meditation on shame, repression, denial and regret. This strange and beautiful novel is a stunning debut and I'm already hungry for whatever Fram does next." Shaun Hamill, author of A Cosmology of Monsters
Review
"Smart, sharp, unpredictable, and unsettling, The Bright Lands is not just an excellent supernatural thriller, but the debut of a writer who is breaking down and expanding our ideas of what suspense and horror can and should be." David Ebershoff, New York Times-bestselling author of The Danish Girl and The 19th Wife
About the Author
John Fram was raisedin Texas. A resident of New York, he has written for The Atlantic, PacificStandard and elsewhere. This is his first novel.