[Review] No Road Home - John Fram

Summary: For years, single father Toby Tucker has done his best to keep his sensitive young son, Luca, safe from the bigotry of the world. But when Toby marries Alyssa Wright—the granddaughter of a famed televangelist known for his grandiose Old Testament preaching—he can’t imagine the world of religion, wealth, and hate that he and Luca are about to enter.

A trip to the Wright family’s compound in sun-scorched Texas soon turns hellish when Toby realizes that Alyssa and the rest of her brood have dangerous plans for him and his son. The situation only grows worse when a freak storm cuts off the roads and the family patriarch is found murdered, stabbed in the chest on the roof of their sprawling mansion.

Suspicion immediately turns to Toby, but when his son starts describing a spectral figure in a black suit lurking around the house with unfinished business in mind, Toby realizes this family has more than murderer to conceal—and to fear.

As the Wrights close in on Luca, no one is prepared for the lengths Toby will go in the fight to clear his name and protect his son in this “grand gothic story as enthralling as it is terrifying” (S.A. Cosby, New York Times bestselling author). (Pub Date: Jul 23, 2024)

 

I was very ready for a thriller, and this seemed to have everything I needed to read. However, it's like the first scene was the actually good one, and then the read dragged until the end.

2.5, rounded-up to 3.

The story begins with a little of Great Gatsby's feeling of Nick, as Toby observes his in-laws, most of whom he was meeting for the first time after very quickly meeting Alyssa, getting married, and now moving to her family's estate. The family, however, is a famous one from an evangelic show that has been on TV for decades, of which even Toby has seen something back when he lived with his deceased uncle and older sister. Great Gatsby turns into The Shining when Alyssa's grandfather is found dead in the middle of a storm that leaves them stranded and only someone in the house could have done it.

This book has some hints of horror, probably because of the supernatural elements I wasn't expecting to be so used. That and the surprises were what I most liked about it. The thriller itself failed for me. The characters were probably one of the biggest reasons; they were shallow, like you downloaded them from a bank of suspects for a closed-room murder. It was all too convenient for a thriller. And when we finally find out more about them, it was either an information given too late for it to make the story more pleasing to read, or the exact opposite, because it was simply gross and didn't add to the plot.

My other problem was the big plot twist in the end. Unfortunately, it would be a spoiler to talk more about it, but, in my opinion, it's a cheap resource to fabricate a surprise but that instead made me very disappointed.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.