The Bright Lands: A Novel

When a quarterback goes missing, a small Texas town faces an unexpected threat in this high-stakes debut for fans of Stephen King and Twin Peaks.

A supernatural thriller that combines page-turning suspense with hair-raising chills, for fans of Megan Abbott, Stephen King and Dan Simmons.

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.

Dylan’s disappearance brings his disgraced older brother, Joel, back home to a place he thought he’d left behind for good. Meanwhile, Sheriff’s Deputy Starsha Clark never left 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, discovering a horror darker than they could have ever imagined and a force that won’t be satisfied with just one vanished boy.

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.