An impressive debut aptly blurbed as a ‘spooky Southern queer thriller’, The Bright Lands ran on a scale between 3 and 6 for the first three quarters. There’s a mystery disappearance, a small southern football town that feels all-too-familiar to my own, and plenty of flawed characters. Plenty. As I read further, I was intrigued, confused, then more intrigued but still confused. And all I wanted to do was read more and find out what the hell was actually going on. 

I’m happy to report that all my questions were answered.  WOW. The last quarter of the book cranked all the way up to an 11 and I did not see it coming. This book wasn’t perfect. I think there could have been more of an emotional connection with fewer characters. The story had so much going on it was a little messy, but it got so much right that I loved it anyway.

Seriously; the small town, good ole boy, homophobic, football centric, masculinity on display atmosphere…this is where I grew up and still live. The author captured the feelings around that environment perfectly. The ending was over-the-top in terms of theme and violence. I thought it was fantastic. The supernatural element throughout was the cherry on top.