Toby Tucker and Alyssa Wright barely knew each other before they married. But at the start of John Fram's harrowing second novel, No Road Home, they're on their way with Toby's son, Luca, to the Wright family's isolated Texas compound, which is called Ramorah. Toby receives a startling warning about his in-laws when they stop at a Cracker Barrel beforehand; the clerk warns that Toby "is heading into a brook of vipers." But Toby's already wary of Alyssa's grandfather, Jerome Jeremiah Wright, the country's wealthiest televangelist, as well as of the other members of Alyssa's extended family.
The clerk isn't far off: "awful" is the nicest thing one relative calls the Wrights. With minimal physical violence, Fram (The Bright Lands) skillfully captures an evil family intent on destroying one another, especially newcomers. Soon after arriving at Ramorah, Toby witnesses family members cruelly misgender Luca, who has long hair, wears "lots of pink and mauve" and identifies as a boy, but the family devise nonnegotiable plans for Toby and Luca. The next morning, Jerome, who's been spouting end-of-days predictions, is found stabbed on the roof as a powerful storm cuts off all communication beyond the compound. The family closes ranks against Toby, threatening to blame him for Jerome's murder. Someone paints cryptic threats around the compound, Luca claims to constantly see a strange figure he calls Mister Suit, and Toby has visions of his late sister. The Wrights' fortune has been built on religion and donations from viewers, but, as one character remarks, "There's more sins in this house than murder."
Fram nimbly matches terror with suspense as No Road Home depicts a ruthless family whose deteriorating home mirrors their soullessness. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer