The Midnight Knock by John Fram (2025)
I'm torn in multiple directions trying to coherently assess this book. Much of it left me in jaw dropping awe of its intricate structure supernatural myth building and its dazzling high wire juggling of every genre imaginable - murder mystery, violent crime thriller, blood dripping horror and even spectacular fantasy-science fiction.
And much of it left me exhausted, confused, bored and impatient enough to bring me to the point of giving up on it altogether. Yes, this book came as close to bail out time as I've ever been in years.
But then came its literally transcendent grand opera finale, filled with carnage, heartbreak, love, sacrifice, a good vs. evil showdown for the ages and even celestial, metaphysical spectacle. All of a sudden that book's incredible finish kept me nailed to the pages the same way it did when it started out........ as a mere pulpy road trip for disparate desperate characters through the lonely wilds of West Texas. .
So how do I explain a story that's both brilliant and maddening in equal measures?
I wouldn't know where to begin, except with a bare bones description of its initial set-up. Way out in that arid, forbidding and according to local legend, cursed desert highway, come a bunch of people either on the run or on the hunt. In one way or another, they're all connected to a ruthless criminal kingpin with a long arm when it comes to vengeance and bullet-riddled payback.
And the forbidden road they're on leads them all to a strange motel sitting in the middle of nowhere,. Nothing about this place seems right starting with the peculiar twin brother and sister who own and manage it. Overlooking the property is an equally bizarre Victorian mansion exuding an aura of overwhelming dread and a looming dark mountain that seems to change shape and size every time you gaze at it.
It doesn't take long for the motel's new guests to figure out their explosive, murderous confrontations will become the very least of their problems.
That's about as much as I'd ever attempt to describe before "The Midnight Knock" launches its long tortuous, twisting path through multiple realities, revelations, monstrous visions, more than a few monsters, and that stunning climactic finale designed to leave readers stunned and satisfied.
It's one crazy goulash of a book that really tested the very limits of my patience for it. If nothing else it shows that author John Fram is a creative force to be reckoned with and as much as I grew weary of whole chunks of this book, I wouldn't dare miss whatever Mr. Fram comes up with next.
And much of it left me exhausted, confused, bored and impatient enough to bring me to the point of giving up on it altogether. Yes, this book came as close to bail out time as I've ever been in years.
But then came its literally transcendent grand opera finale, filled with carnage, heartbreak, love, sacrifice, a good vs. evil showdown for the ages and even celestial, metaphysical spectacle. All of a sudden that book's incredible finish kept me nailed to the pages the same way it did when it started out........ as a mere pulpy road trip for disparate desperate characters through the lonely wilds of West Texas. .
So how do I explain a story that's both brilliant and maddening in equal measures?
I wouldn't know where to begin, except with a bare bones description of its initial set-up. Way out in that arid, forbidding and according to local legend, cursed desert highway, come a bunch of people either on the run or on the hunt. In one way or another, they're all connected to a ruthless criminal kingpin with a long arm when it comes to vengeance and bullet-riddled payback.
And the forbidden road they're on leads them all to a strange motel sitting in the middle of nowhere,. Nothing about this place seems right starting with the peculiar twin brother and sister who own and manage it. Overlooking the property is an equally bizarre Victorian mansion exuding an aura of overwhelming dread and a looming dark mountain that seems to change shape and size every time you gaze at it.
It doesn't take long for the motel's new guests to figure out their explosive, murderous confrontations will become the very least of their problems.
That's about as much as I'd ever attempt to describe before "The Midnight Knock" launches its long tortuous, twisting path through multiple realities, revelations, monstrous visions, more than a few monsters, and that stunning climactic finale designed to leave readers stunned and satisfied.
It's one crazy goulash of a book that really tested the very limits of my patience for it. If nothing else it shows that author John Fram is a creative force to be reckoned with and as much as I grew weary of whole chunks of this book, I wouldn't dare miss whatever Mr. Fram comes up with next.
3 stars (***).
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