I have been waiting a year to share this review and it’s been killing me!
Thank you John, for letting me be a beta reader last year and for sending me the advanced copy as well
THE MIDNIGHT KNOCK – John Fram (Released October 21st, 2025)
Book Description:
A locked-room mystery meets white-knuckle horror in this mind-bending thriller, where strangers must survive a deadly night in a remote Texas motel.
In the frigid west Texas desert, weary travelers converge at a lonely roadside motel nestled at the foot of a massive mountain. Ethan and Hunter have left behind a corpse, a fire, and a horrific act of violence. Kyla and Fernanda are fleeing for the border. Stanley and his granddaughter are returning from Mexico with a mysterious man in hot pursuit. All of them are on the run from something. All of them are hiding something.
And somehow, they’re all connected to the motel’s other guest, an enigmatic woman named Sarah Powers.
Within hours, Sarah is dead. The strange twins who run the Brake Inn Motel inform the surviving guests that her murder demands justice. The guests are given an ultimatum: uncover the killer by midnight—or die when the protective lights around the motel go out.
Because something very old and very dangerous lurks in this corner of the desert. And it’s hungry.
But nothing at the Brake Inn Motel is quite as it seems. As time ticks away, alliances fracture, secrets unravel, and the guests will not only have to confront the violence of the past—they will need to face the darkness within themselves.
My Thoughts: 5/5 stars
I was lucky enough to get to beta read this last year and it was fun being able to read this copy and experience it all again. Jeremy likes to refer to this book as the one that tricked me into thinking something was wrong with my Kindle – once you start, you’ll understand. Both times, from start to finish, I was locked in and didn’t want to put it down.
Eight strangers are stranded at the Brake Inn Motel and discover it isn’t safe to leave once the sun goes down. There’s something off about the motel and especially the twins who run it. When one of the guests ends up dead, everyone tries to figure out who among them is the killer. They all soon discover that they all have some connection to the woman who was killed. Who had the most to gain, or to hide, that would cause them to commit murder? Tensions are high and with an unknown horror lurking in the darkness people are becoming desperate.
Despite the large cast of characters, everyone had their moment and they all were so distinct. Each one complex, each with their own backstory, some more tragic than others, and they all have their secrets and are wary of the other motel guests. I loved the twists and turns that this took. I can honestly say that I would not have been able to guess how everything was going to end and where each reveal was going to take us. I cannot recommend this book, and his others, enough! Make sure you have some time open in your schedule, settle in, and get ready for an exciting, creepy, and genre bending read.
Jessicamap Reviews 