Synopsis
In the desert is a railroad track made from iron and bone, and on the track is a station where the signal is broken and the train never comes…
Lost, wounded and alone, Jesse Bartos wanders the wilderness with no memory of how he came to be there. He only knows that he is in danger, and that the suitcase in his hand is worth more than his life.
At the point of death, he happens upon the abandoned railroad station of Dawn’s Holt, run by an enigmatic family who assure him – despite appearances – that the train will arrive any day. Jesse is desperate to escape, until he meets Reo, the family’s eldest son…
As the days pass, Jesse falls deeper under the spell of Dawn’s Holt, until he’s caught in a battle between past and future, memory and reckoning and fiercest of all, between his conscience and his own heart.
Review
One minute, I was sitting down to start For The Road, and before I knew it, I was turning the final page. What an amazing story! It had me so gripped, I literally couldn’t look away!
Stark Holborn proves yet again why she’s the reigning queen of the weird west. She’s delivered a fast-paced fever-dream of an acid western, bristling with tension and brimming with intrigue. It’s a wild ride that grabs tight hold of you and never lets go.
The story centres around Jesse, a wounded man who wakes up in Dawn’s Holt — to describe it as a mysterious town is seriously underselling it — with no past and no future. He’s waiting for a train to come and deliver him from the family who’ve taken him in. But the world seems to stop in this rundown, unforgiving hellhole, and he starts to wonder if the train is ever going to arrive. Can Jesse escape Dawn’s Holt? Can anyone?
This book may be short in length, but don’t mistake it for being narrow in scope. The author’s Triggernometry Series proves that she can pack a punch with a condensed word count. But this does more than hit hard — it haunts you. The atmosphere and pace creep across your skin like the dry heat of a desert and leave you gasping for air (in a good way!).
There are flourishes of genius from scene to scene as the plot progresses, but considered as a whole, it’s insane how brilliantly this works as an allegory for so very many things. I don’t want to spoil the depths it mines, but rest assured that you’ll be left with plenty to think and talk about long before you turn the final page.
If you’re hungry for a contemplative western that’s gorgeous to read, heavy on themes, character-centric, and delivers a mesmerisingly weird experience, this is the road you want to take. Stark Holborn’s trademark style soars in what can only be described as an absolute banger.
I’ll only give you one word of warning, and it’s this — make sure you’ve got enough time to read it in one sitting, because once you pick it up, you may find it difficult to stop.
Strange, soulful, and stylish, For The Road speculates on the meaning of identity, love, death, and sacrifice. And it does so with confidence, charisma, and effortless cool. I dare you not to be hooked from page one. Sensational.
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