The Drive Home: A Tale of Bromance and Horror

by Sean Kelly

For the first time since he was fourteen, Benjamin Keller is unemployed, relatively happy and ready to pursue his new path as a writer. Ben embarks on an impromptu road trip to Washington to visit his ill father, ready to take advantage of the opportunity and write about his experiences along the way. Ben's impulsive-and quite often irritating-best friend, Taylor, quickly invites himself along, hoping for all the traditional road trip mischief to ensue. Unbeknownst to the traveling companions, a grisly trail of bodies begins to pile up, following them through the Pacific Northwest from Grants Pass to Spokane. "The Drive Home is a dark and occasionally humorous tale fraught with love and lust, violence and heartbreak, foul language and family, following two best friends and an unfortunate series of events that will shake them to their very foundation." Sean Kelly, Author

262 pages, Paperback

Published December 13, 2015

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must start out by saying, I have never been a huge fan of the horror genre... it simply never held my attention. Over the years I had become so bored with slasher stories involving naked teenage girls getting caught by the killer, some scared moron tripping and falling while they were being chased, and nobody ever having a weapon to fend off any crazed killer. All of those stereotypes left a bad taste in my mouth towards the horror/thriller genre... then I came into possession of a copy of "The Drive Home: A Tale of Bromance and Horror" and Sean Kelly may very well have turned me back on to the genre.

As the incredibly accurate title suggests "The Drive Home: A Tale of Bromance and Horror" is a story of two very close friends taking a trip along the Pacific Northwest to to visit Ben Keller's ill father in the hospital. As you may expect, all of the "two buddies on a road trip" elements are there, and well placed, with all of the guy humor you could expect. What you may not expect, however, is a wake of gruesome murders behind them.

This book is perfect for any fan of the genre, and like me, people who may not be. He perfectly executes a story of friendship, humor, lots and lots of beer, and a thrilling caper to tie it all together... with a climactic ending that caused me to scrape my jaw off the floor. Sean Kelly has made a fan out of me, and I will absolutely be buying his next story!

[Airyca · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Drive Home: A Tale of Bromance and Horror is one of the most well titled books I’ve come across recently. This book is about protagonist Ben Keller’s drive home to Spokane, Washington to see his father who is in the hospital with cancer. Ben is the sympathetic character, a nice guy who perhaps lets his best friend Taylor and his girlfriend run his life a little too much. Even though Taylor seems to be a little too wild and controlling, there are “bromantical” moments that show why their friendship is so important. Ben’s mission to write a novel in the story makes The Drive Home incredibly self-reflexive. It’s a horror story about a writer who wants to write a horror story. And a horror story it becomes. At first, the novel is drenched in beer drinking and bromance (Seriously. These guys really, really like beer.), but eventually blood starts seeping into the pages, and by the end its flowing everywhere. The intrigue of this novel starts to reveal itself in chapter 7, when the detective character is introduced. The scene where he’s introduced is very much like a crime show, so if you dig crime shows, you’ll probably like this guy. I’ll leave the rest for the reader to explore, but it’s an interesting story, with obvious Pacific Northwest vibes and an intriguing twist at the end.