Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates Book Review
Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates Book Review
The lowdown from Goodreads
Publication Date January 9th, 2018
Grist Mill Road is a dark and twisty Rashomon-style narrative which is expertly plotted. The year is 1982, the setting an Edenic hamlet some 90 miles north of New York City. There, among the craggy rock cliffs and glacial ponds of timeworn mountains, three friends—Patrick, Matthew and Hannah— are bound together by a single, terrible, and seemingly senseless crime. Twenty six years later, in New York City, living lives their younger selves could never have predicted, the three meet again–with even more devastating results.
Here is a triple helix of a story structure, a sharp-edged love triangle complete with an Atonement style revelation. Character-driven, gorgeously written and wrenching, it exposes the poisonous resentments, sexual longings, and reservoirs of violence that roil just below the orderly surface of small town life.
Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates Book Review
You witness a terrible crime, you’re twelve years old. You stood there and watched; doing nothing to stop it. How would that affect the rest of your life?
This story commanded my full, undivided attention. Upon finishing Grist Mill Road, I needed the reflection time to fully process my feelings. Christopher J. Yates developed such multilayered and complex characters. This is not a quick, superficial thriller. No, this one takes its time. Developing these intense characters, their story, their motives page by page. This is an absolute five-star rating for the plot, but what I really want to give the writing is all the stars in the sky. This book is truly unique and something special; one I cannot recommend highly enough.
THE VERDICT
I am Really Into This book! Grist Mill Road is a literary thriller to be reckoned with. I urge you to put this one at the top of your list, you will not regret it.
Special thanks to Christopher J. Yates & Picador for providing my copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: CHRISTOPHER J. YATES
Christopher J. Yates was born in London but brought up mostly in Kent. He studied Law at Wadham College, Oxford and then vacillated between the idea of a career in the law and working in puzzle magazines. After coming down on the side of the latter, he finally realised what he really wanted to do. Write.
He decided he would give himself until his fortieth birthday to attempt to achieve this dream. And then, just one day before turning forty, he found out that he was, in fact, going to become a published author. In Russia. (But that’s another story.) He now lives in New York City with his wife, Margi. And also his furiously hungry dog, Mabel.
