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Grist Mill Road
Twenty-six years ago Hannah had her eye shot out. Now she wants justice. But is she blind to the truth?
Christopher J. Yates’s cult hit Black Chalk introduced that rare writerly talent: a literary writer who could write a plot with the intricacy of a brilliant mental puzzle, and with characters so absorbing that readers are immediately gripped. Yates’s new book does not disappoint. Grist Mill Road is a dark, twisted, and expertly plotted Rashomon-style tale.
The year is 1982; the setting, an Edenic hamlet some ninety 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 terrible and seemingly senseless crime. Twenty-six years later, in New York City, living lives their younger selves never could have predicted, the three meet again—with even more devastating results.
Christopher J. Yates’s cult hit Black Chalk introduced that rare writerly talent: a literary writer who could write a plot with the intricacy of a brilliant mental puzzle, and with characters so absorbing that readers are immediately gripped. Yates’s new book does not disappoint. Grist Mill Road is a dark, twisted, and expertly plotted Rashomon-style tale.
The year is 1982; the setting, an Edenic hamlet some ninety 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 terrible and seemingly senseless crime. Twenty-six years later, in New York City, living lives their younger selves never could have predicted, the three meet again—with even more devastating results.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 9, 2018
1172 people are currently reading
21608 people want to read
About the author
Christopher J. Yates
5 books441 followersChristopher J. Yates was born and raised in Kent and studied law at Oxford University before working as a puzzle editor in London. He now lives in New York City with his wife and dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,390 reviews
February 20, 2018
I read this entire book but, right from start until finish, I just could not get into it.
Perhaps this kind of thriller does not mix well with literary fiction for me. There were many things about Grist Mill Road that reminded me of the tone and style of American Psycho (which I get will seem like a huge compliment to many readers). Their narratives are both cold, distant and detached. Grisly things happen in horrific detail but there is no emotional attachment to them.
As seems to be the case with almost all thrillers I read lately, this book alternates between the past - 1982, to be exact - and the present, which is 2008, during the economic collapse. In 1982, in a small town a couple of hours outside of New York City, Patrick, Matthew and Hannah go into the woods, and there Patrick witnesses a violent attack by Matthew against Hannah. Frozen to the spot, he does not attempt to stop the crime.
I was prepared for the violence after reading other reviews. It is extremely graphic and disgusting and may be too much for some readers. Matthew shoots Hannah many times with a BB gun - this is not a spoiler; it all happens in the first chapter. Personally, I can handle most scenes of violence, so this wasn't a major problem for me. The sheer boredom I felt during the 2008 chapters was the real problem.
Patrick's first person account in 1982 then switches to third person in 2008. While there is some life to the former, the latter consists largely of a meditation on gastronomy. Patrick slow cooks steak at the perfect temperature; dots little rounds of egg yolk around the centrepiece on a plate. Hannah's perspective is not much better, as she undertakes the writing of a true crime book.
Even Matthew's perspective - the one I was most anticipating - drags with daily minutiae that I didn't care about. And when the inevitable "twist" in events is revealed, it is anticlimactic, probably even more so because the tension has all been drained by the tedious padding in between. I also don't think it did much to change my opinion of the characters.
In the case of Grist Mill Road, "literary thriller" seems to mean a thriller with all thrills removed.
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Perhaps this kind of thriller does not mix well with literary fiction for me. There were many things about Grist Mill Road that reminded me of the tone and style of American Psycho (which I get will seem like a huge compliment to many readers). Their narratives are both cold, distant and detached. Grisly things happen in horrific detail but there is no emotional attachment to them.
As seems to be the case with almost all thrillers I read lately, this book alternates between the past - 1982, to be exact - and the present, which is 2008, during the economic collapse. In 1982, in a small town a couple of hours outside of New York City, Patrick, Matthew and Hannah go into the woods, and there Patrick witnesses a violent attack by Matthew against Hannah. Frozen to the spot, he does not attempt to stop the crime.
I was prepared for the violence after reading other reviews. It is extremely graphic and disgusting and may be too much for some readers. Matthew shoots Hannah many times with a BB gun - this is not a spoiler; it all happens in the first chapter. Personally, I can handle most scenes of violence, so this wasn't a major problem for me. The sheer boredom I felt during the 2008 chapters was the real problem.
Patrick's first person account in 1982 then switches to third person in 2008. While there is some life to the former, the latter consists largely of a meditation on gastronomy. Patrick slow cooks steak at the perfect temperature; dots little rounds of egg yolk around the centrepiece on a plate. Hannah's perspective is not much better, as she undertakes the writing of a true crime book.
Even Matthew's perspective - the one I was most anticipating - drags with daily minutiae that I didn't care about. And when the inevitable "twist" in events is revealed, it is anticlimactic, probably even more so because the tension has all been drained by the tedious padding in between. I also don't think it did much to change my opinion of the characters.
In the case of Grist Mill Road, "literary thriller" seems to mean a thriller with all thrills removed.
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August 9, 2018
Christopher Yates writes a intelligent and multilayered dark literary thriller. It begins in 1982 with three teenagers go out on a hot summer day in the Swangum Mountains where a nightmare of a violent scenario develops that leaves the reader reeling in horror. Matthew and Patrick (Patch) are with Hannah, this incident is to bond the three together with deep ramifications that shape them and their future. One is left blind in one eye and another ends up in prison. They are in their forties in New York when their paths are to cross again. Patch is married to Hannah and has a cooking blog. Will their marriage be able to survive the revelations that come to surface? The narrative is delivered primarily from Patrick's perspective, and goes back and forth in time. The reader who thinks that it is blatantly obvious what occurred in that incident comes to slowly understand that all is not as it seems, in fact they are symbolically blind.
With his deft sleights of hand, Yates takes us on a journey with revelations of small town living and his marvellously complex characters. He initially paints a picture, only to peel it back, layer by layer to reveal a different picture underneath it. His prose is beautifully written, compelling and suspenseful. His depth of detail is staggering such as when presenting Patch's recipes and ingredients and the cement factory. The author's prime talent is his characterisation, it is his skill in this area, his psychological depth and insights that have you hooked into the story. Matthew's abusive childhood tore me apart, the suffering that marred his life. This novel is about sexual desire, longings, lies, secrets, resentments, violence and tragedy. The young lives laid to waste, what is done and what is not done A wonderful and enthralling read. Many thanks to Headline for an ARC.
With his deft sleights of hand, Yates takes us on a journey with revelations of small town living and his marvellously complex characters. He initially paints a picture, only to peel it back, layer by layer to reveal a different picture underneath it. His prose is beautifully written, compelling and suspenseful. His depth of detail is staggering such as when presenting Patch's recipes and ingredients and the cement factory. The author's prime talent is his characterisation, it is his skill in this area, his psychological depth and insights that have you hooked into the story. Matthew's abusive childhood tore me apart, the suffering that marred his life. This novel is about sexual desire, longings, lies, secrets, resentments, violence and tragedy. The young lives laid to waste, what is done and what is not done A wonderful and enthralling read. Many thanks to Headline for an ARC.
January 11, 2018
When my book bestie five starred this sucker I knew it would probably be one I wouldn't take four weeks to read. It only took me one!
Now I gotta admit. When I first started reading it I thought Kelly had bumped her head on one of Mitchell's tusks.
It was boring as heck!
It starts off with a first chapter of super evil stuff and then turns into a looooonnng description of food blogging and a damn cement company's history.
And I LIKE the food blogging thing! That's bad when I was bored at something like that.
Kelly kept telling me that it got much better. I totally mumbled under my breath that she had lost her dang mind and turned nice when I wasn't looking.
Then suddenly, it happened. It all came together and I don't think I'll forget this book in a week like I do most of the others I read. (Old lady brains)
In between us talking about our freezing to death or my cat eating me. (She chews my feet!) We did decide that this is similar to Mystic River...in the fact that the super boring does turn around and knock your socks off. But not around my feet eating cat. She'll eat your toes.
Yes, I KNOW I rambled on and on about nothing for this review. But this is one of those that you want to go into it not knowing much of anything.
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.
Now I gotta admit. When I first started reading it I thought Kelly had bumped her head on one of Mitchell's tusks.
It was boring as heck!
It starts off with a first chapter of super evil stuff and then turns into a looooonnng description of food blogging and a damn cement company's history.
And I LIKE the food blogging thing! That's bad when I was bored at something like that.
Kelly kept telling me that it got much better. I totally mumbled under my breath that she had lost her dang mind and turned nice when I wasn't looking.
Then suddenly, it happened. It all came together and I don't think I'll forget this book in a week like I do most of the others I read. (Old lady brains)
In between us talking about our freezing to death or my cat eating me. (She chews my feet!) We did decide that this is similar to Mystic River...in the fact that the super boring does turn around and knock your socks off. But not around my feet eating cat. She'll eat your toes.
Yes, I KNOW I rambled on and on about nothing for this review. But this is one of those that you want to go into it not knowing much of anything.
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.
February 17, 2018
3.5*
What should have been a fun outing for three young teens, quickly turns tragic. Leaving all three with lifelong scars that each need to deal with in their own way. Years later, their paths will cross one more time. Will tragedy strike twice or will they all find the truth and closure they so desperately need.
This book started off very strong. Great story...great characters, with the potential to be an amazing read. Unfortunately, somewhere around the halfway mark it just, well…I’m not sure what happened. The storyline slowed right down and then veered off in directions that, at the time, didn’t feel relevant.
When I started this book I was so excited! Couldn’t stop thinking about it every time I had to step away. If only that excitement could have lasted throughout.
It is written in several POVs and timelines that become difficult to follow. As all the storylines and characters converged at the end, for what should have been a spectacular finale instead I was left with a fizzle. Worse yet, so many unanswered questions.
A traveling sister read with Brenda and Jennifer!:)
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Picador and Christopher J. Yates for an ARC to review in exchange for an honest review.
For this review and all our Traveling Sister reviews please visit Brenda and Norma’s fabulous book blog:
http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereadi...
What should have been a fun outing for three young teens, quickly turns tragic. Leaving all three with lifelong scars that each need to deal with in their own way. Years later, their paths will cross one more time. Will tragedy strike twice or will they all find the truth and closure they so desperately need.
This book started off very strong. Great story...great characters, with the potential to be an amazing read. Unfortunately, somewhere around the halfway mark it just, well…I’m not sure what happened. The storyline slowed right down and then veered off in directions that, at the time, didn’t feel relevant.
When I started this book I was so excited! Couldn’t stop thinking about it every time I had to step away. If only that excitement could have lasted throughout.
It is written in several POVs and timelines that become difficult to follow. As all the storylines and characters converged at the end, for what should have been a spectacular finale instead I was left with a fizzle. Worse yet, so many unanswered questions.
A traveling sister read with Brenda and Jennifer!:)
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Picador and Christopher J. Yates for an ARC to review in exchange for an honest review.
For this review and all our Traveling Sister reviews please visit Brenda and Norma’s fabulous book blog:
http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereadi...
September 26, 2018
The reality is there are more than two sides to most stories. Truth is seldom a lens, truth is a kaleidoscope.
the opening scene in this book is beyond rough: thirteen-year-old hannah is tied to a tree and shot with a bb gun by an older boy named matthew - shot repeatedly and in great detail - the 49th turning her eye into a dark smashed plum. this transpires while patch, the youngest of the three, watches in silence. when hannah’s screams stop abruptly after the ruination of her eye, they poke at her a bit, conclude that she's dead, and head for home.
in general, i’m pretty inured to violence in books. i have a taste for grit lit and modern westerns, so there’s not much that can make me wince. this made me wince. it even made me vocalize - i let out an audible “duuuuude.”
because how is a reader supposed to get over that scene and want to reconnect with these characters when the book picks up 26 years later, and surprise - hannah's alive with a prosthetic eye and married to patch? how does a writer get past that scene without just delivering a dark bleak hopeless grave of a book?
i’m not saying it’s happy trails through and through, but it’s an extraordinarily well-paced suspense novel, where the reader is constantly amassing information that causes their sympathies to shift and to second-guess everything as yates constructs a bridge between the past and the present. the whole book is secrets on top of secrets and while i wouldn’t go so far as to say that the actions of the opening scene become justified by the revelations, the circumstances surrounding it and the headspaces of the participants are at least clarified.
why does matthew do it? why doesn’t patch do anything to stop him? how the hell does hannah end up marrying patch? how does this episode affect all of them into their adult lives? what does matthew want now, showing up so unexpectedly into their lives?
all three characters contribute some of the pieces that make up the story, each in a different format: a letter from the one who perpetrated the crime, the journal of the one who watched, and…this book. Grist Mill Road is, essentially, hannah’s book - the victim of a horrific crime growing up to become a crime reporter for a new york tabloid and writing a book - this book - about her childhood experience named for the street she grew up on. patch and matthew’s sections have been gathered by hannah to finally tell the complete story of what went down on that mountain, a story each of them thought they knew but none of them had the full picture until matthew came back into their lives, jeopardizing the rickety, secret-riddled structure of their marriage.
it's a smart story and a smart method of delivery. we get three perspectives each relying on childhood memories of an event in which emotions were high, shock was clouding perception, and whose causes and effects may be murky with misunderstandings resulting from a child’s inexperience. it’s like an even darker version of Atonement, in which three different characters live with the fallout, none more haunted than patch, whose paranoia and rage in the present-day scenes are spectacularly handled.
there's very good tension, with a long slow simmer, and it's even better than yates' debut Black Chalk. the opening scene is definitely the most squirm-inducing; if you can get through that one, you should be all right.
bonus - so much food porn. if you still have an appetite.
*****************************************
oh my goodness, my newest pagehabit horror box is for sure the best one yet!
not only for the book, although i have been dying to read it but had not yet bought it, so there's a bit of extra satisfaction in being rewarded for my newfound restraint, but also the little ridealongs are so pretty and well-designed - these are my favorite ones yet and i don't even care that i sound like a commercial. YOU sound like a commercial, so there. but look at the pretty:
is so elegant, and i want to live in that book room (that many would call a "library" but whatever, i'm sleepy)
and the pencils are genius
because you sharpen them on this little matchbook-striker thingie:
and how cool is that?
it takes so little to bring me genuinely-felt pleasure and delight.
come to my blog!
the opening scene in this book is beyond rough: thirteen-year-old hannah is tied to a tree and shot with a bb gun by an older boy named matthew - shot repeatedly and in great detail - the 49th turning her eye into a dark smashed plum. this transpires while patch, the youngest of the three, watches in silence. when hannah’s screams stop abruptly after the ruination of her eye, they poke at her a bit, conclude that she's dead, and head for home.
in general, i’m pretty inured to violence in books. i have a taste for grit lit and modern westerns, so there’s not much that can make me wince. this made me wince. it even made me vocalize - i let out an audible “duuuuude.”
because how is a reader supposed to get over that scene and want to reconnect with these characters when the book picks up 26 years later, and surprise - hannah's alive with a prosthetic eye and married to patch? how does a writer get past that scene without just delivering a dark bleak hopeless grave of a book?
i’m not saying it’s happy trails through and through, but it’s an extraordinarily well-paced suspense novel, where the reader is constantly amassing information that causes their sympathies to shift and to second-guess everything as yates constructs a bridge between the past and the present. the whole book is secrets on top of secrets and while i wouldn’t go so far as to say that the actions of the opening scene become justified by the revelations, the circumstances surrounding it and the headspaces of the participants are at least clarified.
why does matthew do it? why doesn’t patch do anything to stop him? how the hell does hannah end up marrying patch? how does this episode affect all of them into their adult lives? what does matthew want now, showing up so unexpectedly into their lives?
all three characters contribute some of the pieces that make up the story, each in a different format: a letter from the one who perpetrated the crime, the journal of the one who watched, and…this book. Grist Mill Road is, essentially, hannah’s book - the victim of a horrific crime growing up to become a crime reporter for a new york tabloid and writing a book - this book - about her childhood experience named for the street she grew up on. patch and matthew’s sections have been gathered by hannah to finally tell the complete story of what went down on that mountain, a story each of them thought they knew but none of them had the full picture until matthew came back into their lives, jeopardizing the rickety, secret-riddled structure of their marriage.
it's a smart story and a smart method of delivery. we get three perspectives each relying on childhood memories of an event in which emotions were high, shock was clouding perception, and whose causes and effects may be murky with misunderstandings resulting from a child’s inexperience. it’s like an even darker version of Atonement, in which three different characters live with the fallout, none more haunted than patch, whose paranoia and rage in the present-day scenes are spectacularly handled.
there's very good tension, with a long slow simmer, and it's even better than yates' debut Black Chalk. the opening scene is definitely the most squirm-inducing; if you can get through that one, you should be all right.
bonus - so much food porn. if you still have an appetite.
*****************************************
oh my goodness, my newest pagehabit horror box is for sure the best one yet!
not only for the book, although i have been dying to read it but had not yet bought it, so there's a bit of extra satisfaction in being rewarded for my newfound restraint, but also the little ridealongs are so pretty and well-designed - these are my favorite ones yet and i don't even care that i sound like a commercial. YOU sound like a commercial, so there. but look at the pretty:
is so elegant, and i want to live in that book room (that many would call a "library" but whatever, i'm sleepy)
and the pencils are genius
because you sharpen them on this little matchbook-striker thingie:
and how cool is that?
it takes so little to bring me genuinely-felt pleasure and delight.
come to my blog!
November 6, 2017
The opening scene in Grist Mill Road is the stuff of which nightmares are formed. Three young teens in a brutal, savage act that goes beyond all measure of comprehension. One will lose an eye and live with those nightmares forever. One will live with the guilt of doing, saying nothing and one will go to jail for the crime. Their lives are indelibly linked by the crime and by the lies that they told to themselves and others that day.
Grist Mill Road is split into two timelines: the early 80's surrounding the summer of the crime and 2008, during which time the three are now in their late 40's and their lives converge once again. The tale is told primarily from Patrick's perspective but later the voices of Hannah and Matthew are added.
Yates has a marvelous gift for detail. I could visualize the town, the splendor of the mountains, the young boys' adventures in those mountains and the angst they felt while coming of age. I physically felt the anguish that Matthew felt when he was being beaten by his father and the love he ultimately found later. However, this also became a drawback. Every single aspect in the was given that same attention to detail. Patrick had a food blog; I now know how to prepare dozens of foods that I never will prepare. I know more about rock formations than I ever learned in geology. I'm grateful for the knowledge but the amount of minutiae bogged down an otherwise interesting suspense novel. Editing would greatly enhance this novel.
In the end, however, I felt deflated. There was no justice just a feeling of a tragic waste of life. Yates reached me as a writer; I'm still thinking about Matthew, but this isn't a book I would endorse and I doubt I will read this author's work in the future.
I was furnished an advanced copy for review by Netgalley and Picador Books/ Macmillan-Picador Publishing.
July 24, 2018
3.5 stars.
This story revolves around Patrick, Matthew and Hannah. Twenty-six years ago, as high school classmates, they were part of a gruesome crime that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Two decades after the brutal incident, the three are reunited when pieces of the unexplained crime start to come together. They begin to find answers to questions that have long burned in their minds.
The opening scene in this novel is highly disturbing. It grabbed my attention in an unsettling way, creating a curiosity that kept me flipping the pages to piece together this confusing puzzle. The author, Christopher J. Yates, does a great job building suspense, slowly revealing the story through different perspectives.
While I enjoyed the way the story unfolded through a Now and Then timeframe with multiple perspectives, I found that there was a lot of unnecessary detail throughout. Sections had endless talk about food, recipes, ingredients and cooking which was highly distracting and took away from the story for me. The lack of quotation marks was also an unpleasant distraction.
Overall, this was an enjoyable, dark and twisty mystery that had interesting characters and unique relationship dynamics.
A big thank you to NetGalley, Picador and Christopher J. Yates for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Grist Mill Road is available now!
This story revolves around Patrick, Matthew and Hannah. Twenty-six years ago, as high school classmates, they were part of a gruesome crime that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Two decades after the brutal incident, the three are reunited when pieces of the unexplained crime start to come together. They begin to find answers to questions that have long burned in their minds.
The opening scene in this novel is highly disturbing. It grabbed my attention in an unsettling way, creating a curiosity that kept me flipping the pages to piece together this confusing puzzle. The author, Christopher J. Yates, does a great job building suspense, slowly revealing the story through different perspectives.
While I enjoyed the way the story unfolded through a Now and Then timeframe with multiple perspectives, I found that there was a lot of unnecessary detail throughout. Sections had endless talk about food, recipes, ingredients and cooking which was highly distracting and took away from the story for me. The lack of quotation marks was also an unpleasant distraction.
Overall, this was an enjoyable, dark and twisty mystery that had interesting characters and unique relationship dynamics.
A big thank you to NetGalley, Picador and Christopher J. Yates for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Grist Mill Road is available now!
February 11, 2018
3.75 original, slow-building stars to Grist Mill Road! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.75
Grist Mill Road engaged me from the start. I found it genre-bending at first and didn’t quite know what it was. I’ve settled on thinking it was descriptive literary fiction with a mystery. I had such high hopes based on how it started. The three people involved in this incident each had a voice, and we first heard from them in the 1980s when the event happened, and then again, 20 years later, when their lives intersected again. In many ways, this was masterfully drawn.
And then...I enjoyed the descriptive writing at first, but I found myself bogged down in the details. While I do enjoy cooking, I learned much more than I had planned about food blogging, and then later on, I learned all about the cement business. I’m not sure where that much detail was supposed to lead us? Ultimately, I found the ending a little confusing, too.
This book most definitely had its strengths and some challenges, too, and in the end, the strengths were more memorable for me.
This was another enjoyable Traveling Sister read. 💕 Please check out Brenda and Norma’s blog: http://twogirlslostinacouleereading.w...
Thank you to Goodreads’ First Reads, Picador, and Christopher Yates for the complimentary copy.
Grist Mill Road engaged me from the start. I found it genre-bending at first and didn’t quite know what it was. I’ve settled on thinking it was descriptive literary fiction with a mystery. I had such high hopes based on how it started. The three people involved in this incident each had a voice, and we first heard from them in the 1980s when the event happened, and then again, 20 years later, when their lives intersected again. In many ways, this was masterfully drawn.
And then...I enjoyed the descriptive writing at first, but I found myself bogged down in the details. While I do enjoy cooking, I learned much more than I had planned about food blogging, and then later on, I learned all about the cement business. I’m not sure where that much detail was supposed to lead us? Ultimately, I found the ending a little confusing, too.
This book most definitely had its strengths and some challenges, too, and in the end, the strengths were more memorable for me.
This was another enjoyable Traveling Sister read. 💕 Please check out Brenda and Norma’s blog: http://twogirlslostinacouleereading.w...
Thank you to Goodreads’ First Reads, Picador, and Christopher Yates for the complimentary copy.
February 10, 2018
A story of how scars suffered in childhood never really go away. It may be a physical scar, plainly visible for a lifetime. Emotional and psychological scarring can be harder to detect, hidden like a dangerous secret. Lying in wait, temporarily dormant. Those secrets are laid bare here, impacting lives that have already suffered losses. This one is deliciously dark, and disturbing in its ramifications. '. . . the story of a girl and a boy and a BB gun . . .'
October 23, 2017
I received a free advanced copy of Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates for my honest review.
An extremely intense and mesmerizing thriller that pulls you in on it's very first page. This book is a story of three teenagers who are all involved in a crime and how each of them viewed the crime, in their own mind, what they saw or what they think they saw and what really happened. The story is told from their past and their future and how this crime changed who they are now and what their actions from their past has impacted their now future. Each of these characters has to face what they did and and what they are hiding from that terrible crime they were all a part of. An amazingly written novel with such detail and precision. You will find yourself neck deep in emotion with this novel. Prepare yourself for a very intense read.
An extremely intense and mesmerizing thriller that pulls you in on it's very first page. This book is a story of three teenagers who are all involved in a crime and how each of them viewed the crime, in their own mind, what they saw or what they think they saw and what really happened. The story is told from their past and their future and how this crime changed who they are now and what their actions from their past has impacted their now future. Each of these characters has to face what they did and and what they are hiding from that terrible crime they were all a part of. An amazingly written novel with such detail and precision. You will find yourself neck deep in emotion with this novel. Prepare yourself for a very intense read.
January 26, 2018
2.5 stars
The year is 1982. Matthew, Patrick (Patch), and Hannah, are young teenagers when a horrible crime is committed, one that leaves them all devastated.
Decades later, in 2008, the three are adults and the stories of their lives unfold for us, all colored by the misperceptions and lies that have been told about that long ago day in 1982. None of the 3 have escaped unscathed. It’s a complicated story, but when the truth was finally revealed, I was disappointed. If the author wanted to create sympathy for a character and a reason for what they did, he failed with this reader. I felt sympathy for what this person’s life was like but not for the actions taken. We are also told throughout that we don't know the whole story and that maybe the victim wasn't entirely innocent. Nope, once it was revealed I was underwhelmed and I didn't buy it as a reason for culpability.
On the positive side, the writing itself was excellent, the characters well-developed, and the author succeeded in creating tension and a desire to get to the bottom of the story. Unfortunately, the narrative sometimes meanders along with lots of information about cooking and cooking blogs, and by everything you ever wanted to know about the history of the concrete business. The trouble was, I don’t care about ever knowing anything about concrete and it felt out of place, like a Wikipedia entry.
Lastly, I like a book to contain quotation marks. It feels like a gimmick to not use them.
I received an e-galley via Netgalley
The year is 1982. Matthew, Patrick (Patch), and Hannah, are young teenagers when a horrible crime is committed, one that leaves them all devastated.
Decades later, in 2008, the three are adults and the stories of their lives unfold for us, all colored by the misperceptions and lies that have been told about that long ago day in 1982. None of the 3 have escaped unscathed. It’s a complicated story, but when the truth was finally revealed, I was disappointed. If the author wanted to create sympathy for a character and a reason for what they did, he failed with this reader. I felt sympathy for what this person’s life was like but not for the actions taken. We are also told throughout that we don't know the whole story and that maybe the victim wasn't entirely innocent. Nope, once it was revealed I was underwhelmed and I didn't buy it as a reason for culpability.
On the positive side, the writing itself was excellent, the characters well-developed, and the author succeeded in creating tension and a desire to get to the bottom of the story. Unfortunately, the narrative sometimes meanders along with lots of information about cooking and cooking blogs, and by everything you ever wanted to know about the history of the concrete business. The trouble was, I don’t care about ever knowing anything about concrete and it felt out of place, like a Wikipedia entry.
Lastly, I like a book to contain quotation marks. It feels like a gimmick to not use them.
I received an e-galley via Netgalley
January 4, 2018
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
“This story you’re reading once started out as a perfectly ordinary, everyday tale. Until, very suddenly, it wasn’t. This is how it went.”
Grist Mill Road should have been included in my “Best Of” yearly wrap up for 2017. EDIT: Fuck it. I’m adding it. The part that sucks is, this is one of those tales where the less said, the better. I’ll let the book do the talking and you can see if it might be something that would tickle your fancy . . . .
“There is more to this story than meets the eye.”
That’s for sure. In case you aren’t my friend here, I did something I rarely do and posted a status update while I was reading this. That update happened at the 4% mark and I looked like this . . . .
To sum things up in the most basic manner possible, Grist Mill Road is . . . .
“a tale that begins with a toy gun and ends with the real thing.”
I didn’t really know anything before I tried to get my hands on a copy of this book other than my friend Michelle gave it all the stars. I figured the worst that would happen was I would be told no (per usual) and I’d add it to both the mountain which is my TBR list and also to one of my nuisance emails to the local bibliotech where I beg them to order things for my poor ass. To say it blew me away is an understatement. The blurb references an Atonement-esque quality to the story. I’ll take it a step further. If Mystic River and Atonement had a baby it would be pretty near effing perfect. It might be this book. Shelved frequently on GR as a “mystery/thriller,” that is a moniker that really sells Grist Mill Road short. If you “read it right” (hehehe like I always do) the mystery will become ancillary and your focus will be on the people themselves and their stories rather than that surrounding the superbadawful. Once again, the book says it perfectly all on its own . . . .
“Labels are for soup cans.”
6 Stars. I mean 5. Whatever.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!
“This story you’re reading once started out as a perfectly ordinary, everyday tale. Until, very suddenly, it wasn’t. This is how it went.”
Grist Mill Road should have been included in my “Best Of” yearly wrap up for 2017. EDIT: Fuck it. I’m adding it. The part that sucks is, this is one of those tales where the less said, the better. I’ll let the book do the talking and you can see if it might be something that would tickle your fancy . . . .
“There is more to this story than meets the eye.”
That’s for sure. In case you aren’t my friend here, I did something I rarely do and posted a status update while I was reading this. That update happened at the 4% mark and I looked like this . . . .
To sum things up in the most basic manner possible, Grist Mill Road is . . . .
“a tale that begins with a toy gun and ends with the real thing.”
I didn’t really know anything before I tried to get my hands on a copy of this book other than my friend Michelle gave it all the stars. I figured the worst that would happen was I would be told no (per usual) and I’d add it to both the mountain which is my TBR list and also to one of my nuisance emails to the local bibliotech where I beg them to order things for my poor ass. To say it blew me away is an understatement. The blurb references an Atonement-esque quality to the story. I’ll take it a step further. If Mystic River and Atonement had a baby it would be pretty near effing perfect. It might be this book. Shelved frequently on GR as a “mystery/thriller,” that is a moniker that really sells Grist Mill Road short. If you “read it right” (hehehe like I always do) the mystery will become ancillary and your focus will be on the people themselves and their stories rather than that surrounding the superbadawful. Once again, the book says it perfectly all on its own . . . .
“Labels are for soup cans.”
6 Stars. I mean 5. Whatever.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!
February 25, 2018
I started off lost in the brushy, woody lush coulee reading Grist Mill Road with two of my Traveling Sisters and we ended up in the thorny woody rocky coulee looking for a way out.
Grist Mill Road is a dark, complex story of secrets, deceit, and misunderstandings that started off with a bang for us and shocking us with the brutal crime committed by one character Matthew towards Hannah while Patch watched and didn’t intervene. We were drawn in right away to the mystery of the crime and what really happened that day and we flew through the first part of the story as fast as we could. Then things started to slow down for us as Christopher Yates took us down some windy and twisty roads through the coulee till we hid a ridge of blazing white rock like a wall and were left a bit confused with the ending.
Christopher J Yates skillfully and uniquely takes us back and forth in time and from one narrator to another giving us different perspectives to the day that bonds Matthew, Hannah and Patch together. We loved being drawn into their minds and seeing their perspectives however at times things started to get a little bogged down for us with some of their thoughts and things started to get a little murky for us.
Overall we enjoyed this story for it’s different and interesting characters and cleverly written perspectives. We recommend for anyone looking for a little something a little more complexed and different to their mysteries.
Published on January 9, 2018
Thank you, NetGalley, Macmillan-Picador and Christopher J Yates for a copy to read and review.
All of our Traveling Sisters Reviews can be found on our sister blog:
http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereadi...
Grist Mill Road is a dark, complex story of secrets, deceit, and misunderstandings that started off with a bang for us and shocking us with the brutal crime committed by one character Matthew towards Hannah while Patch watched and didn’t intervene. We were drawn in right away to the mystery of the crime and what really happened that day and we flew through the first part of the story as fast as we could. Then things started to slow down for us as Christopher Yates took us down some windy and twisty roads through the coulee till we hid a ridge of blazing white rock like a wall and were left a bit confused with the ending.
Christopher J Yates skillfully and uniquely takes us back and forth in time and from one narrator to another giving us different perspectives to the day that bonds Matthew, Hannah and Patch together. We loved being drawn into their minds and seeing their perspectives however at times things started to get a little bogged down for us with some of their thoughts and things started to get a little murky for us.
Overall we enjoyed this story for it’s different and interesting characters and cleverly written perspectives. We recommend for anyone looking for a little something a little more complexed and different to their mysteries.
Published on January 9, 2018
Thank you, NetGalley, Macmillan-Picador and Christopher J Yates for a copy to read and review.
All of our Traveling Sisters Reviews can be found on our sister blog:
http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereadi...
December 6, 2017
4.5 stars
If you like dark mysteries, this one is for you!
Imagine the early 1980's as a teenager, riding around and exploring on your bike with your friends, just on the cusp of adulthood. Life is good, until a horrible crime takes place and shatters everything you know. One friend loses an eye, another pays the price in prison, and one tries to pretend it never happened.
Now skip ahead 26 years later, and imagine 2 of these friends have somehow ended up married, and the 3rd has just resurfaced in their lives. Intrigued?
Reading this was like peeling back the layers of an onion, slowly, one by one. So many times I thought I had a clue as to what was going on, only to find out I had no flipping idea. I was kept guessing up until the end, and I have to say I loved it!
Some thoughts that ran through my head while reading this:
-Could there be more than one unreliable narrative?
-Who is the one with the secrets, or is it all of them?
-Is someone lying, or do they really not know?
It all comes together in the end like one big explosion, and I enjoyed every minute of it!
ARC provided by NetGalley
If you like dark mysteries, this one is for you!
Imagine the early 1980's as a teenager, riding around and exploring on your bike with your friends, just on the cusp of adulthood. Life is good, until a horrible crime takes place and shatters everything you know. One friend loses an eye, another pays the price in prison, and one tries to pretend it never happened.
Now skip ahead 26 years later, and imagine 2 of these friends have somehow ended up married, and the 3rd has just resurfaced in their lives. Intrigued?
Reading this was like peeling back the layers of an onion, slowly, one by one. So many times I thought I had a clue as to what was going on, only to find out I had no flipping idea. I was kept guessing up until the end, and I have to say I loved it!
Some thoughts that ran through my head while reading this:
-Could there be more than one unreliable narrative?
-Who is the one with the secrets, or is it all of them?
-Is someone lying, or do they really not know?
It all comes together in the end like one big explosion, and I enjoyed every minute of it!
ARC provided by NetGalley
January 20, 2018
4 sad stars
A lie can have many tentacles. It can reach out in so many directions, affect so many people, change so many lives. A lie that is left to smolder never being refuted or put to right can not only damage the teller but also all those the lie can include. “Lies and secrets, they are like a cancer in the soul. They eat away what is good and leave only destruction behind.”
Matthew, Patrick, and Hannah are friends. They go to school together, have time spent together and yet all the wonderful and carefree times are ended when a horrible thing happens. Hannah is left stricken, while Patrick becomes an unwilling participant frozen in time, and Mathew, a product of an abusive father does something that changes the course of his life and his friends as well.
You blame the one child, not fully knowing the true story. You might hate the other child, not fully knowing the story, and you might feel sorrow for the last child not really knowing the full story. Nothing awful ever happens by itself, it burns away through others, creating a life of hidden secrets, nightmares, and troubled lives.
Twenty six years after the tragedy we see the children grown to adulthood. None of them have been able to forget, none of them can leave the place where tragedy struck. Can they escape and find the avenues of peace they seek? Is this destined to be always there, always eating away at them, always being at the core of their being.
Mr Yates has written a fine psychological thriller, that makes one keenly aware that oftentimes what we have done as children, never really leaves our consciousness.
Thank you to Christopher Yates, Macmillan-Picador, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this novel.
A lie can have many tentacles. It can reach out in so many directions, affect so many people, change so many lives. A lie that is left to smolder never being refuted or put to right can not only damage the teller but also all those the lie can include. “Lies and secrets, they are like a cancer in the soul. They eat away what is good and leave only destruction behind.”
Matthew, Patrick, and Hannah are friends. They go to school together, have time spent together and yet all the wonderful and carefree times are ended when a horrible thing happens. Hannah is left stricken, while Patrick becomes an unwilling participant frozen in time, and Mathew, a product of an abusive father does something that changes the course of his life and his friends as well.
You blame the one child, not fully knowing the true story. You might hate the other child, not fully knowing the story, and you might feel sorrow for the last child not really knowing the full story. Nothing awful ever happens by itself, it burns away through others, creating a life of hidden secrets, nightmares, and troubled lives.
Twenty six years after the tragedy we see the children grown to adulthood. None of them have been able to forget, none of them can leave the place where tragedy struck. Can they escape and find the avenues of peace they seek? Is this destined to be always there, always eating away at them, always being at the core of their being.
Mr Yates has written a fine psychological thriller, that makes one keenly aware that oftentimes what we have done as children, never really leaves our consciousness.
Thank you to Christopher Yates, Macmillan-Picador, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this novel.
January 24, 2018
★★★★½
Humans are flawed and complex. We make decisions that both heal and harm, and are full of consequence. But because we are so multifaceted, it is rare that a wrong is committed without an antecedent. There is no truer example of the domino effect than human behavior. There is always something that prompts internal emotion and thought within us which ultimately leads to how we choose to externally direct it. Yes, ultimately behavior is a choice, but there is a whole stack of disheveled playing cards underneath full of the remnants.
Grist Mill Road is a stunning example of how little and big things pile up until it nearly breaks a person. The author Christopher J. Yates starts out with a jaw-dropping scene of horrific actions and then uses alternating time frames and perspectives for a slow reveal of all the supporting dysfunction behind it. Mr. Yates never justifies the wrong-doing but rather allows the reader to understand that the responsibility for harm is often at the hands of many, even if it's just one person pulling the trigger. Likewise, he reinforces the beauty of redemption and guilt-ridden innocence, and shows how damage can follow and change and take on a life of its own. This was my first reading experience with this author but it will certainly not be my last. Check it out.
My favorite quote:
"Labels are for soup cans..."
Humans are flawed and complex. We make decisions that both heal and harm, and are full of consequence. But because we are so multifaceted, it is rare that a wrong is committed without an antecedent. There is no truer example of the domino effect than human behavior. There is always something that prompts internal emotion and thought within us which ultimately leads to how we choose to externally direct it. Yes, ultimately behavior is a choice, but there is a whole stack of disheveled playing cards underneath full of the remnants.
Grist Mill Road is a stunning example of how little and big things pile up until it nearly breaks a person. The author Christopher J. Yates starts out with a jaw-dropping scene of horrific actions and then uses alternating time frames and perspectives for a slow reveal of all the supporting dysfunction behind it. Mr. Yates never justifies the wrong-doing but rather allows the reader to understand that the responsibility for harm is often at the hands of many, even if it's just one person pulling the trigger. Likewise, he reinforces the beauty of redemption and guilt-ridden innocence, and shows how damage can follow and change and take on a life of its own. This was my first reading experience with this author but it will certainly not be my last. Check it out.
My favorite quote:
"Labels are for soup cans..."
October 1, 2018
3.5 Stars —- I read “Grist Mill Road” after reading a very positive review of the book in Entertainment Weekly magazine. After reading this book, I am conflicted about how much I liked it. On the positive side, the book is well written as far as character development and has a very suspenseful plot. The book centers around a crime in which 14 year old Matthew ties up and shoots his friend/girlfriend Hannah with a BB gun 50 times while his friend Patrick looks on. Hannah loses her eye as a results of this. The book then details the lives of these three individuals more than 20 years later while revealing more details surrounding the original crime. The author does a great job of keeping the suspense building throughout the second half of the book, all the way to the book’s conclusion. However, despite these positives, the book did have major problems in my opinion. First, the author spent an inordinate amount of time describing mundane things like landscapes, glaciers, cooking, the color blue etc. to the point that I had to skim over 5 to 10 pages of non-relevant material at a time before the author finally gets back to the plot. Also, the characters lacked consistency in their actions—especially Patrick whose supposed mental illness was laughably absent at key moments in the story. Finally, the ending was possibly the worst resolution to a book I have ever read. It is unclear what happened to two of the characters and the bizarre final chapter was poorly written, unclear as to when it took place, and added nothing to the plot except more confusion. All things considered I give this very uneven book a 3.5
December 23, 2017
You can read all of my reviews at Lit·Wit·Wine·Dine.
If you’re a friend or follower on here on Goodreads, you may have seen my status update at page 108:
“The jury is still out on this one. I’m not a fan of omitting quotation marks and it’s moving a little slowly.”
And this one at page 163:
“Okay, now I’m hooked.”
A brief status update at the end of the book would have looked something like this:
“Huh? What the heck?”
And that pretty much sums it up. Grist Mill Road started out slowly. Everything seemed very obvious and thought I knew where it was going. Until I didn’t. Once I didn’t, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. (Hence my “shopping be damned” Insta post.) While I have no objection to this lead up, per se, I did think 108 pages was a few too many to have to read before all the “good stuff” started happening.
The story was told from the points of view of Hannah, Matthew, and Patrick with interspersed chapters flashing back to the horrific event of 1892 that bound them together. This worked really well for me. I love an unreliable narrator and having three made the suspense almost unbearable. I was constantly doubting each character and couldn’t wait for the truth to come out. Christopher J. Yates in an extremely talented writer in terms of both imagination and execution.
The ending, however, left me feeling somewhat frustrated. While I appreciate books that don’t have neat and tidy endings, I was a little taken aback by this one. I may have been a little more forgiving of the conclusive events themselves if not for the feelings I had about Matthew’s character. I could not reconcile 1982 Matthew with 2008 Matthew. It just seemed like something was missing.That’s all I can say without spoilers but if you read the book, please feel free to DM me for an offline discussion. I am chomping at the bit to hash it out with someone.
This book had an enormous amount of potential. While it fell a little short for me in relation to its potential, I would definitely look forward to reading Christopher J. Yate’s future novels.
3.5/5 stars
Many thanks to Picador USA for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you’re a friend or follower on here on Goodreads, you may have seen my status update at page 108:
“The jury is still out on this one. I’m not a fan of omitting quotation marks and it’s moving a little slowly.”
And this one at page 163:
“Okay, now I’m hooked.”
A brief status update at the end of the book would have looked something like this:
“Huh? What the heck?”
And that pretty much sums it up. Grist Mill Road started out slowly. Everything seemed very obvious and thought I knew where it was going. Until I didn’t. Once I didn’t, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. (Hence my “shopping be damned” Insta post.) While I have no objection to this lead up, per se, I did think 108 pages was a few too many to have to read before all the “good stuff” started happening.
The story was told from the points of view of Hannah, Matthew, and Patrick with interspersed chapters flashing back to the horrific event of 1892 that bound them together. This worked really well for me. I love an unreliable narrator and having three made the suspense almost unbearable. I was constantly doubting each character and couldn’t wait for the truth to come out. Christopher J. Yates in an extremely talented writer in terms of both imagination and execution.
The ending, however, left me feeling somewhat frustrated. While I appreciate books that don’t have neat and tidy endings, I was a little taken aback by this one. I may have been a little more forgiving of the conclusive events themselves if not for the feelings I had about Matthew’s character. I could not reconcile 1982 Matthew with 2008 Matthew. It just seemed like something was missing.That’s all I can say without spoilers but if you read the book, please feel free to DM me for an offline discussion. I am chomping at the bit to hash it out with someone.
This book had an enormous amount of potential. While it fell a little short for me in relation to its potential, I would definitely look forward to reading Christopher J. Yate’s future novels.
3.5/5 stars
Many thanks to Picador USA for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 21, 2018
GRIST MILL ROAD by Christopher J. Yates- Thank you so much to Picador for sending me an advance copy - all opinions are my own.
The Rashomon film style is known for a plot device that involves various characters providing subjective, alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same incident.
In this novel, the story is divided into three parts. The main characters, Patch, Hannah, and Matthew, all share their own accounts of a horrific crime that took place in 1982 and how they cope with it after the fact. Part one is shown from Patrick’s (aka Patch’s) point of view beginning at age twelve. Part two is presented from Hannah’s perspective at nearly thirteen. And finally, the last part details Matthew’s viewpoint starting at age fourteen. Each individual part is divided into chapters that alternate between events that occur in 1982 and in 2008.
To me, this story read more like literary fiction that has a terrible crime as its primary plot device instead of a pure mystery, but there was just enough mystery to keep my interest. Grist Mill Road is not a fast-paced thriller nor a whodunit —it is a slow-paced novel with a multilayered plot. And the story told has a darkness to it with a unique writing style that utilizes three very distinct voices.
Yates ultimately surprised me, as what I thought was true in the beginning was proven false in the end. My only issue with the novel is that at times there was too much detail, especially in the middle. I found it slow through this area, but it did not hinder the grave impact it had on me. I thought it was clever how through all of the details there was a clear message about truth, empathy, and forgiveness. I have to admit this novel made me quite sad at the end and my heart broke for one of these characters but I won’t name who. Overall, this is a very interesting and complex story that I will be thinking about for years to come.
I rate this book 4.5 / 5 stars!
The Rashomon film style is known for a plot device that involves various characters providing subjective, alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same incident.
In this novel, the story is divided into three parts. The main characters, Patch, Hannah, and Matthew, all share their own accounts of a horrific crime that took place in 1982 and how they cope with it after the fact. Part one is shown from Patrick’s (aka Patch’s) point of view beginning at age twelve. Part two is presented from Hannah’s perspective at nearly thirteen. And finally, the last part details Matthew’s viewpoint starting at age fourteen. Each individual part is divided into chapters that alternate between events that occur in 1982 and in 2008.
To me, this story read more like literary fiction that has a terrible crime as its primary plot device instead of a pure mystery, but there was just enough mystery to keep my interest. Grist Mill Road is not a fast-paced thriller nor a whodunit —it is a slow-paced novel with a multilayered plot. And the story told has a darkness to it with a unique writing style that utilizes three very distinct voices.
Yates ultimately surprised me, as what I thought was true in the beginning was proven false in the end. My only issue with the novel is that at times there was too much detail, especially in the middle. I found it slow through this area, but it did not hinder the grave impact it had on me. I thought it was clever how through all of the details there was a clear message about truth, empathy, and forgiveness. I have to admit this novel made me quite sad at the end and my heart broke for one of these characters but I won’t name who. Overall, this is a very interesting and complex story that I will be thinking about for years to come.
I rate this book 4.5 / 5 stars!
February 7, 2018
⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5
Disclaimer: Grist Mill Road starts out with a couple of very disturbing scenes, and this book definitely isn't for the faint of heart.
The book is told from multiple viewpoints (which I love!); mostly Patrick (also known as Patch when he is younger), Hannah, and towards the end Matthew. On one hand I really liked getting all sides of the stories, but I ended up skimming a bit of Matthew - more on that later. The book jumps between the past - 1982 - and present time which is New York in 2008. The book is also broken into 3 parts which I thought was a good move for the storyline.
Of the characters I was really surprised that Hannah ended up being so funny. She had a very dry wit which I loved in her viewpoints. Other than that though, I really just could not connect with any of the characters, even when some pretty sh**ty stuff was going down. I don't condone anything that happened, but the characters just didn't make that big of an impact on me. And let me tell you, these characters needed a whole lot of God's grace!
I skimmed some of the scenes in Matthew's point of view with Pete; too much talking about geology, glaciers, etc. and I thought it was terribly boring. If you love nature or are interested in things like that, you may enjoy these parts. I felt like a lot of this book was just plain slow, and it went into great detail. One nice thing was it gave you quite the backstory on the characters and you don't find out exactly what happened that fateful day in 1982 until the very end.
Another issue I had with this book is that there are no quotation marks when characters are speaking which sometimes made it a little confusing. I just prefer my books to have quotation marks during dialog I guess.
Final Thought: A lot of people really enjoyed this book, so I suggest taking a look for yourself. Overall I just found the book a little too slow (although I read it fairly quickly), a little too verbose in spots, and I couldn't find the characters terribly relatable. It is still a very well written book though, and very detailed (you can tell the author did a lot of research and was very knowledgeable). I will also be going back to read Black Chalk to see if I have better overall feelings about that one. This author just might not be a good fit for me as I was pretty underwhelmed by this one.
*This title was published on 09 Jan 2018*
Disclaimer: Grist Mill Road starts out with a couple of very disturbing scenes, and this book definitely isn't for the faint of heart.
The book is told from multiple viewpoints (which I love!); mostly Patrick (also known as Patch when he is younger), Hannah, and towards the end Matthew. On one hand I really liked getting all sides of the stories, but I ended up skimming a bit of Matthew - more on that later. The book jumps between the past - 1982 - and present time which is New York in 2008. The book is also broken into 3 parts which I thought was a good move for the storyline.
Of the characters I was really surprised that Hannah ended up being so funny. She had a very dry wit which I loved in her viewpoints. Other than that though, I really just could not connect with any of the characters, even when some pretty sh**ty stuff was going down. I don't condone anything that happened, but the characters just didn't make that big of an impact on me. And let me tell you, these characters needed a whole lot of God's grace!
I skimmed some of the scenes in Matthew's point of view with Pete; too much talking about geology, glaciers, etc. and I thought it was terribly boring. If you love nature or are interested in things like that, you may enjoy these parts. I felt like a lot of this book was just plain slow, and it went into great detail. One nice thing was it gave you quite the backstory on the characters and you don't find out exactly what happened that fateful day in 1982 until the very end.
Another issue I had with this book is that there are no quotation marks when characters are speaking which sometimes made it a little confusing. I just prefer my books to have quotation marks during dialog I guess.
Final Thought: A lot of people really enjoyed this book, so I suggest taking a look for yourself. Overall I just found the book a little too slow (although I read it fairly quickly), a little too verbose in spots, and I couldn't find the characters terribly relatable. It is still a very well written book though, and very detailed (you can tell the author did a lot of research and was very knowledgeable). I will also be going back to read Black Chalk to see if I have better overall feelings about that one. This author just might not be a good fit for me as I was pretty underwhelmed by this one.
*This title was published on 09 Jan 2018*
November 8, 2017
Now I was a HUGE fan of Black Chalk, the first novel from this author that I read moons ago now – it was a work of literary genius, a puzzle piece of sheer reading joy, so to say that I was both excited and somewhat apprehensive to read Grist Mill Road is perhaps an understatement.
Turns out Black Chalk was not a one off in the quality sense – Grist Mill Road is a twisted and intelligent tale of three friends and the actions that tie them together – once more the author plays with your perceptions throughout the narrative, showing you one thing that later looks like quite another, all the while digging into the psychology of our main protagonists in a way that is genuinely compelling. Starting off with an emotional punch to the senses within a disturbing scene setter we then start to find out the why’s and wherefore’s and how it came to be, the emphasis being very much on on character and motivation. It is slippery, every assumption you make has to be taken back a little with the next thing you find out and whatever you think at the beginning I can almost guarantee you’ll be thinking something else by the end.
I loved it – it forced me to think outside the box, to consider the difference between what we see and what is true – my sympathies wavered throughout, one of the biggest strengths of this novel is in the authenticity of the characters you are reading about. It is not about good and evil, but all the shades of grey in between those two things – honest human nature. Hannah, Matthew and Patrick all have those very human hidden depths that are in us all, it is not until you reach the end of Grist Mill Road that they are laid bare for your judgment – on who they are, on what they did, on all of it. Brilliant. Honestly it is just brilliant.
The writing is intense, almost voyeuristic and beautifully beautifully done – it has just reiterated for me that I prefer the more literary side of crime in a lot of ways, the ones that keep me up at night after finishing them pondering life and all it’s foibles and pondering people and all their secrets. Grist Mill Road is absolutely mesmerizing, descriptively passionate and unbelievably addictive, with an ending that resonates and digs deep into your soul. These are the ones we read for!
Highly Recommended.
Turns out Black Chalk was not a one off in the quality sense – Grist Mill Road is a twisted and intelligent tale of three friends and the actions that tie them together – once more the author plays with your perceptions throughout the narrative, showing you one thing that later looks like quite another, all the while digging into the psychology of our main protagonists in a way that is genuinely compelling. Starting off with an emotional punch to the senses within a disturbing scene setter we then start to find out the why’s and wherefore’s and how it came to be, the emphasis being very much on on character and motivation. It is slippery, every assumption you make has to be taken back a little with the next thing you find out and whatever you think at the beginning I can almost guarantee you’ll be thinking something else by the end.
I loved it – it forced me to think outside the box, to consider the difference between what we see and what is true – my sympathies wavered throughout, one of the biggest strengths of this novel is in the authenticity of the characters you are reading about. It is not about good and evil, but all the shades of grey in between those two things – honest human nature. Hannah, Matthew and Patrick all have those very human hidden depths that are in us all, it is not until you reach the end of Grist Mill Road that they are laid bare for your judgment – on who they are, on what they did, on all of it. Brilliant. Honestly it is just brilliant.
The writing is intense, almost voyeuristic and beautifully beautifully done – it has just reiterated for me that I prefer the more literary side of crime in a lot of ways, the ones that keep me up at night after finishing them pondering life and all it’s foibles and pondering people and all their secrets. Grist Mill Road is absolutely mesmerizing, descriptively passionate and unbelievably addictive, with an ending that resonates and digs deep into your soul. These are the ones we read for!
Highly Recommended.
August 31, 2018
I enjoyed the first half of this book and the latter half.
The beginning after laying the ground work and going back in time when the boys were young then up to date when they were older kept me focused. I was invested in this. No problem.
The scars that were left over that they each did penance for in their own was was very well documented and fabulously written.
But then it stemmed to dip in the middle where I was finding it hard to focus but, I pressed on.
I’m so glad I did as I ended up liking the book a lot.
Not having read anything from this author or even knowing if he has other books added to my pleasure. I love discovering new authors, well, ones new to me.
The beginning after laying the ground work and going back in time when the boys were young then up to date when they were older kept me focused. I was invested in this. No problem.
The scars that were left over that they each did penance for in their own was was very well documented and fabulously written.
But then it stemmed to dip in the middle where I was finding it hard to focus but, I pressed on.
I’m so glad I did as I ended up liking the book a lot.
Not having read anything from this author or even knowing if he has other books added to my pleasure. I love discovering new authors, well, ones new to me.
June 13, 2018
Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates was a very dark and disturbing story. It stared with three youngsters in the wood and a horrific scene of torture. We then learn about those peoples lives 26 years later. I found this book very confusing and did not enjoy it because of this. I would like to thank NetGalley and Headline for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
March 14, 2019
I’ll say this for Christopher Yates: he knows his way around some twisty (and twisted) storytelling. Unreliable narrators, shifting perspectives, lies of omission…all make for a delightfully tangled tale of tragedy, in which three lives are irrevocably altered by one teenage incident in which none of the participants are innocent, but in which the apparently guiltiest party might be the most sympathetic. He also writes some mouth-watering food descriptions, which is weird in the context of a book like this, but, well, just roll with it.
One other note: if you’re into the history of cement, this book will be like porn for you.
One other other note: I never envisioned writing the previous sentence. But I did. So there’s that.
One other note: if you’re into the history of cement, this book will be like porn for you.
One other other note: I never envisioned writing the previous sentence. But I did. So there’s that.
February 3, 2018
In 1982, Matthew, Patrick, and Hannah are linked together through a terrible crime. Twenty-six years later, they reconnect.
A dark story told with two timelines, 1982 and 2008. Each chapter was about a main character (Matthew, Patrick, or Hannah), though some were told in first person point of view and others were third person. The back and forth between timelines, characters, and points of view slowed the pace of the story.
The first chapter in the book tells the tragic crime that occurred in their youth, and the following chapters fill in the blanks of what led to that event. There seemed to be a lot of filler in the book, like food blogging, geology, the history of cement, and even explanations of political aspirations of a character's father. While some of this information may have been interesting, it bogged down the story and didn't provide much insight into the characters. I never felt connected to anyone in the story, and didn't much care what happened to any of them. For me, the ending left too many unanswered questions.
I received a copy of this book from Picador and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
A dark story told with two timelines, 1982 and 2008. Each chapter was about a main character (Matthew, Patrick, or Hannah), though some were told in first person point of view and others were third person. The back and forth between timelines, characters, and points of view slowed the pace of the story.
The first chapter in the book tells the tragic crime that occurred in their youth, and the following chapters fill in the blanks of what led to that event. There seemed to be a lot of filler in the book, like food blogging, geology, the history of cement, and even explanations of political aspirations of a character's father. While some of this information may have been interesting, it bogged down the story and didn't provide much insight into the characters. I never felt connected to anyone in the story, and didn't much care what happened to any of them. For me, the ending left too many unanswered questions.
I received a copy of this book from Picador and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 24, 2018
This has been touted as one of the best thrillers of the year and feaured on the January 2018 Indie Next list. Although I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, it was a great read nonetheless, I will be putting "Black Chalk" Yates' cult hit onto my TBR pile.
What I liked about "Grist Mill Road" is that it is an intelligent thriller that really makes you think. With a multitude of different strands that are woven together seamlessly, the plot keeps you interested in what the outcome or final resolution will be. I am always up for an unsettling and "oh-my-god" read and this certainly fit the bill in that respect. At its heart, this is a cold case thriller that is deceptively dark and filled with suspense. There were a lot of surprises as one thing Yates does exceptionally well is writing a novel that is unpredictable in nature with disturbing moments aplenty.
The multiple POV tells the story from three different perspectives (Hannah, Patrick and Matthew - the three children who were present on the day Hannah was attacked 26 years ago) so you have to be on-the-ball to keep it all straight in your head. The pace was enjoyable and the unpredictability means that the twists and turns often leave you rather shocked.
All in all, a book that is worthy of your time. It will be especially appreciated by those who enjoy psychological thrillers but conventional crime fiction fans will also find the book meaty enough to get their claws into.
Many thanks to Picador for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
What I liked about "Grist Mill Road" is that it is an intelligent thriller that really makes you think. With a multitude of different strands that are woven together seamlessly, the plot keeps you interested in what the outcome or final resolution will be. I am always up for an unsettling and "oh-my-god" read and this certainly fit the bill in that respect. At its heart, this is a cold case thriller that is deceptively dark and filled with suspense. There were a lot of surprises as one thing Yates does exceptionally well is writing a novel that is unpredictable in nature with disturbing moments aplenty.
The multiple POV tells the story from three different perspectives (Hannah, Patrick and Matthew - the three children who were present on the day Hannah was attacked 26 years ago) so you have to be on-the-ball to keep it all straight in your head. The pace was enjoyable and the unpredictability means that the twists and turns often leave you rather shocked.
All in all, a book that is worthy of your time. It will be especially appreciated by those who enjoy psychological thrillers but conventional crime fiction fans will also find the book meaty enough to get their claws into.
Many thanks to Picador for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
November 7, 2017
In 1982 in a small upstate New York town, teenaged Matthew, Patrick and Hannah were spending a pleasant summer day together. The day ended in an horrific act of violence. In 2008 in New York City the lives of the three converge again. The story is told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of the three protagonists and slips back and forth between the two critical years. It's not really possible to describe anything that happens in this book without spoiling it.
The story is definitely not as straightforward as it initially appears. This book gave me whiplash, with my sympathies constantly shifting from character to character. One or more of these people has a faulty grasp of what happened in the past. One or more of these people may not even be completely sane. By the end of the book I still had lots of questions about facts and motives. There is a long, pointless segue into the evolution of a cement company, but other than that the book moves along at a brisk pace and was very suspenseful at the end. It's a good twisty book that messes with your head.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
The story is definitely not as straightforward as it initially appears. This book gave me whiplash, with my sympathies constantly shifting from character to character. One or more of these people has a faulty grasp of what happened in the past. One or more of these people may not even be completely sane. By the end of the book I still had lots of questions about facts and motives. There is a long, pointless segue into the evolution of a cement company, but other than that the book moves along at a brisk pace and was very suspenseful at the end. It's a good twisty book that messes with your head.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
December 15, 2017
Wow, I absolutely LOVED Grist Mill Road by Christopher Yates. I have not read anything from him before but will most definitely be looking out for his future books. I started this yesterday and finished this morning. I could NOT stop reading it. I actually had this one for awhile from Netgalley but I’m not sure what kept me from wanting to read it. The story is told in three parts where you will get the 3 main characters perspective. Grist Mill Road is told in past and present. The story was intense, dark and thrilling. I loved it.
So what’s it about? There is crime that takes place in 1982 between three friends, Matthew, Patch and Hannah. One is sent to prison, another friend is left without an eye and lastly the other is left with guilt. They do not see each other again until their lives cross paths 20years later. Through each perspective you will see how the crime played out through their eyes and how ultimately changed their lives forever. Is what we see actually true? This was a fresh layered story. Secrets, betrayal, lies, etc.
Honestly, I don’t want to put too many details into my review. If you like layered, psychological suspense stories then I highly recommend Grist Mill Road. 5 stars!!! Thank you to Picador for the copy via Netgalley.
So what’s it about? There is crime that takes place in 1982 between three friends, Matthew, Patch and Hannah. One is sent to prison, another friend is left without an eye and lastly the other is left with guilt. They do not see each other again until their lives cross paths 20years later. Through each perspective you will see how the crime played out through their eyes and how ultimately changed their lives forever. Is what we see actually true? This was a fresh layered story. Secrets, betrayal, lies, etc.
Honestly, I don’t want to put too many details into my review. If you like layered, psychological suspense stories then I highly recommend Grist Mill Road. 5 stars!!! Thank you to Picador for the copy via Netgalley.
December 13, 2017
4.5/5 stars for this outstanding read. Find my full review here: http://crimebythebook.com/blog/2017/1...
GRIST MILL ROAD is an immersive and harrowing crime novel that’s perfect for readers looking for a gripping psychological suspense story with a literary bent. I loved the book’s unique structure, layered plotting, and tragic characters. My one caution: this book deals with difficult topics (abuse, bigotry) in a very blunt way, so just proceed with caution if those topics are difficult for you.
GRIST MILL ROAD is an immersive and harrowing crime novel that’s perfect for readers looking for a gripping psychological suspense story with a literary bent. I loved the book’s unique structure, layered plotting, and tragic characters. My one caution: this book deals with difficult topics (abuse, bigotry) in a very blunt way, so just proceed with caution if those topics are difficult for you.
January 5, 2018
So, this one takes it time, concentrating on telling the story at its own pace instead of thrills and spills, and all the better for it.
The story concentrates around three characters, Patrick and Matthew who are best friends as early teenagers, and also their friend Hannah.
It begins in 1982 in the Swangum mountains where we find the three of them. A very disturbing and violent crime takes place that will change their lives forever, leaving one without an eye and one in prison.
We then move forward in time to 2008 in NYC where all three cross paths again. Patrick(Patch) is now married to Hannah, vowing never to speak of that fateful day back in 1982. Hannah is a crime reporter and Patch after recently losing his job spends time food blogging and cooking at home to restaurant standards.
The story is told mostly from Patchs narrative(although not exclusively) and jumps between 2008(present day) and that summer in 1982 when all three were changed forever and perhaps their future paths forged then.
As some of the secrets of that day begin to reveal themselves, can the marriage of Hannah and Patch last and where does Matthew fit into all this? Do they all remember the events exactly as they happened or are there buried memories that will yet resurface revealing the whole truth of that horrible day?
I have to say, after being somewhat unsure of this one, I really enjoyed this read. Something different. Something that takes its time, molds the characters as more and more about them is revealed. Although not really a cliff hanger you do more or less wait until the very end to find out the whole story as the layers of secrets and events are peeled away throughout the book. The characterization and writing here is fantastic. As I said a slow and steady pace but that isnt criticism here. it gives the characters time to breath and time for you to get inside their heads as you figure them out and at times they figure themselves out.
This is quite a dark read. There are many dark subjects touched upon here but all handled quite delicately and respectfully. I cant really think of another book like it. Of course the vehicle of present and past narratives is very commonplace in modern fiction but the pacing and storytelling is what sets this apart. Very intelligent and satisfying writing. Id highly recommend marking this one as one to read. A very intelligent and enjoyable book.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC
The story concentrates around three characters, Patrick and Matthew who are best friends as early teenagers, and also their friend Hannah.
It begins in 1982 in the Swangum mountains where we find the three of them. A very disturbing and violent crime takes place that will change their lives forever, leaving one without an eye and one in prison.
We then move forward in time to 2008 in NYC where all three cross paths again. Patrick(Patch) is now married to Hannah, vowing never to speak of that fateful day back in 1982. Hannah is a crime reporter and Patch after recently losing his job spends time food blogging and cooking at home to restaurant standards.
The story is told mostly from Patchs narrative(although not exclusively) and jumps between 2008(present day) and that summer in 1982 when all three were changed forever and perhaps their future paths forged then.
As some of the secrets of that day begin to reveal themselves, can the marriage of Hannah and Patch last and where does Matthew fit into all this? Do they all remember the events exactly as they happened or are there buried memories that will yet resurface revealing the whole truth of that horrible day?
I have to say, after being somewhat unsure of this one, I really enjoyed this read. Something different. Something that takes its time, molds the characters as more and more about them is revealed. Although not really a cliff hanger you do more or less wait until the very end to find out the whole story as the layers of secrets and events are peeled away throughout the book. The characterization and writing here is fantastic. As I said a slow and steady pace but that isnt criticism here. it gives the characters time to breath and time for you to get inside their heads as you figure them out and at times they figure themselves out.
This is quite a dark read. There are many dark subjects touched upon here but all handled quite delicately and respectfully. I cant really think of another book like it. Of course the vehicle of present and past narratives is very commonplace in modern fiction but the pacing and storytelling is what sets this apart. Very intelligent and satisfying writing. Id highly recommend marking this one as one to read. A very intelligent and enjoyable book.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC
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