eleellis 's review for:

Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates
3.0

When it comes to the plot and content of Grist Mill Road, this novel is one of those books that is hard to describe without revealing spoilers.

The novel opens with a horrific act that binds three adolescents - Patrick, Hanna, and Matthew - together and further proceeds with how the act has impacted their lives moving forward. Each of the three characters reveals the story in alternating past and present chapters, which not only reveals what happened but how and why the disturbing incident occurred.

From reading the novel, the narration is done by not one, but three unreliable narrators which added to the enjoyment of the discovery of what truly happened between the three teenagers on that terrible day in the woods.

For this reader, ninety-five percent of the novel was headed for a five-star, knock out review. The plot was original, the characters wonderfully developed and the story compelling and interesting. As the story was revealed, the reader is pleasantly teased and led astray and just when the reader thinks the plot is known, a new kernel is added that sends it spinning in a different direction.

Unfortunately, the ending to the novel was a disappointment. There is a glaring plot development that goes completely unexplained and another one that created an ambiguous nature to the motives of one of the character's in such a manner that it derailed the story enough to lessen the impact of the ending for this reader.

Still, the novel is recommended for fans of Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos.