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

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Wow, I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. Hard to really say how much I loved this book. It is a dark story but has lots and lots of emotions to it. This is the second novel by the author Christopher J. Yates and I have not read his first (Which now I will) so I was not expecting much, but the case here is not about low expectations, nope. It is more about a wonderful style of writing, more about the deep analysis of the characters, the genuine point of view of each one of them, the multilayers that each character has. The characters felt very very alive.

I have read this novel in 5 days but I felt I know the characters for a long time. This book had a very strong impact on me. Mr. Christopher has kept me on the edge of my seat all the time from the start to the end but the suspense along with the character development is not the only element that made the book that good. There is a lot of beauty in connecting stories and scenes together of the different characters. Throughout the book, I felt so many different emotions be it pitty, anger, sorrow, pain, love etc. It was like someone was holding my heart in his hands and playing with it.

Another element I loved is the 1980s atmosphere. The author made sure to highlight that by including some of the cults of that era in the story, for example, his reference to one of my favorite TV shows of that era "Dynasty" and how one of the characters felt when he watched for the first time the catfight between the two iconic figures of that show Alexis Colby (Joan Collins) and Krystle Carrington (Linda Evans).

Another thing I have to mention here is that the story keeps going back and forth in time between the 1980s and 2008. Some books tend to become confusing a bit when this happens but here that was not the case. Also, we are getting to read about the point of view of three characters, Patrick, Hannah, and Matthew. Each one has his own side story. The three teenagers find themselves involved in a horrible act of violence that changes their lives. Then after twenty-six years, they meet again and each character tries to correct the wrong he made. I don't want to say more about the synopsis because I feel everything should be left to the reader's imagination.

It is a dark twisted story but be ready to have all your emotions stirred together. Do I need to mention how sad and beautiful the ending is? I feel and I also wish too that this book will get many awards. I also want to see this book turned into a feature film because it has all the great elements to make a wonderful movie.

I was lucky to grab an advance copy of this book from NetGalley's read now section. I would highly recommend everybody to read this gem. This is not just a must read book but a must own too. I can't wait to grab my own copy soon.

“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 when my head was spinning.

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!

Such an amazing book by an amazing author. I loved all the twists and turns

The beginning sucked me right in, a horrific scene that is unexplained. Some 20+ years later, the three kids involved are still being haunted by the event. I loved the characters of Patrick and Hannah, and was ambivalent toward Matthew, who has his own sad back story.The story is so well written, I will read more by this author. Thanks to Netgalley for this amazing tale.

A bit reminiscent of A Secret History yet not as well written as a Donna Tartt book, this one involves a trio of 'friends,' a word one could use quite lightly in this story. Three young teens are drawn together in a small upstate New York town: Patrick (ie. Patch), good boy in town with aspiring political father, husband and failed financier and current obsessive chef, witness, participant, and savior to a horrible crime; Matthew, new boy to town, messed up family life, perpetrator of horrible crime; and Hannah, wife to Patrick, crime reporter, and victim of horrible crime. As the strings of this story slowly come together, one can see how the past has impacted the character's today with each one struggling to find who they are. My problem with this book is that the two males were both unlikable, and thinly developed; I don't mind crappy humans, but give them a bit more depth. I just didn't care about Matthew's past issues, or Patrick's cooking blog. Now Hannah, on the other hand, was a compelling character as she searches for answers to her past with her NYC police officer friend as well as her job that drags her into the dark corners of city crime. The ending was anti-climatic for me, having gotten to a point of apathy for Patch. At times a page turner, and at times just 'meh' for me.

Grist Mill Road tells the story of 3 young teens, 2 boys and a girl, from different backgrounds, who are growing up in a small town. They are unlikely friends until a tragic incident tears them apart one afternoon at the hideout the boys have in the woods. One goes to a juvenile detention center, one moves away, and one remains in the town until she can escape to college. Years later, they are reunited and a score needs to be settled that, at least for one of them, was never resolved.

I almost DNF'ed this book after 100 pages, but I stuck with it in the hopes that it would get better. I just did not care for this at all. I thought the way Patrick reacted in the beginning of the story was just ridiculous. I wasn't invested in any character and the story was just too slow for my liking.

I was hoping for a better ending with this one. I was left confused with the relationships between characters and questions about Patch were left unresolved.

I highly enjoyed this book. I loved how to story was told, in three parts, each with different version of what happened that day. It makes you change your mind about the characters, you start hating some, and loving some, and by the end, your original opinions aren't valid anymore. I also really liked that it kept going from past to present, and vice versa. It kept it really interesting and gave room for some twists in the story. I must admit thought that the ending left me quite disappointed. Some might like this kind of ending but it wasn't for me.

This book was a refreshing literary suspense novel. I wouldn't put it in the thriller category like so many other books to have come out in the past two years. I loved the slow burn of the novel. It worked beautifully in this case, with nothing feeling slow but everything building and building until the last 100 pages when so many questions are answered. What a fantastic book to kick off 2018!

I've seen several reviews that referred to GRIST MILL ROAD as a complex read, and though I agree with that assessment, you might add that the story is an engrossing read as well. It starts simply from the premise of three young people--Patrick, Matthew, and Hannah--meeting in the tiny town of Roseborn. The town is driven economically by Hannah's family's cement business, and other than that not much else is happening. Yet with Patrick, Matthew, and Hannah a major incident takes place that both bonds and separates them. More than two decades later they are brought back together and the ghosts of the past resurface. The story is well told in a literary style that reminds me a bit of Cormac McCarthy. The characters are drawn with broad brushstrokes that make them come to life on the pages. And the back and forth nature of the plot (two timelines) doesn't distract, but rather adds layer to the story. This novel is a winner.

Every life is complicated. And every story has multiple points of view. In his new psychological thriller, Christopher Yates attempts to reveal the truth of a story by examine all sides.

In 1982 three teenagers, Hannah, Patrick, and Matthew, take part in an unthinkable act of violence. One will lose an eye and gain a lifetime of nightmares. One will live with the guilt of inactivity, doing, saying nothing to stop the brutality. And one will go to jail for the crime, marked with the brand of viciousness.

Twenty-six years later, and circumstances are bringing the three back together, each revealing his or her perspective of the circumstances surrounding the event that upended their lives. Through each retelling, more is revealed about the lives of these kids. Sympathies waiver and switch. The violence that seemed horrific and inevitable at the start of the book becomes sad, the result of childish misunderstandings. Misunderstandings color their adult lives as well, leading them to a potentially even worse confrontation.

Abuse, sexuality, and bigotry are central to Grist Mill Road, themes presented head on without flinching. Yates reveals the tragedy of ordinary lives gone wrong and the effects of keeping secrets hidden from the ones we love.

The story starts in 1982 where three friends Matthew, Patrick (who has 2 nicknames, Patch & Tricky), and Hannah are in the woods where an extremely violent crime occurs between them. And then in 2008, we have the re-telling of the event from all three adult perspectives, whose lives are forever defined by this tragic moment (It’s amazing as adults how we perceive things differently). You also have the build-up to when their paths will cross again, and it’s defiantly anxiety inducing. The story is character driven; it exposes the coming of age feelings of jealousy, resentments, sexual longings and confusion.

Honestly, I am having mixed emotions about this book. “Grist Mill Road” started off with a really gruesome bang and I was just soaking up every word and page, with complete excitement, but then something happened and it lost its momentum. I felt like it became bogged down at times with information that was just not relevant to the story. But then it would pick back up, so it was a lot of back and forth for me. There is also the absence of quotation marks which was a little confusing for me at first, until I got in the hang of it. The ending was defiantly a, Huh? What. The. Heck! Overall, Yates spins a well-written, riveting tale that is incredibly gloomy at times with some really dark themes.

And just a side note; I loved Matthew so much. At the beginning you think there is no way you can have empathy for any character but Matthew definitely stands out for me, and my heart broke for him so much.

Thank you to Netgalley, Picador and Christopher Yates for an advanced copy.

Great book, had me a bit flustered at times, but definitely worth reading. This book had some surprising twists and then you wonder who is really the victim! Not sure I liked the ending, so that's why I give a 4.5. Would love a second book, to follow up!

I could not get into this book, it did not pique my interest so I decided to stop reading it rather than finish it and post a low review.

Unfortunately a DNF for me. The writing was okay but the descriptions were too graphic, I found it a bit distributing and end up not finishing.

Patrick, Matthew, and Hannah are bound together by a violent act that severed their relationships when they were teens in the summer of 1982. Years later, not all the truths of those events have come to light. The three are reunited once again, and it is time to face the truths of those events.

Grist Mill Road is filled with secrets and deception. Each characters having their own secrets and truths that they hide from the world and those closest to them. Their individual world’s start to fall apart when they are forced to think back all those years and face the events that happened so long ago. Ultimately it comes down to whether they are willing to forgive and move on, or get vengeance.

I’m torn about this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and getting to know the characters from the switching of perspectives. I’m always drawn to novels that are written from multiple points of view because you are able to empathize with each characters and know multiple angles of every situation. I found myself wanting more from the plot, though. The story moved quickly, and there was much to learn from the events that transpired all those years ago, but there was not much for a suspense thriller. I felt that the ending happened abruptly, and without a clear resolution. I wouldn’t call this a “on the edge of your seat” thriller, rather a redemptive drama. Worth a read because of the writing, but if you are looking for a wild roller coaster thriller, this is not the read for you.

This started out with a bang, kind of fizzled and then picked up at the end. The last part of the first half and the middle really slowed down and I almost gave up, but I’m glad I stuck it out.

This story starts out involving three adolescents and a tragic incident. It then goes on to follow them as adults and what has happened to them in the following years. I don’t want to go into too much detail since I don’t want to give anything away.

Like I stated earlier, I almost bagged it at the 30% mark but I kept with it and I’m glad I did. The writing style won’t be for everybody and I think that’s what initially what turned me off. I did get us to it. I didn’t finish his first book Black Chalk for that same reason. All in all it was a good read.

I felt this book tried to manipulate me into sympathising with a paedophile.

This is abhorrent. It marred the entire book for me and I won't be recommending or reading this author again.