CEDAR MILLS Book Review
I am so grateful to author Dylan James for sending me an ARC copy of his new novel, CEDAR MILLS, for a paid review! This review is my own personal opinion formed after reading the book. Dylan James has many publications, including poetry and short fiction, and you can check him out at https://dylanjamesauthor.com/ !
CEDAR MILLS is 318 pages of mystery and gory action. This book felt like the perfect size; it was easy to read while also being packed with action the whole way through. The beginning paragraph of the story had me curious and ready to dive into the story of Cedar Mills!
When strange disappearances and deaths begin to occur in the small town of Cedar Mills, a small group of highschoolers pair up with a fallen homicide detective to find out what’s going on in their small town.
Jake is a high school senior who begins investigating the odd happenings because of his best friend Sheldon’s sudden, unexplained death. When Sheldon’s body is discovered and his fate seems to be shrouded in secrecy, Jake and his friends from their yearbook class take it upon themselves to investigate.
Meanwhile, Tom Dalton, a former homicide detective turned private investigator after serving time in jail for beating the man his wife had an affair with, is called to Sheldon’s crime scene by his good friend Sheriff Melissa Cunningham.
Melissa reveals that she believes higher authorities are covering up the cause of Sheldon’s tragic end. Tom Dalton and Melissa agree to investigate on their own.
When Dalton finds Sheldon’s friends and joins forces with them to find out the truth behind the recent deaths and disappearances, things really start to pick up.
Throughout the story there are multiple characters and multiple side-stories for those characters. The book actually starts years before Jake was born, where we find that a man named Jarett Stoll witnessed the mass murder of his biker crew in the same spot that kids are now going missing. We return to Jarett and his story multiple times throughout the book. With Tom Dalton, we get a bit of his backstory as well as a peek at his emotional turmoil concerning his ex-wife. We also get a look at the backstories of Jake and his friends. We meet their parents, learn about their home lives, and explore their own personal struggles.
As a reader, it admittedly got to be a little distracting to learn every character’s situation. At times, I felt that the pacing of the story was slowed or interrupted to provide the audience with information about a character that was not necessary. I think it is hard to find the line between giving the audience enough information so they feel connected to the characters while also being aware of over-informing, and this book did seem to have problems finding that line.
However, the characterization in this book was wonderful! Jake Evans is one of my personal favorite characters in this story. His character went through so much loss, and I think that emotional turmoil was represented well. We learn early on that his older brother passed away, and when his best friend Sheldon meets a tragic end, I really felt for Jake. The descriptions of the days after Sheldon’s death feel quite realistic considering his and his family’s experience with loss. His parents are numb, and so is he, for the most part. I can only imagine the pain Jake and his family must have felt reliving the death of someone close to them. I appreciate the fact that no matter how much he has gone through, Jake perseveres and remains loyal and protective of his remaining friends.
This book is advertised as a thriller, and that title fits perfectly. There is suspense, mystery, and of course, a monstrous creature hunting the people of Cedar Mills! I honestly got slightly-more-adult-Scooby-Doo vibes from the story, which was really fun and something I have not had the pleasure of reading yet! If you are a fan of creature features, this will be right up your alley. I am personally not a creature feature/monster person, so my opinion may be a little skewed in that I would have preferred a more humanoid villain, but I believe Dylan James did a great job of describing a hideous monster! I still found myself wincing at the gore and gasping at the violence! The language used in the book is quite descriptive and suits the horror genre well. I will admit that I found myself wishing for a more in-depth description of the monster’s origins, especially because it was hinted early on that the creature was present in folklore. I was hoping there would be a little more backstory for the monster itself, and maybe that it would delve into the folklore behind it. I think it would have been interesting to see more of that, and maybe substituting some of the side characters’ backstory time for the monster’s would have been better for the pacing of the plot.
While we may not know much about the creature, what we do know is enough to cause fright! And to match the horrific visuals of the monster and its violence, the deaths and injuries in the book are shocking, unexpected, and gory. Each time a death occurred, I felt caught by surprise! The deaths in this book are quite well done. They feel realistic in their swiftness and unexpectedly devastating. The fatalities were some of the best parts of the book because of the way they were written, in my opinion. They elicited such a shock while also feeling so realistic, and the emotional attachment I formed to the characters made it so much harder to lose them. And let’s just say this: don’t get too attached to any character in this book! You never know who will be next…
Overall, CEDAR MILLS was a fun read! It’s a great book for those who love monsters, gore, and mystery. I am so glad that author Dylan James reached out to me with this opportunity! CEDAR MILLS was officially released TODAY on August 1st, 2025! Head over to https://dylanjamesauthor.com/ to see more of Dylan James’s work!
Amazon Link to CEDAR MILLS by Dylan James: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Dylan-James/author/B0FBBP5G9G?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=df7a7bbf-e6bf-4039-bb4a-e98074303312
Goodreads Page for Cedar Mills : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/235251500-cedar-mills?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=ypI0q0P6Ky&rank=1
