Book Review: Cedar Mills by Dylan James

Reviewed by Victoria Lilly

In the best tradition of small-town Americana horror, Dylan James’s Cedar Mills raises the question of what lies beneath the surface of the stories we’ve been told, and the ones we choose to (re)tell.

Blending supernatural horror, small-town mystery, and political conspiracy across two intertwined timelines—1998 and 2023—Cedar Mills grows from a creepy folk legend into a thriller involving a covert government facility and a world of fantastical creatures.

In 1998, Jarrett Stoll, a member of the Cedar Mills Devils motorcycle gang, is punished by his fellow thugs after they discover he’s been stealing money from drug runs. The gang drags Jarrett into the woods, burns off his club tattoo, and buries him alive. But something horrific intervenes; a monstrous being emerges from the Cedar River and slaughters the gang members. Jarrett manages to escape and vanishes. The massacre is covered up, blamed on wild animal attacks, but rumors begin to swirl of a “Cedar Mills Monster.”

In 2023 Jake Evans, a despondent Cedar Mills High student and aspiring writer, navigates grief over his brother David’s suicide, as well as a sense of alienation in a town hostile to ambitions and dreams. His close friend, Sheldon Haynes, is more optimistic, if awkward. He’s fixated on the urban legend of Jarrett Stoll and determines to uncover the truth for a yearbook spread. Jake, too nervous to trespass, declines to join Sheldon on an expedition to the abandoned grist mill.

After Sheldon’s body is found near the mill, Jake is racked by guilt over letting his friend go alone to his death. He begins investigating in earnest, joined by the fellow student and newspaper editor Alexis Winder, who is also drawn into the legend. As they dig deeper, more disappearances follow.

Enter Tom Dalton, once a brilliant homicide detective now living a hermit’s life, his career having imploded after a violent altercation with his wife’s lover. Ostracized, scarcely scraping together a living as a PI, Tom is haunted by his past and seeking redemption. Sheldon’s murder piques his interest, and he uncovers the forgotten Jarrett Stoll case, which had mysteriously disappeared from public record. From there on, the rabbit hole grows ever more twisted, corrupt, and fantastic.

The novel straddles many genres—part coming-of-age drama, part investigative thriller, and part creature-horror—but James weaves it all together by deploying both terror and human connection to great effect. The 1998 flashback creates a visceral, mythic image that lingers throughout the modern-day mystery, haunting the characters’ search for truth at every step.

Character development is another among Cedar Mills‘ strong points, particularly the arcs of Jake and Tom. Personal guilt and grief, which fuel Jake’s evolution from passive observer to determined truth-seeker, give his character realism and emotional resonance. Tom, at first a rather conventional brooding detective with a dark past, becomes a surprising moral compass, and his ultimate redemption feels well-earned.

The pacing is solid, and the alternating perspectives allow the story to build momentum while fleshing out multiple viewpoints. James handles the balance of horror and realism well, with the monstrous working on both a literal and metaphorical level. The physical setting—particularly the woods, riverside, and the concealed facility—contributes well to an atmosphere of sinister dealings and otherworldly dangers. The monster is handled with restraint, used sparingly to preserve suspense and ambiguity, even after its biological origins are partially explained.

Cedar Mills has a slower middle stretch where the space allotted to development of the supporting cast can feel inadequate. Certain members of the cast seem more geared toward moving the plot forward rather than being fully fleshed-out people, and they lose some emotional impact as a result.

At times, the dialogue is heavy on exposition, particularly when revealing the backstory of the secret testing facility, and the story surrounding the government risks overwhelming the narrative’s emotional core.

In the end, Cedar Mills is a gripping, genre-fusing horror novel that’s simultaneously deeply human and social. Dylan James crafts a layered, high-stakes narrative filled with dread, grief, and loyalty, all rooted in the chilling landscape of a small town with a buried past—and buried in a shallow grave. Its characters are sympathetic and memorable, especially Jake and Tom, whose arcs give the book emotional weight far beyond the scares.

Cedar Mills is the kind of horror novel that stays with you—not just for its monster, but for the damage done by carelessness, systematic dehumanization, and silence.

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