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Christopher J. Yates

Biography

Christopher J. Yates

Christopher J. Yates is the author of the novels BLACK CHALK, GRIST MILL ROAD and THE RABBIT CLUB.

BLACK CHALK was an Indie Next pick that was also named a best book of the year by NPR, and a “must read” by the Boston Globe, BBC.com and the New York Post.

GRIST MILL ROAD was an Entertainment Weekly "Must Read" and one of the NPR Book Concierge's "Best Books of the Year."

Christopher was born in London and studied law at Wadham College, Oxford. He currently lives in New York’s Hudson Valley and was the area’s dining critic for the Times Union newspaper until 2024.

He’s also the co-author of 5 MINUTE MURDER, a book of whodunit puzzles.

Christopher J. Yates

Books by Christopher J. Yates

by Christopher J. Yates - Fiction, Literary Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

When Ali McCain, an 18-year-old from Los Angeles, is accepted at Oxford, it’s a chance to fulfill his dreams. To study English literature in England; to meet true intellectuals; and to glimpse the life he might have lived had his father --- British rock star Gel McCain, legendary frontman of the Pale Fires --- not abandoned him and his mother when he was a toddler. But not long after he arrives at the storied campus, Ali is drawn into a dark, disorienting world where events grow more and more curious by the day. Trading on his father’s name, he gains entry into one of Oxford’s oldest and most selective secret societies, the Saracens. As he immerses himself in this rarefied world, he inadvertently sets in motion a series of events that might culminate in disaster.

by Christopher J. Yates - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

The year is 1982. The setting: an Edenic hamlet some 90 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.

by Christopher J. Yates - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

It was only ever meant to be a game played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University --- a game of consequences, silly forfeits and childish dares. But then the game changed: The stakes grew higher and the dares more personal and humiliating, finally evolving into a vicious struggle with unpredictable and tragic results. Now, 14 years later, the remaining players must meet again for the final round. Who knows better than your best friends what would break you?