The Mills of God
Justin R. Smith
Reviewed by Araminta Matthews
Some of the best mystery novels juxtapose tricky concepts seamlessly
with both real life scenarios and great characterization. Dan
Brown's famous book, The Da Vinci Code juxtaposes cryptic messages and
fine art with thievery and vanity as readers dissect codes and begin to
look at Da Vinci's paintings in a new way. While primarily a
horror novelist, Stephen King has juxtaposed everything from complex
viral strains to real estate management in his novels. The Mills
of God does just exactly that with the same deft skill as Brown or
King. Smith's story weaves together new age concepts of dream
analysis and reincarnation with the luxuriously described settings of
Germany, Switzerland, England, and the United States, as well as with
computer programming and mathematical coding. On top of all of
this, the story is flooded with rhythmic, rhyming poetry in the voice
of its main character that is both engaging and illuminating all at
once.
The story follows a young girl and genius, Constance Fairchild, on the
cusp of womanhood. After being orphaned by her parents, her
billionaire grandfather charges a cold and plotting woman to arrange
her care. Constance, called Stanzi and Connie by friends, is
shipped off to a school in Switzerland to live out her teen years; but
after she settles in, strange things begin to happen. Her room is
tossed and bugged by mysterious villains, she and her roommate find
themselves followed almost everywhere they go, and people around her
keep dying.
While the story moves at a smooth tempo – for the most part – and most
of the characters are believable and engaging, there was much about
Constance Fairchild that didn't ring true for a youthful girl – even a
genius youthful girl. Her maturity and wherewithal are more
likely that of a woman in her late twenties, not a fresh fourteen year
old. I suspect that the writer assumed that her status as a
genius would dissuade the reader from questioning her maturity, but I
disagree. In my experience, youthful geniuses mature more slowly
– perhaps to burdened by the pressures of academia to develop effective
maturation. Her dialogue, her actions, her interpretations, and
her relations are definitely not those of a girl her age. At the
same time, her age was rarely a difficulty. The novel was
engaging enough that this blatant discrepancy was rarely given any
thought. In other words, the book was good.
I would say that I read this book in one sitting, but in fairness, it
took me two. Neglecting my vocational tasks, I opted to settle
into my reading chair to plough through The Mills of God, and I was
glad that I did. Smith is a writer skilled at his craft, though,
I might suggest he spend a great deal of time more with pre-teen and
early teen girls before tackling a first-person narrative from one's
perspective again.