Title: Today’s a Yellow Day
Author: James Roth
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 978-1477113509
Pages: 304
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Arthur Thares
Hollywood Book Review
It is hard to come up with an original story and doing so is ninety-nine percent of writing. Author James Roth has created a fantastic story filled with rich characters which feels more like friends than characters in a book. The book feels like a first-time novel yet there is still a lot to appreciate about Today’s a Yellow Day.
Tim is a normal high schooler in a small Northeastern town in the 1960s. Though his home life isn’t perfect, his parents love him the best they can and he lives a lower middle-class life. He’s not left wanting for much, but he never has more than he needs either. Despite his everyday challenges, Tim hasn’t seen a lot of real adversity in his life; however, that changes thanks to a turn of events which leaves his small town in fear.
In a quiet town where the worst criminal offenses are parking tickets, there is a darkness growing. Local animals are going missing, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. As terrible crimes begin to surface, Tim and the entire town struggle with the aftermath as they wonder who could be responsible for the heinous acts. Our main character, a seemingly upstanding citizen, even comes under a lot of scrutinies by the local police as they try to unravel the goings on long before DNA evidence was a methodology of crime procedures.
It is not a pleasure to say, but it bears mentioning that Roth still has some polishing to do in his writing. This book has a ton of heart, yet some chapters seem too short and don’t move the story forward in any significant way. What Roth shows is his ambitious research. He takes the time to flesh out the characters and make you care about the teens, their parents, and their little town. It is clear that he took the time to research the heritage and ideology of the people in a small Northeastern town in that era. All of these little touches make this book charming, though the subject matter can be dark at times. The end is not entirely happy, but it is deliciously satisfying.
I liked the structure of this book, but I wish that there was a little more editing done. The story itself is an interesting one with a few twists and surprises along the way. This period crime drama is filled with more mystery than it is suspense and you will be surprised how easy it is to get lost in the pages of Today’s a Yellow Day.