Sri Lankan refugee, Sam Selvadurai, fleeing the genocide in his homeland, settles in Milltown, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario; he buys an old hamburger shop and turns it into a gourmet South Asian restaurant, while the town folk eye him with suspicion . The restaurant and most of Milltown are owned by the unscrupulous but charismatic Art Hamilton whose wife committed suicide, while his troubled teenage son, Andy, languishes in a young offenders' prison on the border of town after having emptied a shotgun in the schoolyard, killing two students.
Frank Morgan, the town's mayor, is on the take, pushing an amendment through council to expand the local chemical plant - for the benefit of key investor Art Hamilton. Frank lusts after his assistant, Sue Miller, whose husband died at Art's plant and who has her own plan for revenge. Sue is forlornly attracted to the town's drunken lawyer and failed politician, Rick Jones.
When Sam's teenage daughter, Sarojini, and Sue's son, Billy, fall in love, and Andy bursts out of prison, the town erupts in violence and disarray. The forces of racial prejudice, parental neglect, sexual harassment, teen pregnancy, and corporate greed meet in a perfect storm in Milltown. The body count mounts, and the town's inhabitants are forced to examine their own lives before casting the first stone.
As the solitary lighthouse swivels and shines its light into the nooks and crannies of Milltown, Sam asks, "Is there evil here too?"
"Shane Joseph is fearless in having his characters suffer within incidents that a lesser writer would balk at. Milltown is a riveting novel." Ronald Mackay - author Fortunate Isle
"Milltown takes the reader on a virtual merry-go-round of crooked industrialists, abusive politicians, unwanted pregnancies, psychopathic killers, drunken lawyers, Sri Lankan immigrants and inept mobsters" Ben Antao - author Money & Politics