Reviews

2024 Book Review - Book No. 18: “Pines” written by Blake Crouch, narrated by Max Meyers

Date started: 4/20/24
Date finished: 4/24/24

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (would recommend reading if you like “Twin Peaks”, moments that make you say “wait, what?”, and the feeling of the Uncanny Valley)

Spoiler free review: This is my third book by Crouch in the past year, so I guess it’s safe to say I’ve been enjoying his work. “Pines” is the first book in the Wayward Pines trilogy that was adapted for television and made into a show, but I will admit I never saw the show. What intrigued me most from the trailers, though, was the idea that people leaving town would find themselves approaching the town a short time later after never turning around and never looping back. This sort of temporal trap was an easy hook for me.

What I wasn’t expecting this time around was the slow burn of the novel. It felt like this one took some time getting to the big issue at hand, while both “Dark Matter” and “Recursion” felt like they hit their stride in much timelier manner. In some ways, this was a great way of building upon the tension and creating an almost “Uncanny Valley”-esque feel to the town. From the fact that the protagonist couldn’t remember his name or why he was in Wayward Pines to the way that other people in town simultaneously didn’t seem to recognize him and yet also knew exactly why he was there, “Pines” quickly begs readers to ask the question “What is going on?”.

If I had any complaints, one would be that the answers that were eventually doled ultimately left me asking more questions. Of course, as the first book in a trilogy, this is to be expected. The big twist at the end, though, that explains the basic premise of Wayward Pines was really good. Somewhat expected and otherwise completely unexpected, it was nice to see yet another example of Crouch’s control of the sci-fi genre with this one. I’ll definitely be checking in for the rest of the series at some point.