Reviews

Pines by Blake Crouch

Only show reviews with written explanations

bedwinnjamin's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Blake Crouch is now one of my favorite authors. I love sci-fi, I love future dystopia books, I didn't think I was a huge fan of thrillers, but Crouch won me over. This book is fast and furious. Crouch is all about constant action, no one gets any time to rest. That does mean the reader has to take breaks or they'll get burnt out like the main character usually does. Pine is an excellent series and this first book is another fun and tense ride of mystery and weird situations.

elisereally's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

tedski's review against another edition

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3.0

I have not seen the TV series, nor, in fact, did I even know there was a Wayward Pines tv program until I downloaded the book. Which is, by way of saying, that all of my comments reflect my feelings about the book, uncolored by any similarities or differences in the teleplay.

Most of the book reads like a remake of the 1960s British TV series, "The Prisoner" -- a govt secret agent wakes up to find himself in a quaint, idyllic, but odd, village, and the story chronicles the agent's varied attempts to a) find out what in the wide wide world of sports is going on here, and, b) escape. His efforts are thwarted by, at various times, strange-acting residents, a murderous mob of children, and fierce, vicious, weird, almost-human-like creatures with really really sharp claws and bad breath.

300 pages later . . .

The reveal, at the end, while interesting enough, fell far short of "shocker." In fact, it really falls a bit flat, as you start picking apart plot points and logical flaws. For example:

Spoiler

Why is there even a hotel in this town? The residents of this town are the last remaining members of the human race. There are no travelers needing a place to flop overnight. And, as there are plenty of one-horse towns with no lodging facilities, a hotel was not necessary to complete the facade of this one, except for the occasional secret service agent who may drop in.

It also strains credulity to know that the creation of such a large and elaborate project was, and still is, essentially a one-man operation.

This book winds up with 3 stars from me, because it was an entertaining enough read. But, although the follow-up books are available to me at no charge, on Kindle Unlimited, I am undecided if I care enough to find out what happens next.

Spoiler

The author has foreshadowed (billboarded, actually) a future conflict (an underground movement, in the town),

which already brings to mind potentially more logical plot flaws in this book and the follow-ups.

megareads42's review against another edition

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3.0

Meh. You can definitely tell this guy is a TV writer, and it probably makes a great show visually. On the page, it was a little disappointing. I might read another to see where the story goes, but not dying to get my hands on one. I don't know if I found the 'twist' at the end all that believable, so I'm curious where they go with it.