Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Pines by Blake Crouch

17 reviews

bunky_jones's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? N/A

3.75

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vexatiousbird's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

The good: It’s exciting. I was really curious to see where it all led. It’s fast paced and has plenty of twists. The concept was interesting.

The bad: There is not a single interesting character to be found here - all flat plot devices with no depth. The protagonist is not likable but he’s not an antihero, he’s just entitled and oblivious, eg., getting furious at the front desk for not giving him a hotel room when he has no way to pay for it. There are a lot of cheap tricks to keep the excitement going, and a lot of it doesn’t even make sense in the broader plot. There is some excessive violence which seems unnecessary/nonsensical when we ultimately see the full picture. Honestly a lot of things make less sense after the big reveal, not more sense.
The “good guys” can’t think of any way to prevent people from leaving town and force them to buy into paradise other than to enlist the entire town to catch them and literally torture them to death in a macabre carnival atmosphere so other people are too scared to try? When their ultimate goal is preserving life? What?


I dropped another of this author’s books partway through, and I thought it was just that specific plot and those characters, but it’s clear now that the problem is the author. I won’t be reading anything more by him, and now that the big mystery in this book is solved, I have no interest in continuing the series either. 
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dayanitha's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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saltycoffee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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midwichtriffid's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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hobbithopeful's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

From the very first page I was sucked right in, and I felt as scared and helpless as poor secret agent Ethan Burke. We follow our lost main character as he awakens in town with absolutely no idea where he is, and with only vague recollections of his current situation. Matters quickly go from bad to worse as he realizes he has no wallet, no phone, and the sheriff of the town is less then helpful. Burke has to discover what is going on, and try to retain his sanity in a place where everyone is starting to think he is crazy. 
Out of every monster, murderer, and creepy crawly mystery thriller I have ever read, there is something about the perfect town where everyone seems and acts happy, but there is a dark undercurrent that always unnerves me more then anything else. *shudders* Give me a vampire or a serial killer any day of the week and I will be find reading it, but the town of Wayward Pines had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end and my heart racing!
There isn't much I can say about this book without spoilers but let me just say, never in a million years would I have guessed the insidious truth about the seemingly sleepy town of Wayward Pines, and I ran  to the library website to put the next book in the trilogy on hold!
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astareads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

When I first read this trilogy in 2016 I LOVED IT. Seven years later I've read a lot more and grown to expect a bit more from a book than toxic masculinity and fridging women, so my re-read was a hell of a letdown.

It's a shame since the premise is interesting, although The Lottery-esque setting of Wayward Pines was not believable in the least, let alone how the main character was seemingly invincible.

I might finish the trilogy again if I'm feeling masochistic enough.
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