Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - The House in the Pines

The House in the Pines is a masterpiece in the thriller-mystery genre. The author creates such an eerie atmosphere that draws you in deeply, quickens your pulse, and makes you want to read just one more chapter. The main character tries desperately to unravel the mystery of the death of her best friend seven years prior, but is shrouded by self-doubt, pill her withdrawal and alcohol, and disbelief from every person she reaches out to for help, to the point where you pain for her, but also question her reliability. The narrative switches back and forth between past and present as the main character slowly starts to remember what she was forced to forget. Certified page turner.

Only theee small critiques I have:

The title is The House in the Pines, but the author almost exclusively refers to said location as the cabin in the woods. I wished she used the title a bit more!
I would have loved to learn more about what happened to Ruby!
Some mention of whether a chapter was set in the past or present would have been helpful, especially for the chapters where she is revisiting a location.

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javafenn's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I’m not entirely sure what to think of this book. The premise was good and ultimately the plot twist was good but there wasn’t much of a resolution and it just kind of… ended. I gave it 3.5 stars because it did keep me engaged but the ending was so abrupt and uneventful that I had to rewind it several times because I thought o was missing something. There was a lot I wish there was more of, I guess.

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snoopyfanclub's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

It was so enthralling but the end just fell flat. Like okay it was a sweet ending I guess but not satisfying at all.

I wanted Frank to be stabbed in the gut!!! She brought a knife TWICE in scenes with him and never used it. Like so unsatisfying and she kind of forgot Aubrey existed towards the end like no justice for her I guess. I thought the big reveal would be that was hypnotizing people and poisoning them with the stew she described like 50 times. Also not everyone’s able to be hypnotized yet Aubrey is immediately fully under his command when she was not as dreamy and impressionable as Maya!! Also it’s not a house it’s a cabin so the title isn’t even correct.

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lnezzy16's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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inirac's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

Wtf is this ending?

This one suffered from Chekov's Magical Realism. If Magical Realism is mentioned in Act 1 then it should at minimum be threat to happen for the rest of the book. It actually doesn't matter if it the world magic or not, but the main character should be questioning it more. This story had the potential to get much weirder and this leaves me disappointed. This is 100% going to be made into a mediocre tv show or movie and I will probably still watch it.

At the least it's impressive it was a thriller without being extremely violent, gory, or focus on sexual assualt.

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nuuamuikkunen's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

I didn’t really understand how what happened and the story in the book were connected. Would have loved to read more about

the hypnosis</>.

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blossom16's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Enjoyed the book but the ending wasn't that great to me. I wish there were more hints at the beginning of the book about what the twist was, because it seemed a bit random.

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shelbert's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

This book was mostly good but the ending was not satisfying.

There could have been so much more added that could have made this better. But with that being said, I really liked the idea of the book, it did keep me on my toes.

I am disappointed with how it wrapped up. There are still questions that will never be answered. I felt like this book could have been so much better.

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