A review by beckyyreadss
Pines by Blake Crouch

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed Upgrade by Blake Crouch and once, I enjoy a book by an author, I want to read more from them. I decided to start with Pines, as it was on Kindle Unlimited and sounded interesting and wouldn’t hurt my head like Upgrade did.  

This book is based on Ethan Burke, and he is a Secret Service agent. He has arrived in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a mission to locate to federal agents who went missing in this town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation turns up more questions than why can’t he get any phone calls through to his wife and son? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep residents in? Or something else out? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan farther from the world he knew, from the man he was, until he must face a horrifying fact – he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.  

Again, like Upgrade, I loved the main character in this book. Ethan Burke wasn’t taking no shit; he was determined to find out what the hell was going on in this town and to get the hell out of there to be with his wife and son. I found myself rooting for Ethan and really wanting him to be reunited with his family and wanted to give him a hug. I liked the plot and how it was slowly building and mind-fucking. I was so confused but wanted to carry on finding out what the hell was going on.  

I felt like the side characters were underdeveloped. They were only there to move the story along besides his wife and son. Everyone in the book just felt very 2D and I understood why but I just wanted a bit more from them. The plot twists did confuse me slightly with all the memory wiping and future thing. I would have loved for this to be dual POV and for the doctor to have another POV, so the reader knew what was going on and watching Ethan connect the dots. He spends most of the book unconscious or in pain and the hospital.  

I cannot wait to read the next one in the series. I’m intrigued with how this is going to be continued especially with the ending, but we will wait and see.  
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