The House in the Pines: Reese's Book Club: A Novel

I loved the story line and intrigue. The climax and ending fell flat for more. I feel like there are chapters missing. So-so

The writing is better than most best-sellers, in my opinion. However, the plot shifts from past to present without warning or a signpost to let the reader know where they are. I would have date-stamped the chapters to avoid confusion. The mystery kept me reading until the end, but it missed an opportunity for a gut-punch conclusion. Still, this is worth a read. Overall, I think this novel would have the potential to earn five stars if it had had a great editor to point out the plot flaws. I'm being picky.

This was a psychological thriller with a completely unique method of murder, so as the plot threshes out, you're not quite certain in what direction you're going. I was mystified by the author's wonderful passing back and forth through remembrances and currently happening events but I never got lost; I knew exactly where our heroine was even if she didn't. I detest spoilers, so I'll just say that Maya is a troubled but very real and likeable main character who's searching for answers regarding her best friend's death seven years ago and she goes home to reconnect in order to find out what truly happened all those years ago. In the end, we're left with a scary but eerily real explanation and a healed Maya. My first book by this author definitely won't be my last!

Definitely not a nail biter!this book is boring, slow moving and predictable. I will think twice about Reese’s book club recommendations.

Spoilers!A girl with a drug addiction turned alcohol dependent refocuses on a trauma (her best friend dying) that happened when she was 17 after seeing a video of a girl dying. She then goes on a journey to confront the man she believes is responsible for the deaths of both women.While I didn’t guess the manner of which the guy was killing the women, there were a couple things that would’ve made this a more enjoyable read.The story jumps from past and present with no notification of which time period you’re reading. You are left to guess based on what is happening in the story (the girl’s relationship with the accused man; her best friend still alive; talking about leaving for college; etc). It would’ve been helpful for the chapters to be labeled as such.Secondly, she is in a long term relationship and no one, including her live in boyfriend, knows she’s addicted to pills. She is able to secure pills for a long time, go to work, and no one is none the wiser.There were just a lot of loose ends or things added that weren’t ever cleared up or didn’t need to be there. At one point her long term boyfriend won’t return her calls but it seen by her on social media with another woman. It’s never addressed and really doesn’t add anything to the plot. There’s things like this throughout the story.It was a slow read for me and then felt rushed at the end with a lot of details left out.

In this mystery, protagonist Maya pursues answers to the question of what happened to her best friend, Aubrey, back in their senior year in high school. Maya is now a grown woman, living with Dan, her law school student boyfriend, but the question of Aubrey’s death has haunted Maya for seven years. The inability to process Aubrey’s death has propelled Maya into therapy and use and misuse of various medications. And Maya even really knows what happened to Aubrey: she dropped dead one summer day while talking to Maya’s boyfriend at the time, Frank Bellamy. Maya is convinced Frank somehow caused the death, despite a police investigation that determines he did not. Aubrey simply suffered “sudden death,” an event in which a person expires from an unknown cause. Nevertheless, Maya has never let go of the conviction, and fear, that it was Frank. Her suspicion causes her to lead her life “off the radar” to not attract Frank’s attention. People in Maya’s life have dismissed her fear as paranoia. However, her convictions are validated when Maya views on social media a video that has gone viral. In the video, Frank Bellamy is sitting with a woman who collapses and dies in much the same way as Aubrey did. Maya is propelled on a quest to find out, once and for all, what really happened to Aubrey and Cristina, the woman in the video, and what Frank’s power is. The book is well-written, with sufficient suspense to keep the reader turning pages to figure out, along with Maya, the fates of Aubrey and Cristina. The author freely plays with time, moving back and forth between the past and present. Dreams and symbols are incorporated into the narrative as well. This gives the story a somewhat mystical quality, like the magical realism that Maya’s late father Jairo wrote. In the end, Maya is able to unravel the mystery of Aubrey and Cristina’s deaths, at least to a degree.The narrative at times needs better transitions as it moves between past and present—but the jarring effect due to their lack may be deliberate, demonstrating the number of consequences the past can have on the present. In addition, although some questions about Aubrey and Cristina’s deaths, along with Frank’s involvement, are clarified, the explanation still seems incomplete and unclear. But that, too, may be a deliberate authorial choice. A lot of life is incomplete and unclear—like the nightmares that haunt Maya.

Loved the book..storyline..good book to buy

Jumping back-and-forth in a timeline often makes a book difficult to follow. Even so, this book is reasonably well written. I would have rated it four stars, except the basic premise was transparent early in the story. The only suspense, for me, was wondering early in the book, whether Maya, the primary character, was lucid or delusional. Ms. Reyes was very adept at maintaining that question.

Not the best read but good enough for a rainy day.

I enjoyed the book like a regular one. Not page turner but nice enough to read quickly. The end however was a bit flat compared to the rest

A little on the weird side...Overall, I'm struggling to know exactly how I feel about this book. I found the whole concept of the book to be a little weird and I just don't know what to make of it. The ending was a bit of a let-down and did not wow me in the way that I had hoped or expected from a psychological thriller.The book from quite early on develops an almost dreamlike or supernatural feel and we meet Maya, who is clearly struggling with a drug addiction and its subsequent withdrawal. For a long time Maya has been struggling to process and come to terms with the death of her best friend, Aubrey, in their last year of school. Aubrey suddenly drops dead in front of Maya and Frank with no apparent cause or explanation.Frank is a bit of an enigma throughout, a strange character with very little background. He is someone that Maya has been spending a lot of time with over the summer and is who Maya believes has something to do with the death of her best friend. When Maya views a YouTube video years later of Frank in a diner with another girl, who also appears just to drop dead, Maya is more convinced than not that he is involved somehow and begins her search for answers.The story overall felt a little bit dry and lacked an element of shock and surprise. A feeling of suspense also felt like it was missing throughout the book. There were many moments where the author could have upped the tension and caused the reader to feel breathless in anticipation of what was going to happen. Following on from this, I felt the conclusion and reasons to be a little on the implausible side and slightly unfathomable.

Dieses Buch hat mich sofort angesprochen und passte sehr gut zu meinem Bedürfnis nach Denise - Mystery, wenn es dunkel wird... ;-)Feeling! Wunderbar für Badewanne oder Kaminfeuer!"The House in the Pines" von Ana Reyes wartet mit einer Protagonistin auf, die ihren eigenen Gedanken und Wahrnehmungen nicht mehr trauen kann.Dazu ist sie auf einem Entzug und war jahrelang schon nicht mehr zuhause. Aber dann sieht sie ein verstörendes Video und kehrt von Boston nach Pittsfield in den Berkshires zurück!Für mich toll- ich war schon in Pittsfield und in dem Ort ist leider wirklich nichts los. Abgehängt, zehrt er nur noch vom Glanz alter Zeiten. Das hat das Buch zu einem besonderen Lesevergnügen gemacht.Die Handlung ist ganz anders als erwartet aber es ist dennoch ein pageturner.Auf Deutsch leider noch nicht erschienen!

Easy read, interesting comcept, the plot loses direction and interest in the middle.