Pines

Here is my Amazon review - please give me a “helpful” vote - http://www.amazon.com/review/R3GJSFEDBFVJND/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

This book seems to have started life as an “internet serialized thriller.” Internet serialized thriller is a genre that evolved to fit the internet. The stories are short, fast-paced and formulaic. Part of the formula is to make the revelation and bait the hook so that readers buy the next instalment, and, heaven help us, the formula works.

This book – Pines – is part of the Wayward Pines trilogy, composed of Wayward, Pines and The Last Town. These books have been turned into the Wayward Pines summer television miniseries, starring Matt Dillon. The first season covers these books. The second season represents a major departure from the novel (novellas?). Actually, the reader who has seen the miniseries is in for some surprises as the television production made substantial changes in characters and backstories.

Although the secrets of Wayward Pines are probably known to most everyone after the miniseries, I still don't want to give away the big reveal, which is what kept me speed reading through this book, even though I had seen the show.

I enjoyed this book. It was fast pace and suspenseful and I enjoyed observing the anomalies and trying to figure out how they would appear to someone who wasn't in on the secret.

The story opens with Secret Service agent Ethan Burke waking up on the grass after a car accident. Initially, he has amnesia, but as he wanders the small town of Wayward Pines, he begins to flash back to his life and why he is in town. He's in town to investigate the disappearance of two other agents, one of whom, Kate, he had an affair with. He is given a clue by the Barmaid Beverly. It appears that Wayward Pines is locked down tighter than an East German prison. Burke escapes from the town only to stumble onto something very inexplicable. This book ends with the “big reveal” about what Waywards Pines really is.

The story clipped along nicely. The mystery was substantially interesting. The characters seemed fairly two-dimensional. This is a classic bit of summer reading/escapist fare.