The House in the Pines Reese's Book Club by Ana Reyes, Paperback
Table Of Content
In doing so, Maya finds closure for Aubrey’s death and her own abuse. As a result, Maya no longer feels like a lost soul. She recovers her mental health, overcomes her struggles with addiction, and dives back into her love of writing, pursuing her dream to carry on her father’s legacy and complete his manuscript. As Frank and Maya spent more time together, Maya neglected her friendship with Aubrey; however, when Aubrey tried to prove to Maya that Frank should not be trusted, she caught Frank’s attention. Maya showed up at his cabin to confront him, but, once there, she forgot her anger and simply soaked in the cabin’s beauty.
Love It, Lease It, Live It...
One was the story of a girl who was taken advantage of by an older guy and sort of dissociates and thinks he’s a murderer when actually he (metaphorically) killed her. The second is the story of her father and his unfinished novel, which I found kind of poignant but maybe that is more of a short story. I talk about the Guatemalan interlude in my review of The House in the Pines. I read an interview with the author who said that the Guatemala stuff was a clue that the house wasn’t real because … magical realism. I could be on board with a magical realism thriller. But then why throw in the hypnosis (which seemed very science-based) and the gaslighting, which was just garden variety toxic male gaslighting.
About the Author
"I started Pretty in the Pines while I was applying to dental schools," she says. "I thought I wanted to be a dentist, but after being rejected from a few schools the first time around, I started to realize that I was in it for the wrong reasons." All in all, I think this is a good and entertaining thriller. There are uneven parts but it really does try to cover many different topics from friendships, mother/daughter relationships, jealousy, addiction and more. I understand what the author was trying to convey but it just feels repetitive at this point.
Kindle Book
I thought the author balanced both timelines well and it generally flowed nicely. But coping with her secret addiction and Klonopin withdrawal makes it difficult to trust her own mind. Even so, she dives headfirst into the trauma she tried to push away for so long, and she finally faces Frank—the strange boy with the cabin deep in the woods . I think this book could have been so interesting as a sort of magical realism/horror/trauma book but it never got there.
Editorial Reviews
When Maya wakes up, she finds a video on social media of a woman dropping dead in a diner in Maya’s hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Maya is shocked to recognize him as Frank, the older guy Maya was involved with in high school. With the voice recording as proof, Maya convinces the police of Frank’s guilt.
Maya tells Dan she needs to go back to her hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts and talk to people in the diner where Christina died. Like all heroines in thrillers who go back to their hometowns to solve a years-old small town murder, Maya is inexorably drawn into danger. Sometimes the prose felt a little sloppy and info dump-y, almost like the story had too much author intrusion. The author inserted herself into the story a lot, telling readers something rather than showing, especially when it had to do with Maya’s family history.
Book Review: The House in the Pines
Fire Island Pines 'Pyramid House' on market for $4.25 million - Newsday
Fire Island Pines 'Pyramid House' on market for $4.25 million.
Posted: Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
That said, I was not a fan of a woman lead character, once again, harboring alcohol and drug abuse. I’m extremely tired of this plot device in thrillers. A big component is that Maya has gaps in her memories of her time with Frank and what happened with Aubrey. So with that, she becomes somewhat of an unreliable narrator and the reader has to decide if what Maya is relying is actually the truth. The House in the Pines is set in Pittsfield, the same place where Ana Reyes wrote her first story at eleven years old about a strange house in the woods.
In the past, Aubrey tells Maya that Frank gave her a book on mesmerism. (Well that is another BIG CLUE.) Frank shows up and wants to talk. Maya goes to get her phone to call the police and Aubrey falls over dead. But Frank describes the cabin and then it IS real and Maya is there. He gives her a key (to the cabin?) Then she’s back outside and all groggy and confused. Googling in the present, Maya finds a woman named Ruby Garza, who died in Hood River (where Frank was from) ten years ago in a fire.
Friendly Pines Camp hosting open house
Steven says that Christina left him a note saying she was going to go live with Frank in his cabin. Maya realizes the title of her dad’s book comes from a religious poem, the Hymn of the Pearl. In the past, Frank takes Maya to his house in the pines. Someone calls Frank “Gary.” Maya finds a mixtape made for Frank by someone named Ruby.
The suspense is minimal, with no sense that Frank is coming for Maya or that it actually matters whether these crimes are solved. Brenda Edwards met Jairo Ek Basurto while on a missionary trip in Guatemala; he was murdered at the age of 22 before Brenda even knew she was pregnant. He left behind an uncompleted manuscript which Maya translated around the time she met Frank but then stuffed in a drawer; it turns out to have inspiration for her now. One of the most interesting conversations in the novel is between Maya and her mother, discussing the manuscript and the idea that our souls have a “true home” elsewhere. One would rather read a book about Brenda and Maya and skip Frank and his house in the pines altogether. As the narrative starts to progress, Maya gets reconnected to her past after watching a YouTube video in which a young woman died in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank.
Seeking answers, she heads to her Berkshire hometown to relive that fateful summer — the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey. To save herself, Maya must understand a story written before she was born but time keeps running out and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank’s cabin. However, her past returns when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer to finally solve the mystery of what happened to Aubrey.
Then “Girl Dies on Camera” appears on social media. In it, a young woman pitches over dead at a table in a diner in Maya’s hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. As Maya sees to her horror, the woman was with Frank Bellamy, an older man/weirdo she dated that terrible senior summer. Frank was present when her best friend, Aubrey West, died the same way as the woman in the video, with no cause ever determined. Maya’s always thought Frank had something to do with it. Now she's sure and takes a trip home to see what she can find out.
I wasn’t sure if I was in the mood for it, even with the endorsement of Reese’s Book Club. No, The House in the Pines is not based on a true story. But Maya, the main character, shares several things in common with the author, Ana Reyes. Both Ana and Maya have struggled with Klonopin withdrawal, and both are half Guatemalan.
She thought that Frank was a killer from the beginning and never changed her mind. The only thing that changed was that other people believed her. Yes, Aubrey and Christina are possibly victims of Frank, but Maya is his main victim.
In an interview, Ana Reyes speaks to the importance of Maya’s father’s half-finished book and how it points to the dangers surrounding her. The idea of confronting your past—especially when it’s a past you can’t clearly see or remember—is an interesting catalyst for a story. I also loved the dark fairy tale vibes throughout the book. Maya met Frank at the library one day while researching her father’s manuscript. At first, Maya didn’t think much about the hours of missing time she experiences while out with Frank. The relationship was exciting—Frank would never tell her what they’d be doing or where they were going, leaving it all as a surprise.
This is a pet peeve of mine—it intrudes on the narrative and jolts the reader out of the story. Like that maybe her mom was in on it or was drugging her to keep her in hypnosis or something. I wish I had not wasted my time reading it and I am surprised it was on a popular bookclub reading list.
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