Just before Maya left for college, her best friend, Aubrey, suddenly died while speaking with Frank, a man the two had spent time with over the summer. Horrified by what unfolded, Maya fled to Boston and her university life. Now, seven years later, she lives with her boyfriend, Dan, but she is still troubled by the long-ago summer and copes by drinking too much and taking unprescribed Klonopin, mechanisms she keeps secret from Dan.

Her terror comes to the fore when she watches a YouTube video in which a young woman with no apparent trauma or distress drops dead in a diner. Maya is certain that the man sitting in the booth with her is Frank. Not only does this result in the surfacing of unpleasant memories, it causes Maya to fear for her safety.

Maya returns to her hometown in Western Massachusetts. She’s convinced that if she finds out what really happened to Audrey and the woman who just died, she’ll be able to bring them justice. She recently stopped taking Klonopin, and she is not sure if her gaps in memory are related to withdrawal or if she really lost time that terrible summer. But in her mother’s house, she finds a manuscript written by her Guatemalan father, a father she never met, with a message that help keeps her centered while she also begins to rebuild her relationship with her mother.

THE HOUSE IN THE PINES is one of those books I devoured because I had to know how the story would resolve itself. The quick pace makes it an entertaining read. The fact that Maya couldn’t trust herself and that her mind felt unprotected was particularly scary to me. However, I don’t really enjoy the alcoholic/drunk thriller protagonist. Also, the payoff was a little anticlimactic to me because I figured out what was happening early on. Something I really loved, though, were the Guatemalan history and legends included in the book.

The House in the Pines | Ana Reyes
A mystical thriller where the truth is known by a most unreliable source.

Maya is a mess, and she has been for a very long time. Full of broken coping mechanisms and a textbook addiction to medication she shouldn’t have access to, she finds rock bottom quickly with a disturbing video linked to her past and a few too many daiquiris. Desperate for the relief of the truth, Maya heads back to her mother’s house – arguably the source location for her trauma. Even if she was right about the connection between her best friend’s death and the video of the diner, would she find enough clarity to uncover the truth?

It took me a minute to find my rhythm with this book. It had all the brilliant elements that I look for in a thriller, but it was hard to root for Maya when everything seemed severely stacked against her. All my sluggishness melted away with the second half of the novel. As the pressure mounted and the stakes skyrocketed, The House in the Pines became unputdownable!

Watching Maya piece her broken and blacked-out memories together on the page gave me a backward sense of delight and bolstered the sense of hope I was looking for in the first half. This story is carefully crafted and brilliantly executed. I was worried that the ending would land with the hollowness Maya displays at first but Ms. Reyes gives us anything but; there are soaring notes of strength and perseverance [though not the tidy happy ending I’m accustomed to with my recent slew of rom-coms].

4/5 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC for review. Additional thanks to Reese’s Book Club for giving the nudge to read and review before January was up!

This book was eerie and unique. I didn’t know what to expect but it was an interesting read. I couldn’t believe what was going on.

Although there are some unique and new ideas in this novel I found a lot of the character's behaviors to be annoying and implausible. The writing didn't draw me in and the plot itself was hard for me to get behind. Those who appreciate this type of narrative (unreliable narrator who is recovering from addiction and unexplained deaths) may love it but it was just okay to me.

I was excited for this book, since Reese picked it for her January book club :) It was a fun ride, and a quick read.

But I didn't really connect with the characters, and I got to a point where I just read because I was 45 % into it. There was a little something in the plot that I didn't see coming, so that was good. But overall, it was an okay thriller.

One of my goals for 2023 was to read the Reese's Book Club picks each month, of all the celebrity book clubs, the titles picked always resonate with me most so I decided why not make it a point to read them all? Kicking off the year on a good start, THE HOUSE IN THE PINES was everywhere leading up to pub day & I was lucky enough to receive an eARC from Dutton Books + the audio thanks to Penguin Random House audio, making it my first audio read of the year and an enjoyable one at that!

I may not be able to devour audiobooks, but I always love a good thriller to listen to and this one had such great narration. This story was unique in how it was written, Maya's flashbacks, and how they made up so much of her as a character. I wouldn't necessarily consider this book a mystery/thriller in the traditional sense, but Reyes managed to capture my attention and keep me wanting to know where the story was going from the beginning. In my opinion, it was more of a realistic how and why things were happening in her life that was strange and unpredictable that made it suspenseful, the who that caused the similarities in her past and current life made it something to dive into after the trauma, guilt, and self-doubt one can have has taken it's toll.

This is one fantastic mystery with a drawn-out lead-up to a very unique twist. Once this was exposed, so much clicked into place. I was simultaneously excited and afraid for how it would all play out. I experienced much anxiety while contemplating what I thought I knew, rethinking the implications, and as I fretted about the outcome. A 5 star #mustread recommendation.

I'm excited for more from this debut author.

While the idea of this book was so interesting and promising, the actual storyline fell super flat for me. The majority of this sort was useless fluff to make it into a novel. There wasn’t a whole lot of character development or any kind of development. The revelation at the end was so out of here that even I didn’t believe it. And I’m one who reads about women falling in love with dragons and a lot of other never gonna happen type of deals.

Thank you so so much to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc. This book started off really strong and I was hooked on where the story was headed especially with Maya returning to her hometown. Unfortunately, after the first 1/3 of the book, the plot was still slowly unraveling and failed to give me that thrill I need. The reveal didn’t excite me as much as I thought because it felt like it took too long to get there tbh. my favorite part was the atmospheric vibes the book gave off! 3💫

This novel had a really interesting plot, but I felt like it was really slow at times. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I thought the parts that included her dad and his book were a little boring and not necessary. All in all it was an entertaining read but I don’t think it will really be memorable a few months from now. Thank you netgalley for my free review copy.

Thank you to Libro.fm for the early listening copy of this book and Netgalley for the digital copy
While I was invested in and wanted to know Maya’s story and what led to her current life I kept feeling the book was too long. Many of the references to her father had little to do with main plot of the book. If you are more accepting of magical or less mainstream theories than this may be a better read for you.
Super quick read/listen and Marisol Ramirez did a wonderful job with the narration. A good book but one I’ll forget very soon. Surprising to me this was one of the major Book Club picks.

3.5 stars rounded down to 3

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The House in the Pines is a psychological thriller centered around an unreliable narrator, Maya. When Maya was 17, she met Frank, a mysterious young gentleman, at the library while translating her late father's manuscript. Enamored with Frank at first, Maya soon notices something is off about him, coming away from their time together with chunks of time missing. Maya's suspisions are confirmed when her best friend, Aubrey, inexplicably drops dead while arguing with Frank.

Years later, Maya has tried to move on. She has a new life with a new partner, but still deals with issues stemming from the trama of her past. During a sleepless night, Maya stumbles upon a video of the same exact thing happening to another woman associated with Frank. Maya knows Frank is at fault, but she just can't prove it.

Throughout the novel, Ana Reyes attempts to weave together Maya's story with a fictional story her late father wrote, serving almost as a frame story (or at very least a heavy-handed thematic thread). Some of the connections Maya makes to the events that happened to her seem like a bit of a stretch, but I do appreciate the use of this in-world fiction as a plot device. I also liked that the story kept Maya connected to both her late father and her Guatemalan heritage.

The ending felt a bit clumsy and unresolved. As someone with a degree in psychology, the explanations about the mysterious effects Maya experienced were extremely far-fetched. I also would have liked a bit more resolution regarding Frank.

If you like a well-intentioned unreliable narrator or a frame story, this book might be for you. As a thriller it was a bit lacking in some key elements, but the concept was interesting enough to make it a worthwhile read.

CW for drug and alcohol addiction

Crossposted to goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5225608900

Loved this creeptastic book
Definitely loved the Authors writing style. It was descriptive without dragging the story down. Loved all the "of my God" moments.

The writing was decent and it was a unique plot. However, it was slow and confusing. It would hop back between present day and 7 years ago with no indication, and with similar events happening so it always took a bit to figure out what was happening. The reveal was extremely farfetched.

In the beginning of this book I was a little disappointed to see we had another thriller on our hands where we rely on the unreliable, drug addicted FMC. It's a testament to how well this book was paced, written and crafted that I quickly forgot about my feelings with the narrator's perceptions being addled by substances. I REALLY enjoyed the way this story played out. I appreciated the way Reyes wove Guatemalan culture into her writing and the reveal of the twist was really well done.

Maya has struggled to move on since the day her best friend mysteriously dropped dead in front of Frank, an older man she had been dating at the time. When she sees a Youtube video years later of another young woman dying under the same circumstances in Frank’s presence yet again she returns home to get to the bottom of what happened.

I don’t know why I let this sit on my TBR so long because when I picked it up I totally devoured it. I loved the duel timelines and the secondary plot that became intertwined in the mystery. Maya’s father was Guatemalan and passed away prior to finishing his novel. This comes up throughout the book as she uses the translation of her father’s novel to piece together the truth about what happened. Not to mention this book also touches on the difficulty of working through addiction and surviving withdrawal.

I’ll keep it spoiler free, but I thought the twist in this book was so unique and explored a concept I haven’t experienced in other thriller novels. My only big criticism is that I felt like the book could have benefited from fleshing out these multiple plots a bit more. An extra 100 pages to get into more detail about the multiple plot points would have definitely bumped up my rating. Even still, I think this book is worth checking out and I will definitely pick up this author’s next book.

The House in the Pines starts off strong with an interesting premise, and it really grabbed my attention right away. It was easy to keep reading, and I was really interested to find out what happened with Maya and Frank. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It does, however, commit some “thriller sins” that irk me. The main character has a drug problem, therefore you’re not sure if she’s reliable. Because of course she does. All thriller females must be addicted or alcoholics. It’s a trope that’s tired, in my opinion. It’s also a supernatural thriller that *SPOILER ALERT* turns out to not be supernatural. Again, a thriller trope that is over used. The story would be more interesting if it did turn out to be supernatural, in my opinion. I also felt that the ending kind of fizzled a bit. I just wasn’t a fan of how anticlimactic it was. Despite these things, it’s a solid 3 star read and I think die hard thriller fans will love this.

I really like this debut suspenseful story.
After seeing another woman drop dead the same way her best friend did 7 years prior, while in the presence of the same person, Maya knows she has to go home and face everything she has been running from. She knows Frank is someone to fear but why?
Read if you enjoy or are looking for magical realism in your suspense. I enjoyed the twists and couldn't figure them out. The story moves at a slow pace it felt worth it in the end. The discussions around addiction, withdrawal and recovery were all a nice touch that I didn't expect to enjoy as much.

I really enjoyed this one!! There was an element I feel that we don’t see a lot in thriller novels and it was really fascinating that it was included.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Thanks @duttonbooks for this gifted copy! I got to listen to Ana Reyes talk about THITP a couple months ago and I’ve been really looking forward to it since!

Maya’s friend died suddenly and mysteriously seven years ago and she always knew there was more to it, even if no one believed her.. Now after another woman has died in the same mysterious way, she knows she has to return to her hometown to finally get to the bottom of things.

This one was more of a thrilling mystery than a mysterious thriller, but I really enjoyed it and flew through it in a couple days. So many questions asked and hints dropped along the way. I think this was a great debut and look forward to reading more from the author in the future!