An ancient poplar loomed at the entrance to the abandoned road, its rounded mass of huddled gray limbs reminding her of a brain. She passed beneath its lobes, twigs branching like arteries overhead as she entered the forest.-------------------------------------- Deep in these woods, there is a house that’s easy to miss. 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 enjoyed this book and thought it was a unique premise. The story centers on Maya, whose best friend Aubrey died suddenly while with the guy Maya was dating named Frank. There is something weird and creepy about Frank that Maya can’t put her finger on, but she is convinced he had something to do with the death. 7 years later she sees a video posted online where another woman seemingly just keels over and dies while also in Frank’s presence and Maya knows she has to get to the bottom of what Frank is doing to these people. If guilty pleasures could come in book form...side by side with Ben and Jerry's, trashy TV, and belting out show tunes in the shower, this one could hold its own...in the BEST possible way! 😉 Maya wants to be a writer like her father who'd died at a very young age in Guatemala so Maya only has the stories that her mother has told her about her father. At the age of seventeen Maya's best friend (Aubrey) was talking to Maya's ex-boyfriend (Frank) and just dropped over dead, literally. Maya has always believed Frank had something to do with Aubrey's death but she didn't know how he did it and after police investigations they just thought Maya was delusional with grief.

And I liked it! While not a perfect story, there’s actually quite a bit of depth and I was so interested in where the story would go. I truly had no idea and just went along for the ride. Sometimes I think it’s more fun to be completely surprised by thrillers rather than guessing all the key reveals. What’s the Story About Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer. Overall, this was fine as a debut. I can't say I was overly invested with the story or with how unreliable Maya was, but I'm not mad I read it. I wouldn't put this in the thriller category either, a psychological something, not sure what. These questions have been tailored to this book’s specific reading experience, but if you want more ideas, we also have an article with 101 generic book club questions.

It's like she was forced to relive it. I appreciated that her character was willing to return home and face all her fears and it did get creepy.

Isn’t it interesting two healthy young women dropped death after talking with the same guy? Is he death whisperer? Is he an evil magician? Maya does her Miss Marple thing to try to find out what really happened to Aubrey, to find out how Frank killed her, and one more thing. During the few weeks in which she dated Frank, there were multiple episodes in which she lost hours of time. Did Frank drug her? There is peril aplenty, as we take Maya’s word that Frank is a killer, so all her activity might be putting her in mortal peril. If only the cops had taken her seriously, but you know the cops in such almost stories never do. Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Dutton and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own. What signs did you notice which demonstrated Frank’s manipulative character? Is it understandable that Maya missed or ignored these signs?Pliny the Elder said Home is where the heart is, but how can a place that feels so home-like also be so terrifying? This reflects some events and concerns in Reyes’s life. The inspiration was mostly subconscious. I was living alone in a new city, cut off from any place I’d call home, when I wrote the first draft. This lonely feeling inspired one of the book’s major themes, which is the universal yearning to return to a place and time of belonging. That theme shaped the story and helped me build the titular house in the pines. - from the Book Club Kit Reyes incorporated several elements of her life into the book. In addition to struggles with addiction, both Maya and Ana are half Guatemalan. Both were raised in Pittsfield, MA. The book took seven years to write, and the gap between Aubrey’s death and Maya’s return to the scene of the crime is seven years. 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. It’s overdone at this point. Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Never Here, The Herd, and The Lost Night Do you agree with quote from the novel, above? Are you surprised that no one believed Maya’s theory about her friend Aubrey’s death? Why or why not? THE HOUSE IN THE PINES focuses on Maya's grief and determination to find out the truth about her high school best friend Aubrey's death. Maya suffers from a lot of trauma after her best friend's death and she abuses Klonopin and alcohol to mask the grief. Her boyfriend Dan is supportive towards Maya's grief, but Maya knows that she needs to learn how to cope with these memories. When Maya visits her mother's house, years after Aubrey's death, she believes she can handle the emotional baggage her hometown once gave her. However, when clues to Aubrey's death in fact link her to her ex-boyfriend Frank, Maya has to find out the truth about what happened to her best friend.