Review: The House in the Pines

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I am rounding up from 2.5 stars on this one. I found this book extremely unsatisfying. It is the story of Maya, who is going through Klonopin withdrawals (not because she really wants to quit) and is trying to get through it with alcohol when she sees a strange video online, featuring a man she used to know and whom she believes killed her best friend many years ago. Maya decides she must go back to her childhood home to discover the truth and perhaps finally prove that this man is dangerous.
I had quite a few issues with this book. The first part of the story seemed disjointed, and Maya came across as unlikable. I know she was definitely going through some hard issues and situations, but to me she had very little rooting value and I just because fed up and bored as she made dumb decision after dumb decision. This part of the book also moved very slowly. The story took a long time to unfold and it was difficult to understand why Maya was so scared of Frank. The plot finally got interesting with about 1/3 to go, but then again the big "climax" was far-fetched, and the "resolution" left very little actually "resolved." It did shine a little light onto why Maya had so many issues and seemed incredibly "spacey," unable to be decisive and focused, and so hard to like, but it was a bit "too-little-too-late."
This book was promising, but the characterization needed more focus, the pacing was off and disjointed, and the plot needed tightening. I would not recommend it.

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