A physiological thriller that kept my interest. I found it hard to put down. Twenty-five year-old Maya is still haunted by her childhood best friend's death (Aubrey West) Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is dealing with the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, she sees a YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from Frank, the boy who was there when Aubrey died. Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer to finally solve the mystery of what happened to Aubrey.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 | 𝐀𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 | 𝟑.𝟓*

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭:
⟡ Psychological thriller
⟡ Themes of mental health and addiction
⟡ Quest to prove a murder
⟡ MC with a Guatemalan heritage

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
Maya dated an older man, Frank, when she was 17 until her best friend suddenly dropped dead when talking to him. Seven years later, Maya is going through medication dependency withdrawals, is using gin as a coping mechanism, and spots a viral video of another woman dropping dead whilst talking to Frank. Armed with withdrawal symptoms and a history of psychosis centered around delusions related to Frank, Maya is determined to get to the truth and prove once and for all—despite her hazy memories whilst dating him—that he’s not the innocent bystander he pretends to be.

As you can probably tell, this is a psychological thriller with an unreliable narrator at its core. Despite Maya’s psychiatric difficulties, I had no issue in believing she was right when it came to Frank, and I felt the urgency she felt when needing to uncover the truth.

I loved the themes of mental health and addiction. They were not weaponized for shock value and felt as though they were portrayed accurately. Additionally I enjoyed Maya’s Guatemalan heritage was a surprisingly pleasant and educational addition to Maya’s character.

Unfortunately, the entire novel is pretty slow paced. The cabin/house the title alludes isn’t mentioned until 40% of the way in and I was beginning to lose interest at that point. Thankfully it did hook me again and I was able to finish the novel pretty quickly from then. What I needed was a quicker pace, and a better feeling of closure at the end as I also found the ending to be vague.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
I read 50% of this book, persevering through the disjointed swaps from present-day to the past, the characters with mental illness, Maya's addiction to drugs and alcohol and her lies. It wasn't clear what was hallucination and what was accurate remembrance, making the novel completely confusing. I didn't think it was thrilling or suspenseful in any way and I gave up at that point.

I'm not sure how to describe this book. It was kind of a thriller and kind of not. It was kind of psychological and kind of not. It was kind of creepy and kind of not.

I really enjoyed the premise of the book - the main character's best friend died for no apparent reason in front of the boyfriend, and years later a video goes viral of another woman dropping dead in front of the same guy. There was a good exploration of addiction from the main character. I really had no idea where the plot was going and thought it might have had supernatural elements to it, which it didn't. I did enjoy the reveal of Frank's powers and what had happened to all the women throughout the story.

The dual timeline between the present and what happened to the main character's best friend was good but it was hard to keep track of which timeline we were in and often took a few pages before I realised sometimes we were back in the past. I felt the ending was a bit flat and left me feeling unsatisfied and unresolved.

An interesting concept. The execution didn't disappoint.

Ana Reyes's writing is sinister, tense and atmospheric. 'The House in the Pines' reminded me of an 'X Files' episode. I had no idea where it was going but I was all in!

A heart-pounding, intriguing thriller.

This heart-racing thriller delivers a roller-coaster of emotions, ensuring you'll be riveted by its suspenseful journey from start to finish. Fast paced and fantastic!

The House in the Pines was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and unfortunately it was also one of the most disappointing. I thought the premise was super intriguing and I was interested in learning about the connection between the two women who died, but I just didn't care for the writing style at all. I thought this was going to be a fun(!) and thrilling book featuring an unreliable narrator, but it wasn't written well. I was so bored by the first fifty pages that I had to skim through the rest of it.

#TheHouseInThePines #NetGalley
I didn't like ghosts.
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.
Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for. But her past comes rushing back 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—the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.
At her mother’s house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father’s book that didn’t stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she 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.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Books UK Constable for giving me an advance copy.

I finished this book, but found it to be quite slow. I found it disjointed and random. I know that many enjoyed this but I don't think it has lived up to its hype.

This one unfortunately wasn’t my cup of tea. The beginning had me hooked and turning the pages, but the plot seemed to drag on and it left me bored and unmotivated to keep reading. I also couldn’t connect to any of the characters. I’m sure this will find the right readers! Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for a chance to read and review this book.

This book had great potential but I couldn’t connect with the characters or the storyline. It was a great premise but it just wasn’t for me.

This was an atmospheric read, that creeper me out jo end. I had no idea what was coming, and each revelation was a surprise. I liked the dual timelines, showing Maya at 17, and 'now', though thr formatting was slightly off and it did conclude me a few times. Something I'm sure will have been foxed prior to print.

The story was engaging, and the big reveal was definitely unexpected! Enjoyable, and creepy, thriller, though the ending did feel rushed compared with how low the book had been before.

When I saw the front cover I just knew this was going to be a superb psychological thriller.
Sometimes our memory tries to protect us by distorting or blotting various things out. Maya was dysfunctional but likeable and answers were needed to be found. Frank however was a creep, with lots to find out about him!
There is a lot going on with this story moving back and forth. A great first book and I can't wait to read more from this author in the future.
A must read!
Thank you to Little Brown Book Grouo UK and Netgalley for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time, kept me interested to the end. Looking forward to following this author in the future

Sadly this book really didn’t work for me and ended up being a DNF, I just couldn’t get through it. I’m sure it will appeal to some people but I just didn’t connect to the story at all.

After seeing that this was Reece’s book pick I had quite high expectations and unfortunately they where not totally met while reading this.
The initial idea of this story is good but the more I read on the more the concept fizzled out and it became more and more obvious where it was heading.
The pacing was a bit slow for the first 2/3 of the book and when it did pick up the twists where too obvious.

Many Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

I found this book rather hard to get into, but when I did I found it quite good. However to me, the narrative did not flow too well. There were so many references to Frank, before we had any idea who he was or what bearing he had on her life.
It was quite an interesting concept.

This is tense, gripping and completely addictive. I have felt as though I have been watching the events of this one play out. This is realistic and believable, guaranteed to send shivers down the spine of the reader.

This has been completely unpredictable and been a book I have devoured. I literally thought I had this figured out then BANG, a twist thrown in that completely pulls the floor from under you.

This was an anticipated read for me. The synopsis left me intrigued. But sadly this just didn't work.
The writing felt disjointed and confusing.
This is set with multiple timelines. However the transition between the past and present wasn't very smooth and left me confused where we were and what was going on.
This never really got any easier for me. Therefore I struggled to focus and be invested in the story.

The House in the Pines is a slow paced eerily spooky thriller. After seeing a video on social media of a woman talking with a man and then dying her life is turned upside down. She has always felt that Frank killed her best friend but could never prove it so she returns home to the nightmarish cabin and Frank to uncover the truth.

This was a slow paced but gripping thriller. I really enjoyed the different timelines bringing together the story as part of her past and present.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.