Like Dark Matter, the only other book by Blake Crouch that I have read, Pines begins with a very fun and engaging premise, but very quickly devolves into the most extreme and, unfortunately, kind of dumb version of what it could have been. What you end up with is an entertaining but frustrating story that makes you wish it would have respected itself and its audience more than it does.

Spoilers ahead!

Essentially the setting of Twin Peaks mashed up with a Twilight Zone plot with some Lost-esque elements mixed in for good measure.

The strength of the beginning of the novel comes from a mixture of setting and early, mysterious reveals. Why can't he leave? What's up with the way time passes, or doesn't, in the town? But instead of taking its time and leading you down mysterious rabbit holes that are fun to think and speculate about, it makes the same crucial mistake that the network forced on Twin Peaks. It rushes into answers that don't make much sense and retroactively deflates anything interesting it had going for it.

The scale of Pines could have stayed small. We could have stayed in the town, giving Ethan time to develop relationships with interesting and quirky residents, maybe help solve some issues in the town, all the while uncovering more clues that drive the plot forward. Instead, before you really get to know almost anyone, the entire town is chasing him down with pitchforks and torches and the reveal that could have been at the end of a series of books gets dropped on your lap with a "thud."

It's a big, pretty dumb revelation that could have worked much better if the proper tone for a comic book villain plot was established over time. Reveal something like that after lots of strange, mysterious, escalating clues are uncovered? Could have worked! Instead it feels like you're reading a wikipedia article summary with most of the intrigue sucked out.

Like Dark Matter, our hero gets to reunite with his family at the end, but the absolutely horrible implications of the events of the story don't seem to resonate with him in any meaningful way. The book presents it in a way that seems to imply a happy-ish ending, but thinking about it for like three seconds makes you miserable, or at least it would if the characters had more humanity to latch onto.

I haven't decided if I'm going to read the sequels. Part of me is curious to see if he could take things somewhere more interesting than I'm expecting, but my assumption is that the story would go something like this: Ethan plays nice, loves his family, but never fully commits to the idea of the town. Eventually he manages to take the conspiracy down from the inside. The leader of the town is killed somehow (possibly at Ethan's hand but most likely done by the monster people or townspeople with Ethan nearby), Ethan reveals the truth to the town, and surprise, they venture out and discover more survivors out in the world.

Anyway, I feel kind of bad being this critical about this book, because despite what I would consider its pretty extreme flaws, it was a fun, easy, breezy book with some neat ideas in there. But I think that's exactly why it frustrated me in the same way Dark Matter did. It could have been so much more! Instead of feeling like a Goosebumps version of Twin Peaks, it could have taken its time developing the kinds of elements that made that show so damn good and become something ultimately very different that still scratches a similar itch.

I also feel kind of bad being so critical, because there is a greater than zero percent chance than Crouch might someday read this stupid review. If somehow that does end up happening, Blake, just know that your books have only rubbed me the wrong way this much because they come so so close to feeling like they were written for me directly, but ultimately end up playing out in ways that feel more safe than anything. And hey, that's obviously worked out great! You're a best selling author, have had your work adapted, and the speed of your output is impressive. For me, a Blake Crouch book is like a shirt that looks and fits great on me, but has a very annoying tag that irritates my neck that I can't quite get over. But there are a lot of people out there who bought the same shirt, wear it, and love it. And even with that annoying tag, I can't help but appreciate the good things.