Wednesday, December 21, 2022

12.21.2022 - The House in the Pines

The House in the Pines

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for gifting me a digital ARC of this debut novel by Ana Reyes - 4 stars!

When Maya was a senior in high school, ready to head off to Boston University on a well-earned scholarship, she watched her best friend die in front of her.  Aubrey was sitting across the table from Frank, an older man that Maya was infatuated with, when she just keeled over.  Seven years later, Maya is struggling - she's trying to get off a prescription medicine that she was given to cope with Aubrey's death.  Maya comes across an online video of another woman who dies just like Aubrey did, sitting across the table from Frank.  She becomes obsessed with trying to figure out what happened to these women, so she heads back home with her mom.

This was a creepy feeling, kind of mystical book that I very much enjoyed.  The story goes back and forth between Maya and Aubrey when they were younger and the present time, so that we get the back story as Maya is trying to solve the mystery of these women's deaths.  There's also the thread of an unfinished story written by Maya's father, who died in Guatemala before she was born.  An intriguing debut - I'm anxious to read more from this author!

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