Maya plays the bar recording for him and he finds Frank’s strangely rhythmic cadence “deeply sinister.” Salon - "House in the Pines" thriller author on the "dark side of nostalgia" with a narrator no one believes How do you feel about Maya’s decision to hide her addiction from her boyfriend, Dan? Do you think it’s ok to withhold some truth from your partner? Maya has no idea the can of worms she opens will bring about more questions than answers and she must face that there were many things she can't remember about her relationship with Frank when she was a teenager and if she does confront him again it could be her life at stake this time and there won't be anyone there to save her. Yes, Aubrey and Christina are possibly victims of Frank, but Maya is his main victim. That, or Maya imagined the entire thing and has major mental health issues.

House in the Pines - Jen Ryland Spoiler Discussion for The House in the Pines - Jen Ryland

In the 1980s, Oren Bellamy was conducting a sketchy psychological research study. He was using hypnotherapy to take over patients’ entire involuntary nervous system.

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The only part of the story I really didn’t get was the connection to the book that Maya’s father had been writing. This seems to be really symbolic, both in the synopsis and throughout the story itself, but I couldn’t make the connection between that story and what was happening to Maya. Steven says that Christina left him a note saying she was going to go live with Frank in his cabin. He tells Maya not to go there. Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review. A waitress at the murder diner tells Maya that Christina was staring past Frank at something in the corner before she died. An empty booth. A ghost. Seven years later, 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, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for.

House in the Pines’ Is Reese’s Book Club Pick ‘The House in the Pines’ Is Reese’s Book Club Pick

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? 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. I love literary symbolism, but in this book it feels thrown in there haphazardly: ghosts, holy spirits/religion, nature, drugs, art, gaslighting, abuse, hypnosis. All we need is a TikTok video that makes you drop dead after watching it. Thanks for stopping by my Spoiler Discussion for the House in the Pines! Some cultures blame such deaths on evil spirits. The mind will always try to explain what it can’t understand—it will make up stories, theories, whole belief systems—and Maya’s mind, Dr. Barry said, was of the type that saw faces in clouds and messages in tea leaves.”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. If you were Maya, would you have confronted Frank in the bar? Do you think it was worth the risk to her own safety? It had me guessing,” Witherspoon said in a video accompanying the post. “And like all amazing thrillers, it has a crazy twist that I can’t tell you, because it will give the whole thing away.” Additionally, her mother, who has years of experience as an EMT, may be just the person to help Maya through the painful withdrawal process.

House in the Pines: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick The House in the Pines: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

Once Maya finally admits to Aubrey the truth behind her relationship with Frank, Aubrey surprises her. She's afraid of him too. Just as the two girls begin to make connections, on that very day, Aubrey ends up dead. In any case, Maya is especially freaked out by the video because her best friend Aubrey also dropped dead for no apparent reason the summer before Maya went to college. Has anyone independently confirmed that Dan exists? Is he just a Klonopin hallucination? Is he real and did Maya murder him? Did Frank psychically murder him so he could have Maya all to himself? Our unreliable narrator in this story is Maya. Maya has been addicted to Klonopin and alcohol for the past several years. Maya no longer has her Klonopin, and is experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Some of the withdrawal symptoms are paranoia, hallucination, and insomnia.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. Somehow I find it funny (in a good way) that Maya’s “for you” Youtube recommendations are the inciting incident of this book. Obviously The House in the Pines was a had me at hello since it featured not only a house on the cover, but also a house in the name. How could I not immediately want it, right? Then I started reading it and not only do we have a triple whammy of an unreliable narrator (she’s an insomniac . . . because she’s going through Klonopin withdrawal . . . . and she’s boozing to take the edge off/help her go night-night). Again . . . . 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. After the funeral, Maya’s grandfather gave her a book that her father was writing called “I Forgot I Was The Son of Kings.” Maya takes it home to Pittsfield and starts to translate it. Frank tells her he has been to Guatemala as well.