Wayward: Wayward Pines: 2

Welcome to the town of Wayward Pines, Idaho—population: 461 (maybe). It is a place to “work hard, be happy, and enjoy your life.” It is a place “where paradise is home.” It is also a town that is surrounded by a high voltage fence. To keep people in or to keep something out? It is a town where surveillance cameras and listening devices cover nearly every square inch of the town, including inside of peoples’ homes. It is a place where people are given assignments: where they will live, where they work, who they will marry, etc. Wayward is a place where the residents do “much more thinking before speaking… like living in a novel of manners.” It is a town no one can leave and where anyone who doesn’t fulfill instructions given to them may become subject to a fête (reminiscent of events in Shirley Jackson’s immortal story, “The Lottery”) and brutally (sometimes eagerly) killed by their colleagues, friends, neighbors, and townsfolk in general—in the city square where all can witness the killing. It is a town created by, cared for, and controlled by a “god,” or perhaps by a “megalomaniac and a psychopath.”Wayward (2013) is writer Blake Crouch’s second novel in a trilogy—The Wayward Pines Series—which has met with enormous success and has been the basis of a TV mini-series. In the first novel of the series, Pines (2012), Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines in search of two colleagues who have gone missing. Following a sudden accident and waking up in a hospital, Burke finds himself at a lost—his phone, papers, his very reason for being in the town are either gone or left murky in his mind. His is a long journey of discovery and the revelations are all terrifying.Crouch brings to this sequel the same suspense and incredible plot twists of the original with one key difference—this time instead of being a victim, Ethan finds himself, sometimes reluctantly, in a position of authority—the town sheriff. He also is the confidant to the town’s creator, David Pilcher, serving at the man’s pleasure, charged with discovering who is responsible for the grisly murder of Pilcher’s daughter. In allowing Ethan to get so close to him on a personal and professional level, Pilcher is taking a huge risk: knowing what Ethan has learned from his earlier experiences since arriving in the town while yet eager for Ethan to prove himself. Pilcher hopes Ethan will join him and his other co-conspirator, Pam, to share their wealth of knowledge and plans for the town’s future.Wayward as a novel (as well as the town itself) is a fantastic creation which defies any single label. It has aspects of an adventure thriller, parts of a police procedural, occasional elements of horror, and splashes of science fiction all running through its veins. Crouch’s story-telling is first rate throughout. Paragraphs can be as short as a single word, ricocheting from the page like gunfire. Events move at a rapid pace with an occasional illuminating flashback while Crouch also delivers numerous characters the reader can believe in and care about. There are exceptions regarding liking the characters. Along with Pilcher, who displays moments of sanity along with moments of sheer mad scientist-like genius, his second daughter, Pam, is, at times, an over-the-top, nasty, sadistic piece of work knowing no boundaries and filled with blood-lust, glorying in her power. There is also a minor character who the reader only gets occasional glances of in the novel who gets placed in the most ironic of positions by the novel’s conclusion and whose fate is left unclear.Realistic dialogue often carries the plot of Wayward forward and Crouch peppers Wayward with vivid details that bring the town and events to life while either appealing to or appalling the reader’s senses. Touches of genuine humanity amidst all the chaos give Wayward some truly emotionally moving moments.What lies outside of the town’s electrified fences, the history of the town’s actual creation, and how the residents find themselves in such an untenable and merciless position lies at the beating heart of Crouch’s dazzling innovation and hovers over Ethan and the novel like a damn waiting to burst and release its pernicious tide of rot.Chapter by chapter, revelation after revelation, Ethan Burke burrows closer to the truth about Alyssa’s death. While doing so, he also learns more about some of the residents of the town and about Pilcher—things he is not meant to know. In so doing, Ethan places himself, his wife Theresa and his son, Ben, in enormous danger and, especially for Ethan, in a growingly impossible situation. Wayward is gripping story-telling at its best.There are a couple of brilliant plot twists with the novel’s climax as well as its frightful denouement which many readers are likely to foresee, but that does not reduce the intense impact of the final pages of Wayward. The novel’s end also prepares the way for one more novel in the series: The Last Town (2014), which many may find almost irresistible to start after finishing Wayward.

There was a trend in Hollywood for a little while – about ten years ago – to approach trilogies in an odd fashion. The idea was to release a mostly standalone film – think The Matrix, or Pirates of the Caribbean – and if it did well, to turn it into a trilogy by filming the next two entries simultaneously. The result was always slightly odd-feeling, with a solid standalone film and then one long story split into halves, complete with the requisite cliffhanger. And more often than not, there was a sense of the unnecessary about those sequels – that however fun they might or might not be, they were less about telling the “whole” story, and more about extending the world of the original not once, but twice.I mention all of this here because Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines trilogy feels so much like it’s following in this model’s footsteps – down to the fact that none of it entirely feels needed. The original novel in the series, Pines, was a blast – a pulpy, twisty mystery about a Secret Service agent who ends up in a strange small town, and can’t leave. And by the time the book laid its cards on the table, things had escalated wildly, leading to a payoff and reveal that pushed way, way beyond what you ever would have guessed. It was a lot of fun, and if it had its flaws – some middling writing, some thin characters – the intriguing story and pulpy fun made up for it.But when I discovered that Crouch had turned the original book into a trilogy, I was a bit confused. Pines pretty well wraps up its story; while there’s more of this world you could explore, really, things are settled by the end. Our questions are answered. Our hero has made the important choices, and all is settled.But, to borrow from The Royal Tenenbaums, what this book presupposes is, what if it wasn’t?Wayward, the second volume in the series, deals with the ramifications of the big reveal in the first book, particularly as they affect our main character. If you learned, as he did, something that changed how you saw the world, how would you deal with it? Would you help to keep that secret, or would you fight for the truth? Crouch anchors his book in this internal debate, letting Ethan slowly realize just what his role in this town will entail – and what it will mean that he has to do.It’s a compelling enough idea to keep the story going, and as Crouch fills in some intriguing details around the edges – particularly as it regards the growing amount of resistance that’s coming together in the town – there starts to be a feeling that this sequel, while not quite necessary, at least intrigues in how it expands on the world Crouch has created. What’s more, it builds to a spectacular climax, one that pays off your patience beautifully – it’s big and showy, but satisfying, and makes you realize what Crouch’s big game is for the sequels. And the cliffhanger he sets up? Gleefully nasty and taunting.Wayward, then, does what a good sequel should do, and what the second entry in these trilogies tries to do – it expands on the world, it goes deeper, and it tries to set up the big picture of the series. And if it still feels tacked on, it’s a fun sort of tacked on.Now, if only The Last Town could have stuck the landing...but that's a different story.

3.75 what the heck is happening Stars“Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in, or walling out.”Robert FrostWayward is a good follow up to The Pines. It is just as trippy in its own ways and still manages to have a few surprises up its sleeve.This is a hard book to review because I don’t want to give away any of the key motivations or surprises for Wayward or it’s prequel. It is still a mind trip as we discover more about Ethan and Theresa’s lives both before and after coming to Wayward Pines Idaho. As new relationships are explored, I wondered if their marriage was going to make it to the other side of this strange journey they are on.“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”Ethan is a flawed character but likably so. He has made some mistakes in his past but has owned them and because of that, he remains likable. Now in a position of authority as Sherriff, Ethan is even more in the middle of things and ends up investigating a murder and a group of people who might be up to something shady in this sleepy little town.Once I started this journey I couldn’t really put it down until it’s jaw dropping conclusion. Be sure you have the next book ready to go, because I don’t know who could just stop right there without jumping into the next one right away after that ending.The Pines had a bigger surprise but this book messed with my head nearly as much and twisted my emotions up too. I’m a little nervous to see how/if this all shakes out later, but I’m excited to continue the mind twisting ride that is happening in Wayward Pines.

Compared to Pines, the first book in the trilogy, this second offering, Wayward, is a very different experience, but I guess it had to be really.Wayward doesn't have the frantic tension of the first book, and for the most part, we have a far better idea as to what's going on while reading. The first half or two-thirds of the book feels quite slow but I think that's simply because the speedy pace of the first book is still fresh in the mind. The last third of the book is where things get really interesting and intriguing and really start to make it hard to put the book down.For once I don't have any big gripes about this Crouch offering. Yes, there are a few little niggles that caused me to question a few whys and hows, but can't you say that about every book? But there were also a number of points that made me smile with a mental thought of 'oo, nice touch.' Not wanting to give any real spoilers but the 'God complex' was so fitting and absolutely believable of that character.Unfortunately, the closer we get to the end the more predictable the ending became, but really it was the only ending that would have worked and it presents such a big hook to ensure you read book 3, The Last Town. There is obviously a solution to the problem of overall survival for the townsfolk, enter Tobias and the knowledge he has, but I for one can't comprehend what the next instalment might give us.Even though this second book wasn't as much of an exciting read as the first, I did still thoroughly enjoy it. In fact I think I enjoyed the overall content and plot more than I did with Pines, but for edge of your seat reading Pines still holds the mantle.

‘Pines’ was a really good read, and ‘Wayward’ did not disappoint in any way either.I found both books totally unputdownable, any spare moment my head would be glued to my Kindle reading.The story keeps on having more layers and twists added to it as more information from the time before suspension is revealed — all to be played out in Wayward Pines. And the characters just get better the more we learn about them as Blake artfully drip feeds the occasional back story snippet from their previous lives.Full on story telling from a full on story teller.And now it’s straight into ‘The Last Town’ for the finale.

I didn’t much care for the opening book in the Wayward Pines trilogy. Although I appreciated author Blake Crouch’s efforts at recreating the outright weirdness of Lynch’s Twin Peaks, the first book just didn’t have enough story in it to satisfy me. This one is altogether different. We know the situation. The major players are in place. And things get really very interesting.Wayward Pines reminds me strongly of The Village, the one where The Prisoner was sent and where white beachball-sized bubbles keep the population sufficiently cowed into accepting their oddly artificial, smile-and-stay-schtum humdrum lives. So there’s a satisfying familiarity to life in Wayward, as new sheriff Ethan goes about playing both sides; gaining trust from the inhabitants and their manipulators alike, while rebuilding his relationship with a wife and son he barely knows, dodging surveillance mics and subcutaneous implants . The story bounds along, intriguingly switching perspective to past times, and to a returning colleague, battling the menacing threats outside the fence to get back to Wayward Pines.The result is a much stronger book than the opening episode, although there’s no getting away from it: you do need to read the first to understand the significance of the second. This is one sequel which won’t work as a stand-alone even though it’s better than its predecessor. It is much more layered; feels more original and less derivative, and opens up some truly interesting storylines for the concluding chapter. I still can’t quite credit the underlying scientific principle but am happy to suspend that disbelief for the pleasure of returning to Wayward Pines a third time, and watching all the suspended shoes drop.8/10Find the full review at: murdermayhemandmore.net

My favourite thing about the first book in this series was the complete sense of disorientation and mystery - having no clue what was going on or even what genre you were reading. With the first book's ending having explained the set up, I wasn't sure whether this installment would maintain my interest in the same way. To my surprise, I enjoyed at at least as much, if not more. With the revelation that this is set in the future and peopled by people who unwittingly underwent cryogenesis out in the open, the novel was able to drill down into the sense of weirdness permeating the town and really dwell on the inner torment facing its citizens. Some of the little vignettes about individual townsfolks lives before and after Wayward Pines were fascinating.Pilcher continued to make a great villain and I appreciated some of the glimpses into his motivations, his life pre-Pines, and the way he organised the project. The protagonist, Ethan, had felt a bit flat last time around, but grew on me here. He worked better as someone in a position of power and dealing with moral conflicts than as someone with no clue what's going on fighting his way across town. I liked the way he was conflicted between working with the villains to protect his family and the town and doing the right thing, and I found his trade-offs and trajectory broadly believable.I did have a couple of problems with the book. Firstly, there were a couple of twists which I found painfully obvious. Related to that, I was slightly disappointed there were no further big revelations. Secondly, while some flashbacks and cut-aways were great, others were a bit laboured and didn't add much. Thirdly, I found the writing a bit clunky in places.Overall though, the setting and plot were enough to keep me reading and enjoying it, and I was genuinely intrigued by the way the premise was developed and explored.

Second in the Wayward Pines trilogy, this book sees newcomer Ethan Burke, newly elevated to the post of Sheriff, even less likely to toe the line than previously. The contrast between the ‘perfect town’ of Wayward Pines and the forbidden world outside is starkly drawn. Burke investigates the brutal death of the daughter of the town’s creator, David Pilcher. It’s not what he thought. This is a great idea for the reality of a ‘safe place’ after a dystopian future has overtaken mankind. I’m straight on to Book 3.