The Wayward Pines Trilogy Series 3 Books Set

Wayward Pines #1-3

by Blake Crouch

This The Wayward Pines Trilogy Series 3 Books Set 1. Pines 9780593598320 2. Wayward 9780593598481 3. The Last Town 9780593598504

Genres: Mystery, Thriller

960 pages, Paperback

First published May 5, 2015

About the author

Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the forthcoming novel, Dark Matter, for which he is writing the screenplay for Sony Pictures. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015’s #1 show. With Chad Hodge, Crouch also created Good Behavior, the TNT television show starring Michelle Dockery based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. He has written more than a dozen novels that have been translated into over thirty languages and his short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Crouch lives in Colorado with his family.

Reviews

[Shannon Upton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read these books because I enjoyed the TV series and was interested in a more in-depth view of the world Crouch created and its repercussions. I was expecting an end-of-the-world scenario in the realm of The Hunger Games or Divergent (just not for teens).

While this series does deliver on that premise, these are really more horror novels than suspense/psychological thrillers. There were many, many graphic descriptions of violence and disturbed personalities; however, the premise was so out-there that these things didn’t disturb me enough to keep me from continuing. I was intrigued enough to complete the series and I’m glad I did—this trilogy had the satisfying ending that so many series lack.

I would recommend you go into Wayward Pines knowing that you’re not going to get any food for thought about the state of society or the future of the human race, just fast-paced, horror novel-level entertainment... good fun.

[Þórey Jónsdóttir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent series!

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this trilogy on my sibling's recommendation, with the context that the author wrote it as a sort of homage to Twin Peaks. It's hard to discuss any detail about the trilogy without major spoilers, so in terms of content I'll only say that I had a very enjoyable time being confused by what was going on and was honestly surprised (in a good way) by the reveals.

That said, the mystery is mostly unveiled in the first book, and by the third book everything is essentially already known — leading to a primarily action story as you see how things play out. The cinematic writing style makes the action enjoyable and the books are overall easy to read, but if your main concern is figuring out what's going on you can probably stop after the first book. Although I was a bit frustrated at the very end with the main character's decisions (in particular, a decision that seemed to run counter to the story's point), in general I thought the author did a good job creating a dystopian setting and exploring how the main character worked through it, with all his flaws and limitations.

Read on Five Sentence Reviews

[Victor Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5

I reviewed this to provide an overall rating in my hubris. It's definitely a series with many satisfying moments. While it is not the most cerebral series in the Pantheon of science-fiction (yes, I sound pretentious, I know), the Wayward Pines trilogy delivered an action-packed, high stakes thrill ride that set out to do what it intended: provide a banger of a story.

While the novels dip slightly in quality (if only because Pines was a huge banger that I went into blind) as the trilogy progresses, the conclusions and story beats were all incredibly satisfying, hosting great dialogue and very memorable characters.

[WSC · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of Book #3… the first 2 are reviewed separately.

No way! The ending was a surprise! I had to knock off one star for the violent scenes. Also the book was so very depressing. I finished it on a gloomy, rainy day. Of course I want a book 4! I have such mixed feelings about this book… So creative but so hopeless and depressing, yet hopeful.. but barely.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished all 3 books in this series and really enjoyed them, especially the last one. I wish there were more. Maybe he will start a new series where this one left off. If you like Blake Crouch’s other books, you will probably like these also.

[Alyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining

[Rob Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't remember the last time I was this into a series
Could t read it fast enough. Not perfect but great!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazon has the first book of this series on their Kindle page as part of a "Sci-Fi 4 stars and up" section, so I read some of the reviews and picked up the first book rather than buying all three of the trilogy at once. I figured I could buy them separately but no need to waste money in case it wasn't a good story.

Spoiler: it's a great story.

We're introduced in the first book to Ethan Burke, secret service agent. Ethan has travelled to Wayward Pines to find two missing secret service agents, one of whom used to be his partner (and mistress). Ethan wakes up in Wayward Pines with no initial memory of why he is there or how he got there and is told by hospital staff he was in a terrible car accident, which unfortunately killed the other agent who was with him. Ethan's suspicions are raised when the hospital doctor never comes by to see him, and the nurse seems to not know where his phone, wallet or briefcase is. Ethan checks himself out and while encountering townspeople his suspicions and anxiety only continue to grow. Why is everyone staring at him? Why is everything so perfect? Why are there little speakers in bushes emitting cricket noises? Why doesn't his wife or special-agent-in-charge answer when he calls them? As Ethan starts to investigate his fellow agent's disappearance, with little to no help from the town Sheriff, he becomes more and more aware that the town isn't what it appears to be, and with small assistance from a few rebel townspeople, he eventually uncovers the sinister mystery behind Wayward Pines. But now that he knows, what can or will he do to help?

I don't want to write any spoilers so I'll just say the first book covers what I wrote about above; the second book focuses on Ethan settling into the town and trying to make a decision about what he should do, if anything; and the third book covers what Ethan decides to do and the consequences thereof.

I really enjoyed the storyline in this book; it was extremely creative and the suspense kept you coming back for more. For those of us who consider ourselves very logical and common sense, the mystery of Wayward Pines is just going to eat at you! What I liked about the books was that it doesn't seem that far-fetched - I think sometimes the problem with books like this is the author goes into more of a fantasy-realm where you're living completely in imagination. But I felt like the idea was realistic enough that I was able to get behind it and not be rolling my eyes.

I didn't give the books 5 stars because I felt the writing was a little amateur at times; when I'm pulled out of the story by clunky dialogue that doesn't flow, it makes an impression on me. Not saying everyone will feel this way, but I did occasionally and it degraded the experience for me.

Definitely recommend if you're into mystery sci-fi with a hint of crime novel thrown in!

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing the TV show, I HAD to do a re-read. I wanted to see how different it was. I flew through them the first time. I'm intrigued on how they will play it out in the next few episodes.

[Glitter · Rating 5 out of 5]