Wayward (Wayward Pines #2) ★★★☆½

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Title: Wayward
Series: Wayward Pines #2
Author: Blake Crouch
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF, Thriller
Pages: 324
Format: Digital Edition

* SPOILER ALERT *

I am usually not one to worry about spoilers in my reviews. However, this series seems to be predicated on the reader not knowing what is going to happen. As such, just giving fair warning that this review will spoil the heck out of the book. I will take the last paragraph to sum up my feelings without spoilers.

Synopsis:

There's a new sheriff in town and his name is Ethan Burke. He knows all the secrets of Wayward Pines and knows what David Pilcher is keeping from most of the residents, that they exist 1800 years in the future and that humanity is extinct and the world over run by mutant aberrations.

But when one of the residents turns up dead, stabbed and then drained of all blood, AND she was secretly working for Pilcher, Ethan has a real mystery on his hands. When it is revealed there is a group of people in Wayward Pines who are part of a secret society, Ethan must infiltrate them.

Ethan might be toe'ing Pilcher's party line of secrecy but when he reveals the truth to his wife and finds out that the children of the town are being brainwashed into thinking Pilcher is a god, Ethan must decide. Lies, deception, murder and safety? Or truth, honesty, trust and the chance of annihilation at the hands of the abbey's?

The book ends with Ethan successfully revealing the truth to all the town's residents and Pilcher, in revenge, turning off the electric fence that surrounds the town. Talk about a frakking cliff hanger!

My Thoughts:

Wow, wow, wow. I am very impressed here. After the roller coaster of the Pines, I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was a couple who wanted truth and freedom more than comfort and security. Dang, we need more books with people making hard choices like that. I'm not sure I felt “inspired” after reading this, but it sure was close.

Anyway, this took place in just a couple of days. It was kind of a whirlwind experience. Burke has to investigate a murder that ends up leading back to Pilcher, figure out how to tell his wife the truth without getting them all killed, take back his son Ben from a school system that is obviously brain washing him AND somehow let the whole town know the truth of their situation without getting them all killed or sending them into suicidal despair.

There was also a very small side story about one of Pilcher's men who has been out wandering the wilderness, figuring out how to survive amongst the abbeys. Of course, it is revealed that he's Ethan's former boss and Theresa's lover while Ethan was in cold storage. Talk about a drama just waiting to explode and destroy everything! I expect the final book to be rather explosive.

I really liked how Ethan took charge and let the whole secret out of the bag. Consequences or Pilcher's wrath be damned. This was the whole “Live Free or Die” mentality that I like so much about my state. Sadly, it's not everyone that can handle it, as most of the United States today proves. * very sad face *

So why the 3.5star rating? Here's my issues. If the whole human race degenerated in a mere 2000 years, then the humans in Wayward Pines only have 2000 years until their descendants degenerate. Actually, less than 2000 since they have a much smaller gene pool. Throw in “millions” of abbey's and that number shrinks to probably 1 generation. Pilcher has spent billions of dollars just to play god for 30 to 40 years? The bigger issue for me was how the book ended. I'd classify it as a mega-cliffhanger. The whole town is now open to the abbeys as part of Pilcher's fit of pique? It didn't bother me as much as it might have because I have the final book and the choice to go immediately to it or to wait. But since the whole trilogy wasn't written all at once, it would have totally pissed me off if I was reading these as they came out. Not cool.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, just as much as the first book and I am really looking forward to the final novel in this trilogy.

★★★☆½

• Pines (Book 1)