The Last Town

Here is my Amazon review - Please give me helpful vote - http://www.amazon.com/review/R3IZDF4J3C0AMQ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

This book seems to have started life as an “internet serialized thriller.” Internet serialized thriller is a genre that evolved to fit the internet. The stories are short, fast-paced and formulaic. Part of the formula is to make the revelation and bait the hook so that readers buy the next instalment, and, heaven help us, the formula works.

Unfortunately, this leads to non-novels; to books that are really a novel cut into roughly equal portions, hooked together by a cliffhanger and then an seamless pick up from the cliffhanger in the next book. I jumped from Pines to The Last Town because I thought that The Last Town would enter into the territory of Season 2 of the miniseries. It doesn't by the way. This book – Wayward – is part of the Wayward Pines trilogy, composed of Wayward, Pines and The Last Town. These books have been turned into the Wayward Pines summer television miniseries, starring Matt Dillon. The first season covers these books. The second season represents a major departure from the novel (novellas?). Actually, the reader who has seen the miniseries is in for some surprises as the television production made substantial changes in characters and backstories.

Although the secrets of Wayward Pines are probably known to most everyone after the miniseries, I still don't want to give away the big reveal, which is what kept me speed reading through this book, even though I had seen the show.

I did enjoyed this book, but, honestly, I was not deeply invested in it. I was mostly interested in seeing how it would end. Nonetheless, it was fast pace and suspenseful, albeit the characters were a bit too two-dimensional and most of the book was taken up in the action element of dealing with the Abbie incursion - what in Season 2 is called “Invasion Day,” albeit Season 2 of the miniseries is a total departure from the novels.

The story opens with former Secret Service agent Ethan Burke dealing with his decision in the last book - Wayward - to save Kate and Harold's life from a “fete” by telling the town the truth. Pilcher retaliates by shutting off the electric fence and opening the gate. 85% of the book, thereafter, is simply the townsfolk running away from the Abbies. There are back-stories that explain some of the mysteries and relationships in the story. We also get scenes of Burke's old boss, Hassler, making his way back to town. Burke's aim is to have a show-down with Pilcher, which he does and then we learn some more information, setting up the next “hook” for the next instalment.

You can tell that this “novel” is actually part of a single novel that was “meat-cleavered” into its own stand-alone book. If you come to this book without having read the prior books - and although I have seen the mini-series, I did not read the middle-book - the opening is jarring because, after an introduction with Pilcher stepping outside of the Arc for the first time, this book simply picks up from the events of the night before - the fete - without pause, as if it was just the next chapter in a single novel. I would have been completely lost if I didn't have the background of the miniseries.

Nonetheless, the story clipped along nicely. The problems were presented and resolved in journeyman fashion. The characters seemed fairly two-dimensional. This is a classic bit of summer reading/escapist fare.

I have to confess, though, that I am interested in what happens after Ethan opens his eyes after the last line of the book.