The Last Town by Blake Crouch (2014)
I love and hate it
Book cover blurb
Welcome to Wayward Pines, the last town.
Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrived in Wayward Pines, Idaho, three weeks ago. In this town, people are told who to marry, where to live, where to work. Their children are taught that David Pilcher, the town’s creator, is god. No one is allowed to leave; even asking questions can get you killed.
But Ethan has discovered the astonishing secret of what lies beyond the electrified fence that surrounds Wayward Pines and protects it from the terrifying world beyond. It is a secret that has the entire population completely under the control of a madman and his army of followers, a secret that is about to come storming through the fence to wipe out this last, fragile remnant of humanity.
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My Review
Ok, this is a strange way to start, and end, a review, but here goes...
This is a great read that I was disappointed with. Let me explain.
Reading the book on its own merits was a great experience, it's an incredibly fast read with good pace, excitement, action and even a bit of emotion. I really enjoyed the fragmented style Crouch employed with his short snappy chapters, as we jump around into different snippets of goings-on with characters dotted all over town. You just lose yourself in the adrenalin of the free-flowing words and don't really care too much about anything other than what is happening at that very moment of the story.
But as the finale to the trilogy, it was disappointing. This story basically happens over in a single night, leaving room for no real character progression, there is finality for the town but it's far too rushed. I found myself caring more about the action than the outcome for the main characters. I will admit that I didn't see the decision for the town's survivors at the end coming. Everything suggested they were going to do one thing but then they did something very different, and actually, totally obvious.
But the epilogue's lone sentence! No, no ,no! I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet, but for those who have read it, the number in that sentence. Seriously!? Ridiculous! I was ok with the ending until I read that.
The problems above could all be attributed to my personal taste, or even the lack of it if you like, but I have one big hair-ripping gripe...like I always seem to have with Crouch books, and yet I keep on reading them. Very strange. In the previous book there is a nomad who's been sent out to explore the savage world out there beyond the town, and there seems to be a suggestion that he's found something important and he's heading back to town to reveal it. His journey isn't complete by the end of the second book and continues through this book. It's this revelation and that character that held the majority of my interest and drove my reading in this book. I had to know what he'd seen, what he'd discovered, what the big reveal was going to be. But when we finally found out about Hassler's discovery I swore out loud, spittle flew and everything, it was lucky I wasn't drinking coffee at the time. I felt so cheated. It was like the author had simply decided he couldn't be bothered to do the work to give the reader the payoff they deserved with that character. Unforgivable.
And one last thought, if you've actually made it this far in this rather negative review...is it just me or is Ethan Burk a borderline psychopath?
Now, to the rating for this book. Well, as book three of the trilogy. I'm inclined to give it two stars. But, for the book on its own, which the rating is actually for after all, I would have to say, for the enjoyment of such an absorbing read, I give it a four.
My copy of this novel
Thomas & Mercer paperback edition.
Published in 2014
280 pages
ISBN 9781477822586