Wayward by Blake Crouch

In Pines we were introduced to Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke. Burke had awakened in a forest suffering from amnesia that came from an automobile accident. His experience soon became a nightmare. He finally got the answers he was looking for, but the realization stunned him. It turned out that he was not in Wayward Pines, Idaho in 2012. Instead he was in Wayward Pines 1,800 years later. Mankind has doomed himself. Aberrations in the genetic structure have caused mankind to develop into a more animalistic species, roaming the earth in large swarms. Wayward Pines is the last town on Earth.

Now Ethan is the sheriff. His job is to keep the peace in Wayward Pines. The trouble is that no one other than Ethan knows that Wayward Pines is the last town on Earth. On top of that the creator of this experiment, David Pilcher, has a massive god complex that is only growing. Now the peace has been interrupted by the town’s first murder. Ethan has to solve this crime and keep an eye out on the town’s residents. As he investigates the murder he comes to a blinding realization about the true nature of the town. The result will leave you sitting on the edge of your chair.

Wayward is the second novel in the Wayward Pines Trilogy. The book is very interesting. The characters that we met in the first book are developed more fully in this novel.  The pacing of the story is steady, but not breakneck. Blake Crouch has invented an interesting world and populated it with fascinating people. If you have read Pines you will want to read Wayward.