What happened in Pines by Blake Crouch - Recaptains

The basics

Title: Pines

Author: Blake Crouch

Series: Wayward Pines #1

- Pines (2012)
- Wayward (2013)
- The Last Town (2014)

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Goodreads Summary:

Wayward Pines, Idaho, is quintessential small-town America--or so it seems. Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrives in search of two missing federal agents, yet soon is facing much more than he bargained for. After a violent accident lands him in the hospital, Ethan comes to with no ID and no cell phone. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but sometimes feels...off. As days pass, Ethan's investigation into his colleagues' disappearance turns up more questions than answers

WHY CAN'T HE MAKE CONTACT WITH HIS FAMILY IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD? WHY DOESN'T ANYONE BELIEVE HE IS WHO HE SAYS HE IS? AND WHAT'S THE PURPOSE OF THE ELECTRIFIED FENCES ENCIRCLING THE TOWN? ARE THEY KEEPING THE RESIDENTS IN? OR SOMETHING ELSE OUT?

Each step toward the truth takes Ethan further from the world he knows, until he must face a horrifying fact—he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive....

Read a full summary of Pines by Blake Crouch below. If you can’t remember what happened in Pines and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.

What happened in Pines?

• Ethan wakes up after having been hit by a truck. His fellow secret service agent is dead. He doesn’t remember these details at first but things start to come back to him slowly.
• Ethan heads to a local bar and is served by a woman called Beverley. She gives him a note with an address on it and disappears.
• Ethan heads to the address and finds a dead guy. The corpse is that of one of Ethan’s fellow secret agents. Ethan recalls that he was in town to find this guy and a woman called Kate.
• Ethan tries calling his boss but the receptionist tells him that she’s unable to put Ethan through.
• Ethan heads to the sheriff’s office. He talks to Pope and tells him about the dead agent. He asks Pope for his gun and ID. Pope doesn’t give it to him.
• Ethan books into a hotel and promises to pay in the morning. Unfortunately he oversleeps and gets kicked out.
• Ethan goes looking for Beverley again but she doesn’t actually work in the bar. She has vanished.
• Ethan bumps into Kate, who is super old now. This doesn’t make any sense…
• Ethan is really confused and tries to escape the town. He’s captured and taken to the hospital, where they’re going to perform surgery on him. Beverley arrives and helps him escape.
• The pair head to the cemetery. Beverly tells Ethan that this place is creepy and fake and she has been trying to escape for over a year. Previously the towns people have torn people apart for trying to escape.
• The town comes for Beverly and Ethan escapes into the woods.
• Ethan is attacked by creepy creatures, something he has never seen before. He escapes and heads further out of town.
• Ethan comes across a complex and breaks in, and he’s quickly captured and taken to Agent Pilcher.
• Pilcher explains the situation to Ethan. It’s now 1500 years into the future and the people of Wayward Pines are the only humans left on Earth. They’ve been frozen for 1500 years because Pilcher, a scientist, saw that humans were destroying the planet and he wanted to create a fail safe.
• Ethan was sent by his boss to look into Wayward Pines and was caught and frozen. This is their third attempt at unfreezing him and reintegrating him into society.
• They’ve also got his wife and child in the town.
• Pilcher also explains that the creepy creatures are what humans have evolved into.
• Pilcher has Pope killed because he’s apparently after power.
• Pilcher asks Ethan to become his new sheriff.
• Ethan agrees and returns to his family.

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