The House in the Pines (2023), a debut novel by Ana Reyes, is a psychological thriller that incorporates elements of magical realism and fairy tales. The novel began as Reyes’s MFA thesis at Louisiana State University; Reyes was inspired by her experience with Klonopin withdrawal and the mixed messages she received from various doctors. The novel also draws on Reyes’s cultural background—like her protagonist Maya, Reyes is part Guatemalan and grew up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The House in the Pines was a January 2023 Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and a New York Times bestseller.

This guide uses the 2023 Penguin Random House edition of the book.

Content Warning: The source material features mental health conditions, drug/alcohol use disorder, and psychological abuse.

Plot Summary

The week before 17-year-old Maya starts college, she witnessed the sudden and unexplained death of her best friend, Aubrey West. Though no one believed her, Maya thought her ex-boyfriend Frank was responsible. When everyone blamed Maya’s accusations on a grief-induced psychosis, Maya was prescribed the addictive anti-anxiety drug Klonopin.

Maya also self-medicates with alcohol as she tries to move on and forget what happened to Aubrey. However, when she is 25 years old, a viral online video catches Maya’s attention and brings her trauma back to the surface. The video, titled “Girl Dies on Camera,” shows Maya’s ex-boyfriend Frank and an artist working at the Berkshire Museum named Cristina casually visiting a diner in Pittsfield, when suddenly, Cristina collapses at the table and dies. The death is eerily reminiscent of Aubrey’s death.

Maya travels back home to Pittsfield to search for answers and to prove that Frank is responsible for Aubrey and Cristina’s deaths. As Maya searches for clues, she continues to experience withdrawal and increases her alcohol intake. Her instability calls her interpretation of events into question, especially as she frequently doubts her own perception of reality.

In flashbacks, readers learn about the events leading up to Aubrey’s death in the past, and what transpired between Maya and Frank that same summer.

When she was 17, Maya was about to leave Pittsfield to study English at Boston University, dreaming of fulfilling her father Jairo’s hopes of becoming a writer. Maya’s mother Brenda met Jairo on a monthlong mission trip to Guatemala; however, Jairo was killed later that month after protesting the Guatemalan Civil War. After returning to the US, Brenda learned that she was pregnant. Maya grew up without her father and knew little about her Guatemalan family, except a few stories. One story came from Jairo’s unfinished manuscript about a young boy named Pixán who goes on a quest to Guatemala City, only to have amnesia and forget his true, beloved home in a magical village in the clouds.

Maya met Frank at the library one day while researching her father’s manuscript. They started dating. At first, Maya didn’t think much about the hours of missing time she experiences while out with Frank. The relationship was exciting—Frank would never tell her what they’d be doing or where they were going, leaving it all as a surprise. Frank would also tell Maya about a cabin he was building in the woods behind his father’s home. Frank never showed anyone this cabin, saying he wanted Maya to be the first to see it. Frank often showed Maya his key to the cabin, playing with it while telling his stories.

As Frank and Maya spent more time together, Maya neglected her friendship with Aubrey; however, when Aubrey tried to prove to Maya that Frank should not be trusted, she caught Frank’s attention. Frank began spending time with Aubrey. Maya showed up at his cabin to confront him, but, once there, she forgot her anger and simply soaked in the cabin’s beauty. She even almost agreed when Frank asked her to move in with him. However, the spell broke when she realized she was missing hours of memory. She left the cabin covered in dirt, unsure of how it got there, and a sense that something was terribly wrong.

Seven years later, as Maya conducts her search for answers, she finally understands what happened that night. Revisiting her father’s manuscript and the poem “Hymn of the Pearl” unlocks her memory. The poem and her father’s story both tell of a boy on a quest who forgets his true home. This helps Maya remember the truth buried deep in her mind: Frank’s cabin doesn’t truly exist. Frank is a skilled hypnotist who manipulated Maya’s mind and memories by using his key and storytelling to entrap Maya in a hypnotic trance.

Maya goes to confront Frank and find out all the answers once and for all. However, he again manages to hypnotize her, this time with the intent to kill her. Remembering Jairo’s story helps Maya break the trance, giving Brenda enough time to interrupt and save Maya’s life. All the while, Maya has been recording her encounter with Frank on her phone, catching his confession to murder.

With the voice recording as proof, Maya convinces the police of Frank’s guilt. In doing so, Maya finds closure for Aubrey’s death and her own abuse. As a result, Maya no longer feels like a lost soul. She recovers her mental health, overcomes her struggles with addiction, and dives back into her love of writing, pursuing her dream to carry on her father’s legacy and complete his manuscript.