Book Review: The Ruins by Scott Smith

I got this book from an office swap and didn’t know what to expect. The novel had some good reviews from Stephen King and others comparing the book to the terror of Jaws or the suspense of the TV show “Lost”. Let me say that both statements are right on the mark. The book starts off very benign, with a group of 20 somethings on vacation in Mexico. But the book doesn’t spend a lot of time on back story, instead brings the 20 year olds along with 2 friends into a roller coaster ride of terror that at its worst is a great character study of the different personalities and how they act when faced with a horrifying situation (I would guess that each reader wonders “who would I be”?). At its best The Ruins is a story of unsuspecting college students facing an unstoppable force of fright and spend most of the story at extreme levels of dread and panic.

I could not put this book down as it quickly sets the stage for the characters to be trapped in the ruins by an inexplicable force that quickly diminishes an adventuresome jaunt into a battle of wits between the protagonists in the novel and the monstrous power that works to keep them trapped in the ruins for truly horrifying reasons (the “Lost” comparison) with nothing but their skills and few supplies to survive on.

The reader is left to ask “would I survive”? Read The Ruins which is more like Jaws on speed and ask the question of yourself and see what you decide.

For more info go to Entertheruins.com.