Absolute Horror Book Forum

The Ruins by Scott Smith.

So, I watched the film and loved that. It's so nice to see a little slice of something different - pulling us away from the usual boring run-of-the-mill, been-done-a-thousand-times-to-death slasher and zombie fare on offer.

Anyway, SoCalScribe said the book was a good read and I replied I'd keep an eye out for it on Amazon; because some of the American Authors are difficult to get over here - unless their in the best sellers list.

Anyway, the next day, on a whim, and being my Da's birthday he decides to pop on over to this large, and strangely situated bookstore out in the Peak District. Knowing my rekindled penchant for reading he asks me to come along. The store stocks older books, on most subjects, as well as a small selection of new best sellers. As Da' went to checkout the art section I went to ponder the fiction. Just through the door are two large tables loaded with paperbacks. In a pile about twelve high (the biggest book tower an the tables) is The Ruins. Not one to sniff at coincidence I quickly grabbed a copy for myself.

So after Under the Dome was finished, and I'd let it ghost around my head for a couple of days (good books are like good wine - you always want more - you must enjoy them slowly - and when finished you must enjoy their aftertaste), I picked up the book and quickly devoured the first hundred or so pages.

Here you get to meet the four main characters and their two strange foreign friends, whom they've met while vacationing in Cancun. It's at this time you begin to realise who the leaders are and who are the devoted followers. The strange thing for me about these six people are their diversities. They are so different I was wondering why the main four characters were even friends. It becomes clear, that they probably weren't as close as they originally thought as the story progresses; and that Jeff who is definitely the alpha male had, in life, as he did with the decision to accompany Mathias to the ruins, looking for his brother, had guided them to follow him blindly and without argument.

Scott Smith tells the story in a plain and simple way - there were no long and unknown words for me to look up or try to work their meaning out in context to the sentence or paragraph - and on the whole it works. The only thing which did nag me was his constant use of "-" hyphenating when with a little work and better descriptive narrative an okay sentence would've been a good sentence. The other thing was his use of "and". for example when a few of the characters did something he didn't write "Jeff, Amy, Stacy, and Eric did..." he wrote, "Jeff and Amy and Stacy and Eric did..." This just didn't feel right to me, or read well for that matter and both of these instilled in me a sense of lazy writing.

Though you have six characters, poor old Pablo being the "ensign in the red shirt", wasn't even allowed to have a back story as he doesn't speak English, so none of the main characters can understand him. This leads to the question of why he's even here. Even though at the beginning of the story he's with two other Greeks (who also don't utter a word of English - Surely they would've picked up a few words such as "drink" since they always meet at the bar. He doesn't even say Tequila (his favourite tipple) when he offers some to the others from his back pack) once he's injured he becomes something in the background and vaguely insignificant. It's this and the way the difference in the characters which just didn't do it for me - I found that I just couldn't relate with any of them.

That... and... where were the ruins? You have a hill and a mineshaft, that's it. At least in the film the Ruins are a Mayan Temple.

All that said, the book was an okay read (if a hundred or so pages were shaved off, so it became more exciting, it would've been better for me), if you have nothing else give it a go. The conclusion of the book is better than the movie, though the characterisations were better in the film (slightly more believable) and the action better paced.

6/10

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PENNYWISE Stephen



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