Publisher: Knopf
Authors: Scott Smith
List Price: $24.95
Amazon Price: $14.97
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Reviews:
Summary: the horror, the horror, the horror
This is perhaps one of the worst books I have read in the last few years. Gentle readers it is possible the stench from this tome could extend to this review.
I like a good horror story and can suspend belief on many things while enjoying a good tale. With this Piece though, from page one it was implausible and predictable. The most maddening thing was that there was no hint of resolution of the of where these flesh eating plants came from and why they have not taken over all of Mexico by now. Likewise the ruins of the title are never explained and apparently never found and what kind of idiots would wander out into the jungle with little water and a several bottles of tequila. They are billed as recent college graduates but come off as refugees from "Girls Gone Wild".
It sounds like the writer has never seen the inside of a jungle, if he would have at least read Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" or "The Darkest Jungle" by Todd Balf he might have been able to be a little more descriptive.
I read two glowing reviews of this book in two days so I felt I could not go wrong, luckily I purchased it at a deep discount, but I say save your money and buy a hammer and use it to hit yourself in the head which will give you more pleasure than reading "The Ruins".
Bill W.
Summary: Ridiculous
The opening chapters seemed promising. A group of young people head into the jungle for what they think will be a simple day trip to find a missing traveler. Knowing how the last "simple plan" worked out I settled in for what I thought would be a great read. The villain of the story is ridiculous. As more and more of the vine's evil capabilities are revealed the sillier they seemed to get. Since no one can communicate with the natives - including the author - the reader is never given any background of the vine, the ruins or the people. It's too bad the author felt the need to cross into the supernatural realm - it ruined a perfectly good story.
Summary: creepy....but not a good book
Years ago, I read "A Simple Plan" which is one of the best books I have ever read. I wondered what happened to Scott Smith and when I was told he had a new book coming out I couldn't wait to get it assuring myself he was going to write another great book.....I was very wrong.
I understood that it would be a scary book, but after the first 30 to 40 pages I found myself completely apathetic to the characters and the plot of the book. A bunch of young adults head into the Mayan ruins to find someone's brother (they barely even know the person whose brother is lost which makes the plot even sillier...why wander into a jungle in the Mayan regions to look for someone you don't know!?) I won't spoil it for anyone, but the plot gets creepier, and I found myself disinterested. The evil "thing" was silly and I just couldn't believe that this was getting great reviews from Stephen King and other writers and critics. It's an awful book. It's not scary....it's just weird and when the book ends I didn't care about anyone in the book nor how they'd meet their fates.
Skip this book. It's just not worth the time.
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