Book Review: "The Ruins"

This horror novel released back in 2006 and written by Scott Smith, tells the story of six backpackers, four of whom are couples, and their adventure which leads them to a tribal Mayans village where dwells a horrifying secret that will take the group to the very edge of sanity and beyond.

I was meaning to read this for quite some time now so glad I finally got around to doing so. Firstly, I loved the writing style. It had excellent pacing to it as well as fleshed out enough from the characters that you actually care about the impending fates that awaits them. Especially toward the end of the book, the sense of urgency rises to dizzying heights. Exceptionally job there by the author.

The premise brings about a prevailing atmosphere of fear and claustrophobia, in that near the beginning of the story, our tepid adventurers are thrown into a "geographical" situation that will dictate the foundations upon which the rest of the book is based. It also doesn't hold back on detailing the gore, so go into this one knowing it pulls no punches when describing the events as they happen.

As "creature features" go, this is one that plays more on the psychological elements of the story instead of simple out-and-out graphic horror. This is pleasing for me to say as attempting to conjure horror out of a novel by going for the "gross-out" factor, has never really worked in terms of scares. Getting into the readers minds is always the preferred option and this book does a stellar job in this regard.

"The Ruins" is a fantastic read and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who fancies a good old creepy read on this cold, winter nights. This is the first Scott Smith book I've read but I can assure you, it most definitely won't be the last.