trying to chill

I’d like to start off this post saying that reading is pretty great. I’ve only gotten into reading recently, however. I’ve always considered myself a bit of an intellectual (being that I’ve been a computer/geek for so many years), but I never realized what an impact it would have. To quote many a teacher and speaker: “Reading stimulates the mind.” I’ve got more cheese don’t worry. I’ve also proudly joined the “The book is better than the movie” snob club because it’s God damn true. Anyway, here’s my first review:

The Ruins by Scott Smith. It’s a story of two young couples (Jeff and Amy, Eric and Stacy) on vacation in Cancun, Mexico when things turn sour. Their tour guide, Matthias, seeks out his brother Henrich who hasn’t returned from an archaeological dig site with a new found lover. Jeff, the boy scout feeling excited for some real adventure before they head home, decides they should accompany him. Oh, and one of their new found non-English speaking Greek friends “Pablo” decides to join them with a bag of tequila. Where’s this place? It’s a bus ride from their hotel to Coba, a several mile dirty cab ride to the path (during which they’re unsuccessfully advised to turn back), and a few more miles to the site. In another country. In the middle of nowhere.

I could go for that, sure. After taking a wrong turn and hitting an Aztec camp with—guess again—non-English speaking people unsuccessfully advising them to leave (or so we assume). They find their way down the proper path to the site, which is blocked (do we see a trend here?), and continue on. They get just outside this marvelous Aztec site, surrounded with beautiful bright green vines and flowers, and are again approached by the gesturing Aztecs. Amy accidently takes a step into the vines, and the Aztecs do an about face, draw their weapons, and force them ALL into the vines and up the site.

What the hell? At any rate, while the story is a bit cheesy, Smith does a pretty good job conveying the transition from excitement to uneasiness to downright scared. It doesn’t take too long for the story to jump into the beefy parts, either. Throughout the book I think he spent too much time detailing past reminiscent situations of these kids, but did do a good job creating visuals of what kind of people they are. As the transition happens and the environment changes—I was on the edge of my seat wondering what’s going to happen next, right up until the last page. I was surprised by how he finished the story, as well. I won’t spoil it, but let’s just say Smith puts you right in the middle of a true to the name Horrifying story.

Even if you don’t like horror novels I believe that your imagination will be captivated while you read this book. I enjoyed the his writing and the visuals he provided, and infact, it was enough to get me into reading.