At the unsolicited but welcome suggestion of my old pal Jim Treacher, I recently read The Ruins, the latest novel by Scott Smith, author of A Simple Plan. Literally all that I knew when opened the book and started the first page was that a) it was some kind of thriller; b) it was very, very good. Since I believe this is the ideal way to read any book, I recommend that those of you who haven’t read The Ruins go into it the exact same way–you’ll have a blast–and warn you that SPOILERS FOLLOW. However, we don’t give away the ending, so if you’re okay with knowing what the high concept is and getting some of the important details blown for you, I suppose you’re free to ignore my warning, although (as the events of the book demonstrate) that’s frequently a bad idea. I mostly recommend that if you’re at all interested in the kinds of things this blog frequently discusses, you skip this post and go and read this book at once.
Anyway, here is the email exchange between me and Jim.
My first thought as soon as I closed it was, “I gotta tell Collins!”
Here’s how I know it was a great book: I get kind of weirded out now when I’m outside tearing out the weed-vine that keeps trying to invade my yard.
Also, in the book recomendation vein, way-back-machine division, I second whoever recommended Peter Watts’ Starfish to you months ago. Very cool sci-fi/horror mix about life under the sea.
Guess I gotta get me one of those RUINS thingies.
Carnival of souls
* I’ve been a busy little bee lately: On Friday I reviewed C.F.’s Powr Mastrs Vol. 1 and yesterday I reviewed Josh Simmons’s Batman and in between I talked about Scott Smith’s The Ruins with Jim Treacher. I also spoke…
Starfish–okay, got it!
I actually rather like it
Jason finds this poster for the film version of Scott Smith’s excellent novel The Ruins boring, but I think it’s pretty great. The figures are so un-posed it’s almost disconcerting, I’ll grant you that, but it’s a bit like…
Snowblind
Part survival horror, part historical fiction, part training manual for arctic naval expeditions, part Jaws on Ice, Dan Simmons’s The Terror is a peculiar book. The story (though I didn’t know this until after I finished it) is a heavily…