Bloodtype Online

    After viewing the trailers and previews of the movie version of The Ruins I decided that I would rather read the book first. I still want to see the movie despite the mixed reviews, (at the time I writing this I haven't but when I do I will write an accompanying review piece), as after reading this I can see how it is very film friendly. However, it does leave me in a awkward situation, as with any other film adaptation; the book is invariably better than the movie, so you face disappoinment. But, if you watch the movie first then read the novel a certain amount of the book's impact will be lost on you. You can't win can you? 

    Anyway, to the book itself which is admittedly a good read but not one that is without a serious amount of flaws. It's pulp horror dragged out over 500 odd pages, but these pages will fly by in no time at all despite these flaws. 

    The story follows four Americans, Jeff, Amy, Eric and Stacey, who are vacationing in Mexico. Whilst there they befriend Mathias, a German, and Pablo, Juan and Don Quixote, three Greeks using pseudonyms, and by all accounts they are having a great time. That is until it comes to their attention that Mathias' brother has gone walkabout with a girl he met. All they have to go on about his location is a note and a map that he left. His destination being an archealogical site at the top of a hill out in the middle of the jungle. 

    Mathias obviously wants to go and find him, so the Americans, along with Pablo, all agree to travel with him thinking that they will only be gone for a day and that it will be an adventure. Oh, it was an adventure alright! Despite warnings from cab drivers, local Mayan villagers and the fact that the trail was hidden from sight, they follow the map to their destination. Once there though things start to go wrong, and after an accident they realize that they are trapped on the hill with no escape. It seems that the hill has very unhospitable plant life, which wants them dead. 

    The Ruins starts off at a charge and never really lets up. The reader is told the story through the perspective of each of the Americans in turn and Smith amps the tension, and sense of desperation, up superbly. For the first couple of hundred pages or so that is. Then it all starts to get bogged down a little in repetition, with each of the characters going the same thought processes and complaints. Granted it is all well written, and the sense of horror and dread, and doom, are conveyed exceptionally well, but a little more depth to the events would have been welcomed. For me the only real plot point that is developed properly is the vine, which is their main problem. Smith reveals more about it bit by bit, with each revelation bieng more terrifying than the previous one. 

    I would have liked to also have seen a little more exploration into the ruins themselves, which are sorely lacking despite the title, as well as about the vine itself. Of course there is the possibility of this in a sequel, or prequel, should one ever arise. 

    By the time I had got to the end, which was predictable and a little surprising at the same time, I was just left feeling slightly robbed and a little underwhelmed. On the plus side though The Ruins does have some superbly crafted scenes of tension, more than its fair share of incredible gruesome scenes and is all held together by some incredibly vivid storytelling, there is no doubt that Smith is a fine writer despite my criticisms. 

    I'll just finish by saying that The Ruins could have either been a hundred or so pages shorter to cut out some of the repetition, or slightly longer to enable a little more exploration into the events. It is a bloody good read, but there are so many better horror novels out there that I'd recommend before this one. 

Rating - **1/2 

- Jude Felton