Mini Book Review - The Ruins

Just finished reading Scott Smith's The Ruins. I found it to be a very tough read as it never really got anywhere in the middle portion (the meat) of the book. I bought this book because I really enjoyed the movie A Simple Plan which was based on Scott Smith's novel. I thought the movie A Simple Plan was a great character film and was looking for more of the same from The Ruins. Nope.

The Ruins is about 2 young American couples vacationing in Mexico who decide to go on a little adventure. They befriend a German man also vacationing there but the German man's brother has run off after a girl to an archeological dig site. So the 2 American couples decide to help their German friend retrieve his brother. On their way to the dig site, they come across some Mayan ruins where the indigenous people still live and toil. Little do they know what secrets these Mayans are protecting...

Ooh...sounds good yeah? I thought so too, which is why I bought the book. I thought, "Ooh, this is gonna be another creepy character driven story like how A Simple Plan was!". Wrong.

The Ruins is a very boring book. Once the characters reach their destination, the pace slows to a crawl. It's like Smith is trying to build atmosphere and suspense but it didn't work for me. I kept waiting for something to happen. When it finally did in the last 1/4 of the book, I already knew how it was gonna end.

It was a very disappointing book and I wouldn't recommend it.

Anyone have any recommendations on good books?