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Title: Ruins - a Long ways to go for a somewhat empty read.
Review: Maybe I was expecting too much from Scott Smith's The Ruins. I loved his previous novel A Simple Plan and was excited to delve into what critics were calling "the best horror novel of the new century."And yet...I just didn't get it.At 509 pages The Ruins feels like it could have been told easily in under 200 pages. Not much truly happens. The story has 6 characters essentially trapped in a confined area of the jungle and yet it took far too long for 4 of these characters to even be partially fleshed out. The 5th and 6th characters never get the chance to become anything more than background.Still with each turn of the page I kept hoping for something more and was always met with disappointment. I hear the movie is worse than the book so that makes the decision to skip it easier.If you're a fan of tight-paced horror stories, you probably want to look some place else. The Ruins just misses on every level.
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