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Title: Horror for it's own sake...
Review: THE RUINS is a rather disappointing example of a horror novel that limits itself to just the horror, leaving little room for anything else, Poorly sketched characters head gradually toward their doom; not one individual is described enough detail to develop any compassion toward his or her plight so the reader remain emotionally distant. When left with a lack of any compassion for the characters, the book is dependent on atmosphere and the novelty of the setting to carry it and it turns out that this isn't enough. What you're left with is a good writer trying to make something compelling out of very little. There are some truly grotesque and horrifying set pieces that will provide fleeting thrills, but the lack of interest for the characters makes this nothing more intriguing than any run of the mill entry in the genre and from the author ofA Simple Planit's fair to expect quite a bit more.
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