The Ruins

Book starts out slow but you can sense that it's building to something different. You can almost hear the music in the background. By the time it reaches the mid-section you're engrossed in this very strange saga. It tears at you at times and truly touches a variety of nerves. Stick with it and you won't be disappointed.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I like the story and I like the narrator

Very predictable....would make a great cheesy B Rated horror flick!

The beginning is somewhat slow, as others have commented, but it builds up a good measure of suspense. It has your typical horror movie scenario set-up, with an unexpected character development and ending. It was a smooth and entertaining.

Well....I personally thought this book was excellent. I also read it and unfortunately watched the movie of it. LISTEN to it. My only advice is if you are queasy with gore or blood (which is very descriptive in this) skip it. I really did enjoy it and recommend.

Stephen King has nothing on Smith. This is truly one of the most frightening books I've listened to. The narration was excellent and I could imagine myself in the jungle with the Mayans. A definite must read.

This book is extremely slow but I stuck it out until the end and I'm glad I did. The ending was very well written and made me feel sad. I'm not sure I would recommend this book because of the slowness but the ending redeemed it in a small way.

This was the worst book I have listened to in a long time. I didn't have anything else to listen to so stayed with it. I skipped through most of the CD's and went right to the end.

I was going to rent the cd then realized I had read it on a recent trip. I could not put this book down. Having been to the area in Mexico where the author plays out this drama created some vivid images. This is as good or better than anything Dean Koontz has ever come up with.

This is a terrible book!, the worst I have read (or listened to) so far. Its like a cheap horror movie that is so bad acted that instead of scaring you it makes you laugh!. The story is so imposible you just don't get into it. Don't waist your time!.

Absolutely one of the worse books I never finished. I listened to 3 of the CD's and sent it back. Didn't care how it ended. Author went into WAY too much detail and it was beyond borning. With all that rambling it was no wonder it took 12 discs. Could have told the story in 5 discs at the tops, but it still would have been a lousy book.

Yikes, what a slow moving, stop the ruminating and get on with it, tedious, never really making a point that was interesting, novel. One more masturbating hand job scene and I would puke. The characters were one dementional, despite an attempt to let us inside their pitiful minds. Would have thown it across the room and, being basically non-violent, that would be extreme for me. Really the worst book I have suffered in years. Who could listen to one more day of that? In all fairness I only got to tape 6 (out of 12) and could not take it anymore. After all, they had been stranded on that vine covered hill for 5 tapes and NOTHING happened save and except stupid mind games and one guy laying in his piss, suffering. I got it on tape one that the vine was a problem. Who needed 4 more tapes to underscore it with less than graphic or imaginative prose. I really felt as if the author had made this up from whole cloth. That is to say, had never suffered, so could not write about it.

This book flat out stinks. The characters are poorly drawn and the plot is predictable. I kept waiting for something intriguing to happen - but it never did. The authors first book was pretty good; that fact caused me to keep listening. I wish I had not wasted the time it took to hear this one.

This book was terrible. The book was disturbing, depressing and too graphic. I listened to the entire book but Iwish I would have stopped listening after the first CD. The book was so unnecessarily detailed that I was able to skip several tracks at a time and still figure out what was going on. At one point I skipped an entire CD and the story had only moved forward about 2 minutes into the future. I would not recommend this book to anyone who values their time.

What a great gift idea... for the person that thinks life is all cookies and cake or that nature is innocent and harmless..or is simply a spoiled brat of any age. And unless you are one of these people the ending is not a surprise but a theme necessity. It is all predictable with incredibly real feeling and well written characters who for the most part are realy not simpathetic just common people that learn the hard way that nature and life can be cruel beyond your wildest nightmare.

This is the best novel I have listened to in a long time. I would sit in the car for a long while after I had entered my carport because I couldn't turn off the cd player. I was on the "edge of my seat" during the entire book, and that is hard to do and drive at the same time! If you want to be surprised by a book, then this one is for you. I can't wait to get another one by Scott Smith.

This is the worst book I have ever listened to, I can't believe this is even been printed! I listen to the unabridged version, and can't believe I wasted my time on such a horrible book, but you don't know what's going to happen until the last CD.

A disappointment. Fun voices and characters, but I kept waiting for something surprising to happen. Really just a character study. Not enough happens, and it takes a long time not to happen.

This book was unnecessarily graphic and incredibly predictable. The mystery of the "surprise twist" was obvious to me in the first scene in which it was introduced, so the time it took for the characters to figure it out was annoying. All of the above could be forgiven if it wasn't for the fact that none of the characters in the book were sympathetic. I won't bother reading books by this author in the future.

This book was very disappointing. The book dragged on; you could skip a number of tracks, and hardly any progress had been made--it took forever to get no where. The characters not engaging, and it's a depressing story. The only good part of this book is that it's finished, and I can go on to something much better