The first thing I noticed about The Ruins by Scott Smith was the fact that there were no chapters.  Coming in at a whopping 509 pages, this was quite a departure from my usual fare of James Patterson novels where there is a new chapter every two pages.  While I thought that this was an odd convention, I can see now why the author chose to do so.

This novel kicks off and runs at a quick pace.  Never was the prose too lengthy or overly descriptive to the point of wanting to skim read.  I found myself eating up every word.  And I found myself building very vivid and detailed images in my mind of the characters, surroundings, and disturbing plot points.  Let’s just say that usually a novel of this size takes me a good 3 weeks to read, barring my busy schedule.  But I drank deep from this novel and finished it in a little over a week.

The premise?  2 young couples befriend a few other vacationers down in Cancun, Mexico.  When the brother of one of them disappears, the group decides to track him down to a remote, ancient Mayan dig site in the deep, lush jungle.  What they find there and what awaits them is an ancient horror that they would never have dreamed of. Their perilous story is what unfolds with each page that is turned.

What I loved even better was that the conclusion to the novel isn’t your usual, natural conclusion to a story.  Which makes it stand out even better to me as a great novel.  All the while reading the novel, I kept saying to myself that this would make one heck of a great movie.  Only after finishing it up did I go online and find that they did in fact make a movie out of this novel. Seeing the trailer, I already found some major discrepancies with the novel, which make me curious to see the movie and whether the ending was changed into a more standard ending.  I now find myself at that crossroads of whether the movie will ruin the overall memorable experience I had with this book.

Creepy, rich, and something that will keep you up at night, The Ruins is a tour-de-force of great reading.  I have become a Scott Smith fan and will now have to hunt down a copy of his first novel, The Simple Plan.  My only concern at all is whether he will continue to write fiction.  He has proven that he has a natural talent and an imagination that would give Stephen King and Dean Koontz a run for their money.

A must read!

The following is a book synopsis as taken from the back cover:

Living a seemingly charmed life, the protagonist of the story is in turmoil. Reeling from yet another job loss, the death of her fiancé, and a crushing loneliness, she finds herself confused about her true purpose in life and critical of the choices she has made for almost two decades. She flees one depressing situation for another and encounters hostility and disappointment. Forced to face her fears and some uncomfortable truths, she reinvents herself and embarks on a new journey of truth and discovery.

The cover’s dark tones with splashes of blues and greens help to convey the depressive state that the protagonist is constantly looking inward towards, all-the-while the hope and optimism she searches for is present but not from her vantage point.

While this author of thriller, crime-fiction has been around since 2001, Karin Slaughter has never been an author that I have taken for a test-drive, until now.

Her first novel Blindsighted, in which she debuts her heroine, Southern coroner Sara Linton,  for novels to come, is flat-out a great read.

As the book puts it, blindsighteness interferes with vision. You can see, but your mind can’t make out what it is your seeing. In otherwords, the truth could be right in front of you the entire time, but you are “blind” to it.

Now knowledge of this definition does nothing to spoil the plot of this novel, but more into the intimate layers found in most of the primary and some secondary layers of Slaughter’s characters. While some authors chose to get the reader into the hearts, minds, and past of their characters by having overly lengthy and detailed prose, Karin choses to keep it fairly simple in the writing style so that your interest is kept at a tight grip.

I compare this to one of my other top favorite authors, James Patterson.  His novels move at a quick pace, with very short chapters and lots of page-turning.  Mr. Patterson focused mainly on plot and that is what drives  my to carry on in the book to see where the story is turning next.

Karin Slaughter has that same approach, but her chapters are longer and while the plot moves along, her emphasis is on character development.  She makes you really care about the townsfolk, the detectives, and even see into the hearts of the possible suspects.  In the end, when a tragedy happens, you are bummed because you have a connection with the character. Yet all the while, the story moves on.  There is a killer on the loose and we, the readers, and the protagonists have no clue who it is. As the caption on the cover so blatantly puts it…

He kills in plain sight. But you won’t see him coming…

Great job, Ms. Slaughter.  I am disappointed it took 9 years for us to meet and I look forward to our next meeting.  Now I am off to the bookstore….

The literary world lost a great contributor on November 28, 2009 when the author Michael Crichton passed away.  Having conquered all of the major medias such as TV (creator of E.R.), movies (Jurassic Park, Timeline, Andromeda Strain, Congo) and novels (Prey, Next, Airframe), and to say that Mr. Crichton left his mark on the world is an understatement.

What a blessing it is for his literary fans to be left with still one last masterpiece that we are able to enjoy almost a year after his passing. Low and behold, a complete manuscript yet to be published was found on his computer (along with a partial novel that is currently being finished by a publisher-approved collaborator) and it may prove to be one of his greatest novels yet.

Pirate Latitudes is not only a page-turner, but touches on a genre that is sorely overlooked in the world of fiction.  Combine the page-turning ride that James Patterson delivers, with lure of adventure and plotting climaxes of Clive Cussler, with the sheer brilliance of Crichton’s prose and you get the idea of the mastery of this novel.

Not only did this novel keep me gripped tight from one plot point to another but it gave some great historical perspective on 17th century colonization of the South Seas and the world of pirates… I mean “privateers” (pirating was illegal by the way). There were many times when I found myself getting worked up to what I thought would be the main plot objective, only to have it dealt with a new one in its place.  A great read, and a great way to celebrate, once more, the mind of a great novelist and the sadness to realize that, aside from a potential yet-to-be published novel in the coming year, there would be no more future Crichton novels to fill my shelf with.

As soon as I put the book down, I mentioned to my wife that “this would make a fantastic, epic motion picture”.  It had all of the elements:  swashbuckling adventure, a vivid and diverse cast of characters, and a sense of a realism to the life that these privateers had to live.  We’re not talking about the over-the-top antics of Jack Sparrow’s adventures with a bit too much “fiction” added in, but beholding the historical realness that movies such as The Patriot, Gladiator, and Rob Roy had.

What a joy it is to find that it appears the one and only Stephen Spielberg has made his intentions known to produce and most likely direct the film adaptation of Pirate Latitudes.  He collaborated with Crichton on the hugely successful Jurassic Park, and was the executive producer with Crichton on E.R. It is therefore a tribute to Crichton for Stephen to handle this book to the Big Screen. Spielberg has already tapped writer David Koepp – who co-wrote Jurassic Park’s screenplay with Crichton – to pen the script for Pirate Latitudes. Spielberg is planning on producing the adaptation, and will possibly direct as well. The acclaimed director has called the story a, “real page-turner that already seems suited for the big screen.”

As Spielberg put it:

Michael wrote a real page-turner that already seems suited for the big screen… Michael and I have had almost two decades of solid collaborations. Whenever I made a film from a Michael Crichton book or screenplay, I knew I was in good hands. Michael felt the same, and we like to think he still does.

Apparently he has always wanted to make a pirate movie and what better material to work with than this epic novel.

If you have not yet picked up this book, do so.  If you love adventures, or great page-turning fiction, this is a book for you.  And soon to be a must-see movie.

Want to more about what it’s about?  Here is the official publisher’s synopsis:

The Caribbean, 1665. A remote colony of the English crown, the island of Jamaica holds out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Devoid of London’s luxuries, Port Royal, its capital, is a cutthroat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses. In this steamy climate, life can end swiftly by dysentery – or dagger. But for a daring soul like Captain Edward Hunter, this wild outpost in the New World can also lead to great fortune, if he abides by the island’s code.

In the name of His Majesty King Charles II of England, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking and the law of the land rests with those ruthless enough to make it. Word in port is that the Spanish galleon El Trinidad, fresh from New Spain, is awaiting repairs in nearby Matanceros. Heavily fortified, the impregnable Spanish harbor is guarded by the bloodthirsty Cazalla, a favorite commander of King Philip IV. With the Jamaican governor’s backing, Hunter assembles a crew of ruffians to infiltrate the enemy island and commandeer the galleon and its fortune in Spanish gold.

The raid is as perilous as the bloodiest tales of Matanceros legend, and Hunter will lose more than one man before he makes it onto the island’s shores, where dense jungle and the firepower of Spanish infantry stand between him and the treasure.With the help of his cunning band, Hunter hijacks El Trinidad and escapes the deadly clutches of Cazalla, leaving plenty of carnage in his wake. But the danger – and adventure – are only just beginning…