Scott Smith’s new book is a gut-churner of the first-degree. The novel starts out slow and builds, introducing the reader to each of the four characters. Eric is the party guy who has settled into his future, planning on marrying Stacy, teaching school, and being a high school sports coach. Stacy is okay with her lot in life, but she’s still sowing a few wild oats when Eric’s not looking – but only up to a point. Jeff is a survivor, a guy who always has a plan no matter what the situation. Amy tends to be selfish and needy, a good person in a good situation, but this group left “good situation” back at the edge of the jungle.
While vacationing in Cancun, the four meet Mathias, a young German man who is also vacationing on the Yucatan Peninsula with his brother. While they talk, Mathias tells everyone he’s worried about his brother, who started crushing on a young female archeologist and ended up going on a dig with the team into the interior of the forest. Taken with Mathias’s plight, they pack up and go with him to search for the missing brother. Also along for the trip, packing plenty of tequila, is a Greek man who calls himself Pablo.
Unfortunately, the nature of the novel precludes talking about the plot much beyond this point. The reader really needs to experience it first-hand. Suffice to say that pleasant things are not encountered out in the wilds of the jungle.
Scott Smith, author of A Simple Plan, a novel that came out 13 years ago, struck gold with his first book. He also went on to write the screenplay, which featured Bill Paxton, Bridget Fonda, and Billy Bob Thornton. Smith may take time between projects, but he scores big when he plays.
I meandered through the first 50 pages or so. Smith took time to set up the characters and establish their relationships with each other. But it was easy to put the book down and go off to other things. However, once our heroes entered the jungle, ran across the mysterious Mayan village with people who ignored them, then finally found the archeological dig site – which someone had tried to hide from them – I was white-knuckled and nailed to the pages.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
2 - Debby Bytnar
This book was absolutely ridiculous. What a far-fetched unbelievable book. I wish I hadn't read the whole thing. It was such a disappointment. When I think of horror I think of something that will make me sit on the edge of my seat. Unexpected is what I was hoping but unbelievable was what I got.
3 - sheena
i hated all the characters with the exception of Mathias, he was the most interesting anyway. When she was away from Eric Stacy herself showed some development. The vine thing was creeping but i never really got into the book, couldn't care if they lived or died ........
4 - Ken Cordaro
I hate myself for finishing this book. I knew it was horrible and early on but was trapped on a plane with nothing else to do. PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF AND DON'T READ THIS BOOK.
5 - megan
i abosolutely loved this book
when i look for a horror i look for death
torture
on going pain
and no happy ending...
i got it with this book. AMAZING