Author: Scott Smith
Rating: D
Format Read: Kindle via Libby
Genre: Horror
Keywords: Vacation, Vines, Friends
Kid Appropriate: Teens and older
Four recent college graduates from the United States travel to Mexico for a getaway before starting the next chapters in their lives. There they meet a trio of Greeks that don't speak English and a German named Mattias. One day Mattias admits his brother ran off with an archaeology student and he wants to find him to take him home. The Americans agree to accompany him to the dig site they believe he might be at and convince one of the Greeks to tag along. Suddenly they find themselves stranded on a hill covered in a thick vine and a village of Mayans refusing to allow them to pass. They must fight to survive before they starve, or something worse finds them.
I had high hopes going into this novel with more than one Goodreads reviewer calling this their favorite horror novel and calling it things like terrifying, engrossing, and scary. Even Buzzfeed and Barnes & Noble included it in lists of horror novels you have to read. Yeah...it was none of those things.
Our four Americans are Amy, Stacy, Eric, and Jeff. They are all incredibly selfish, petty, and self centered. On top of that they are constantly sabotaging themselves and one another. It got to the point where it was just getting ridiculous. And no they don't ever redeem themselves. Until the very last page they are all focused on completely unimportant aspects of the story and do absolutely nothing productive to their situation.
Pablo, the nickname for our primary Greek character, doesn't even really feel like a character. He is more of a prop that has the worst circumstances unloaded on him. As the only character that does not speak English we never have any insight into what he is feeling or thinking. He simply exists. Mattias had the greatest potential of all of our characters but he was not a part of the original friend group so of course he is focused on the least and we never read from his perspective.
As far as the horror element...this book is just not scary. It's not even really creepy. A lot of the time when our characters are stumbling around, afraid of the vine that is outsmarting them, it feels exhausting. A bit like when you are watching a horror movie and can't believe how dumb the character just was. More often than not I was frustrated with the approach and there is no reason behind the scary thing. There is no deeper meaning, nor is there any sort of resolution. It just is.
Despite the fact that I just don't like the characters and was not impressed with the horror elements of this novel, I will give it points for being readable. I was able to finish it within a couple of days and move on to better horror stories.
Four recent college graduates from the United States travel to Mexico for a getaway before starting the next chapters in their lives. There they meet a trio of Greeks that don't speak English and a German named Mattias. One day Mattias admits his brother ran off with an archaeology student and he wants to find him to take him home. The Americans agree to accompany him to the dig site they believe he might be at and convince one of the Greeks to tag along. Suddenly they find themselves stranded on a hill covered in a thick vine and a village of Mayans refusing to allow them to pass. They must fight to survive before they starve, or something worse finds them.
I had high hopes going into this novel with more than one Goodreads reviewer calling this their favorite horror novel and calling it things like terrifying, engrossing, and scary. Even Buzzfeed and Barnes & Noble included it in lists of horror novels you have to read. Yeah...it was none of those things.
Our four Americans are Amy, Stacy, Eric, and Jeff. They are all incredibly selfish, petty, and self centered. On top of that they are constantly sabotaging themselves and one another. It got to the point where it was just getting ridiculous. And no they don't ever redeem themselves. Until the very last page they are all focused on completely unimportant aspects of the story and do absolutely nothing productive to their situation.
Pablo, the nickname for our primary Greek character, doesn't even really feel like a character. He is more of a prop that has the worst circumstances unloaded on him. As the only character that does not speak English we never have any insight into what he is feeling or thinking. He simply exists. Mattias had the greatest potential of all of our characters but he was not a part of the original friend group so of course he is focused on the least and we never read from his perspective.
As far as the horror element...this book is just not scary. It's not even really creepy. A lot of the time when our characters are stumbling around, afraid of the vine that is outsmarting them, it feels exhausting. A bit like when you are watching a horror movie and can't believe how dumb the character just was. More often than not I was frustrated with the approach and there is no reason behind the scary thing. There is no deeper meaning, nor is there any sort of resolution. It just is.
Despite the fact that I just don't like the characters and was not impressed with the horror elements of this novel, I will give it points for being readable. I was able to finish it within a couple of days and move on to better horror stories.
Read it if you must, but don't go in with the high expectations a lot of other reviews would have you feeling.
Check out my video review below:
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