win a copy of Scott Smith’s new novel ‘The Ruins’ (now closed)

I don’t usually cover books here at FlickFilosopher, but this is something special. Scott Smith, whose astonishing debut novel, A Simple Plan, became an even more astonishing movie (Smith received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his script adaptation of the novel), is finally back with a followup. And it’s a doozy. Though the book is just out today, July 18, I’m about halfway through an advance copy, and it’s pretty intense -- it’s a little bit of Lost, a little bit of Jaws (Stephen King says, “It does for Mexican vacations what Jaws did for New England beaches in 1975”), a little bit Day of the Triffids. and a lot its own unique kind of suspense-slash-terror. (I’ll report more when I finish the book.)

Oh, and there is a movie tie-in: Ben Stiller’s production company has snapped up the film rights, and Smith will be writing the screenplay. Cool.

To celebrate the book’s release, I’ve got two copies to give away, courtesy of Random House. Here's the scoop on the book, from the publisher:

Eerie, terrifying, unputdownable—Scott Smith’s first novel since his best-selling A Simple Plan (“Simply the best suspense novel of this year—hell, of the 1990s”—Stephen King). The Ruins follows two American couples, just out of college, enjoying a pleasant, lazy beach holiday together in Mexico as, on an impulse, they go off with newfound friends in search of one of their group—the young German, who, in pursuit of a girl, has headed for the remote Mayan ruins, site of a fabled archeological dig. This is what happens from the moment the searchers—moving into the wild interior—begin to suspect that there is an insidious, horrific “other” among them . . .

At the book’s official site, you can read an interview with Smith, listen to excerpts from the audiobook, get a sneak peek at the book’s opening, and more.

If you don’t want to wait to win, buy the book at Amazon.

(Technorati tags: Ruins, Scott Smith, book, giveaway, contest)