Ruin Road (Review)

Information:

• Author: Lamar Giles
• Genre: Horror, Contemporary
• Page Count: 368
• Year Published: 2024

Read This If You Like:

• Horror but more contemporary style 
• Social Commentary on marginalization, fear, and racism
• First person novels with some perspective switches 
• Cool covers
• Less intense scary stories
• Mysterious pawn shops
• Mysterious white vans 
• Books with no romance

Synopsis:

Cade Webster may be one of the best players on his school’s football team, but nearly everyone except his family is afraid of him, especially because he’s Black in a predominately White school and neighborhood. Despite the frequent threats, he’s mostly been able to survive, until the night where an incident on the bus home leads him to being chased down by the police- and into a mysterious pawn shop, where alongside an old Super Bowl ring, Cade is also able to purchase a wish, and his choice of wish is for people to stop being afraid around him. To his surprise, it comes true, and not only are people not afraid of Cade- they aren’t afraid of anything around him. What starts as a beneficial wish for his family and friends, however, soon turns out to have unintended consequences as this lack of fear leads not only to people doing things that are dangerous to themselves, but also leads to shocking violence and crime around town. But it turns out that Cade’s wish may be harder to break than expected- especially because there’s something more supernatural going on. 

Review/Opinions:

This was a book I was actually quite interested in, especially because the cover got my attention- it was horrifying, but also had a great art style and was really unique. And after seeing quite a bit of praise from critics before the book was released, complimenting its plot and social commentary, I believed it was going to be a good read. I certainly agreed that the social commentary worked- it was developed strongly and complimented the actual horror well. The writing style was also neat, but as for the actual twists and horror elements? I thought those could use a little more emphasis.

The main purpose of this book was the social commentary, which made up the bulk of the story’s structure, and it was some of the better commentary I’ve seen in YA in a while. I’ve read quite a bit of YA contemporary horror where after so many suspenseful parts, the big twist was that the “horror” was entirely caused by the theme that the story wants to explore, and then anything shocking that happened was completely forgotten so the author could focus on this theme (sort of like if the horror was entirely in the character’s mind the whole time.) However, Ruin Road does this differently, instead letting the supernatural elements cause the events that lead to this commentary. Throughout the story, there is plenty of focus on racism and assumptions that lead to fear and marginalization, which are themes that appear since the beginning of the story, but are amplified by Cade’s wish and its consequences. Alongside this social commentary, there’s also some more thought-provoking questions raised about fear, especially on when being fearless is taken too far. 

But while this book markets itself as a thriller/horror, it could’ve used a lot more focus on these elements. First, nothing really happens until around page 60 or so, when Cade witnesses the event that leads him to the pawn shop. Even though most YA books have the action start at around this page mark, and I typically read around 100 pages a day,  I still find that starting the action at around page 60 means a slow, tedious start. Quite a bit happened before the action picked up, and it did help with that social commentary as well as exposition, but it was still hard to read through since it wasn’t exciting. And when things actually happened, there wasn’t as much of an impact as I expected. The book had a bit too many examples of how Cade’s wish impacted people, with most of the first few just feeling a bit flat (including one that was honestly a cringy attempt at humor.) There later was a twist that was really shocking- but the aftermath was anticlimactic, it felt like the characters simply acknowledged that it happened and had no real reaction, making it less impactful than it should have been. I did enjoy how it ended up tying into supernatural elements with a bunch of backstory. I also loved the climax, which had the most shocking parts and the most emotional impact, and the epilogue had a sense of unfinished business to top it off. But it took a lot of slow, underwhelming plot to get there. 

The horror was slightly improved by the book’s writing style, however. I find it hard to read horror that isn’t in first person because it loses a lot of impact when we aren’t seeing the events through a character’s eyes, and not only is Ruin Road in the perspective I want, but Cade is also a great narrator, not only having plenty of emotion and reasons to be sympathetic for him, but also having a small sense of wit and humor. Many of the side characters also had their own arcs and development, even if it was mostly caused by Cade’s wish. My favorite part of the writing was how it wasn’t entirely in Cade’s perspective- there were a few chapters written in the perspective of side characters and characters years before the story started, which helped give a new view on the story (even if all these chapters were written in 3rd person, which I mentioned not being a fan of at the start of this paragraph.) 

Overall, this was one of those books that I found to be a mixed bag, and that your appreciation for it will depend on what you want from the story. If you want a slightly more emotional story where horror is used to make impactful social commentary and raise important questions about society, I recommend this for you. But if you want a thrill ride that keeps you up at night, I believe that this missed the mark, since the horror elements could’ve used a little more oomph. The author’s other thrillers, especially Spin and The Getaway, do look fun though, so maybe I’ll try them one day, provided that they flesh out the thrills a bit more alongside the commentary.