Two books

I wanted to hate Marisha Pessl's "Special Topics in Calamity Physics." You can tell right away she has pedigree and her idea of hard work is lifting her Norton Anthology from the Louis Quatorze desk. But I ended up liking it all, even when she was scrubbing my face on how smart she was. It's a good gimmicky book. Read it.
I'm also recommending Scott Smith's "The Ruins" Yes, I know Stephen King did it, and, no, the novel doesn't deliver anything more than very taut thrills, but... well, how often are you thrilled?