The Beach by Alex Garland

I read the most amazing book two nights ago. A fellow backpacker put it down for a few minutes, and let me read it the rest of the night. I finished it in a few hours (because I read like mad), and it's amazing. So go out and buy it new. It's called The Beach by Alex Garland. Run to your nearest library, bookshop, or here's the Amazon link for you lazy ones. It's an amazing travel novel. This English guy is in Thailand, when a crazy person in his hotel gives him a map to a beach he knows nothing about. After seeing the man kill himself, Richard and a French couple set out to find this beach, which involves a 2 kilometer swim in the open ocean. There they find a commune, which is paradise, but which turns ugly. It is a page turner, and amazing book. Please do yourself a favor and read it right now. It's brilliant.