The Beach was Alex Garland's debut novel, and perhaps what he is most famous for, despite writing successful screenplays for 28 Days Later (2002) and Sunshine (2007).
  

Backpacker Richard discovers a map taped to the door of his hotel room in Thailand, promising to lead him to a secret beach; a paradise. The man who left the map commits a violent suicide and haunts Richard in his dreams. Suddenly the gap between fantasy and reality becomes a little too close for comfort.
  
Essentially the grasp of the story is that the setting is out of the norm, but with a depressing lack of attention to detail, it's a struggle to imagine the characters and scenery, which a book of this genre desperately needs.
   
Garland's weak range of language and repetitive dialogue make for a disappointing tone, but perhaps this is down to the slow, dull plot, leading it to a poor and unrealistic conclusion.