The Ruins

published	July 18th 2006 by Knopf
first published	2007
binding	Hardcover
isbn	1400043875 (isbn13: 9781400043873)
pages	336
description	In 1993, Scott Smith wowed readers with A Simple Plan, his stunning debut thriller about what happens when three men find a wrecked plane and b...more [close] In 1993, Scott Smith wowed readers with A Simple Plan, his stunning debut thriller about what happens when three men find a wrecked plane and bag stuffed with over 4 million dollars--a book that Stephen King called "Simply the best suspense novel of the year!" Now, thirteen years after writing a novel that turned into a pretty great movie featuring Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton, Smith is back, with The Ruins, a horror-thriller about four Americans traveling in Mexico who stumble across a nightmare in the jungle. Who better to tell readers if Smith has done it again than the undisputed King of Horror (and champion of Smith's first book)? We asked Stephen King to read The Ruins and give us his take. Check out his review below. --Daphne Durham Guest Reviewer: Stephen King Stephen King is the author of too many bestselling books to name here, but some of our favorites include: Cell, The Stand, On Writing, The Shining, and the entire Dark Tower series. King also received the National Book Foundation 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, has had many movies and television miniseries adapted from his novels, short stories, and screenplays, and is a regular columnist for Entertainment Weekly. Keep your eyes peeled for Lisey's Story (October 2006), a new television series on TNT based on Nightmares & Dreamscapes (July 2007), and a graphic novel series based on the Dark Tower books coming from Marvel (2007). When I heard that Scott Smith was publishing a new novel this summer, I felt the way I did when my kids came in an hour or two late from their weekend dates: a combination of welcoming relief (thank God you're back) mingled with exasperation and anger (where the hell have you been?). Well, it's only a book, you say, and maybe that's true, but Scott Smith is a singularly gifted writer, and it seems to me that the twelve years between his debut--the cult smash A Simple Plan--and his return this summer with The Ruins is cause for exasperation, if not outright anger. Certainly Smith, who has been invisible save for his Academy Award-nominated screenplay for the film version of A Simple Plan, will have some 'splainin to do about how he spent his summer vacation. Make that his last twelve summer vacations. But enough. The new book is here, and the question devotees of A Simple Plan will want answered is whether or not this book generates anything like Plan's harrowing suspense. The answer is yes. The Ruins is going to be America's literary shock-show this summer, doing for vacations in Mexico what Jaws did for beach weekends on Long Island. Is it as successful and fulfilling as a novel? The answer is not quite, but I can live with that, because it's riskier. There will be reviews of this book by critics who have little liking or understanding for popular fiction who'll dismiss it as nothing but a short story that has been bloated to novel length (I'm thinking of Michiko Kakutani, for instance, who microwaved Smith's first book). These critics, who steadfastly grant pop fiction no virtue but raw plot, will miss the dazzle of Smith's technique; The Ruins is the equivalent of a triple axel that just misses perfection because something's wrong with the final spin. It's hard to say much about the book without giving away everything, because the thing is as simple and deadly as a leg-hold trap concealed in a drift of leaves…or, in this case, a mass of vines. You've got four young American tourists--Eric, Jeff, Amy, and Stacy--in Cancun. They make friends with a German named Mathias whose brother has gone off into the jungle with some archeologists. These five, plus a cheerful Greek with no English (but a plentiful supply of tequila), head up a jungle trail to find Mathias's brother…the archaeologists…and the ruins. Well, two out of three ain't bad, according to the old saying, and in this case; what's waiting in the jungle isn't just bad, it's horrible. Most of The Ruins's 300-plus pages is one long, screaming close-up of that horror. There's no let-up, not so much as a chapter-break where you can catch your breath. I felt that The Ruins did draw on a trifle, but I found Scott Smith's refusal to look away heroic, just as I did in A Simple Plan. It's the trappings of horror and suspense that will make the book a best seller, but its claim to literature lies in its unflinching naturalism. It's no Heart of Darkness, but at its suffocating, terrifying, claustrophobic best, it made me think of Frank Norris. Not a bad comparison, at that. One only hopes Mr. Smith won't stay away so long next time.--Stephen King [close]
date added	12-28-06 edit book

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Nancyc rated it:

05/09/08

bookshelves: general-fiction

I just finished reading The Ruins by Scott Smith. If you plan to read it, stop here, because I'm about to take a stroll through it.

Reading The Ruins as a writer, got through the first 75 pages and asked myself how this writer managed to get me to follow these people into the jungle when I didn't particularly like any of them.

The Ruins is about four recent college grads on vacation in Cancun, who go off on an adventure to help an acquaintance find his brother. The college grads are comprised ...more I just finished reading The Ruins by Scott Smith. If you plan to read it, stop here, because I'm about to take a stroll through it.

Reading The Ruins as a writer, got through the first 75 pages and asked myself how this writer managed to get me to follow these people into the jungle when I didn't particularly like any of them.

The Ruins is about four recent college grads on vacation in Cancun, who go off on an adventure to help an acquaintance find his brother. The college grads are comprised of two American couples, Eric and Stacy and Jeff and Amy. Although they have distinct personalities, none of them stands out as a person I would follow on a day trip away from the beach. When their German friend, Mathias, tells them that he must travel to an obscure Mayan archaeological dig to retrieve his lovesick brother, Jeff volunteers himself and his friends to keep him company. And let the foreshadowing begin.

None of the Americans really seem happy to leave the beach. Eric is so hung over, I expect his eyes to start bleeding, Stacy doesn't seem to think about whether she wants to go or not...she just follows Jeff's lead and remains the classic follower until there's... um...no one left to follow. Amy whines about going but then remembers she's been criticized for whining and summarily shuts up and goes. And I follow right along with them, thinking, "They're not really prepared. Do they know where they're going? Should they trust Mathias?" They have a hand-written map, where public transportation only takes them within 15 miles of the spot. The bus ride is ominous, the pickup truck ride to the trail head is stressful, the truck driver tries to warn them, they encounter an entire town of Mayans who try to stop them, and Amy continues to snap photos. At the last minute, a smiling Greek, bearing the gift of three bottles of tequila, joins them.

That the Greek speaks no English is only one of the language barriers the Americans encounter. They can't talk to the Mayans either. And the Mayans are clearly trying to tell them something kind of important. Something like, Don't Step Onto The Hill With The Red Flowering Vine. They do, of course, and that seals their fate. Looking back, I don't know why I didn't predict the end. They all die. There are no heroes, no survivors. Their collective penchant for sniping at each other and their private pools of fear and self-doubt take them straight to their deaths.

That pretty red-flowered vine turns out to be a carnivorous plant with super human abilities. It can mimic them in their own voices and knows just what to say to hurt them better than a kid sister with a crush on her sister's boyfriend. When hunger makes them swoon, it can engulf the hilltop with scents like freshly baked bread or steaks barbecuing. Yep. It's one mean plant. But the two couples, the German and the Greek never really question what it is or why the Mayans feel the need to keep them on the hill at gunpoint. They never try to find a weakness in their enemy. Nor do they work to make a plan to escape. They wait, hoping that the Greek's companions will come for them. Two other Greek men, who don't speak any English, Spanish or Mayan, are their only hope for survival from this situation.

Is there a message here? Something beyond entertainment? The Ruins does break a lot of formula expectations. No survivors, no heroes, no escape plan. They are four Americans, newly graduated from college, affluent, white and ready to begin adult life. By American standards, they are four young people who have the world by the ass. Yet they are not prepared to survive any difficulties. In fact, they are all basically lead to their deaths, whining and longing for another drink.

Another thing that Smith does is he keeps them all alive for an agonizingly long time after their fate is sealed. I kept expecting people to start dying off. But no one dies until more than 3/4 of the book is gone. Once the first one dies, though, Jill comes tumbling after... they drop pretty quickly. The sad part is, I'm grateful to see them go. They're the kind of people you might have a drink with at a tavern and never remember any of their names an hour later.

Okay...since I said at the beginning that I was going to go through the book, I don't feel like I've spoiled anything for anyone. Just thinking it through.
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Campbell rated it:

03/30/08

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: no one.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Wow, what a disappointment. I'd been so excited about this-- I'm not a horror novel fan, but this had gotten such great reviews, I figured I'd give it a try. The trailer for the movie also looked intriguing. Unfortunately, you may as well just watch the trailer and read the first forty pages of the book, because beyond that, it doesn't deliver.
My first issue with the book was the characters-- they're the most one dimensional people I've come across in long time. Goldilocks had more personal...more Wow, what a disappointment. I'd been so excited about this-- I'm not a horror novel fan, but this had gotten such great reviews, I figured I'd give it a try. The trailer for the movie also looked intriguing. Unfortunately, you may as well just watch the trailer and read the first forty pages of the book, because beyond that, it doesn't deliver.
My first issue with the book was the characters-- they're the most one dimensional people I've come across in long time. Goldilocks had more personality. It's hard to feel a whole lot of sympathy or empathy for characters who are nothing more than stock types-- "the ditzy sexy girl"; " the boy scout" etc. Smith acknowledges their single dimensions midway through the book when the characters are talking about a film version of their situation and one of the character breaks them all down into types ("the boy scout" "the prissy girl" "the slut" "the funny guy"). Too bad Smith never makes the effort to flesh the characters out. It's hard to get too worked up about their deaths when you don't feel like there's anything at stake.
The second problem (and a far bigger one, in my opinion), is the lack of pay off. Early in the book, the characters end up stranded on a mountain, kept captive by a Mayan village who forces them to stay on the mountain with this monster plant. Yeah, yeah, the plant's terrible, it's carnivorous and smart and is able to torture and kill it's captives. Once I got to the point in the book where it's clear the characters are stuck on the mountain, I thought, "I sure hope the next 400 pages aren't spent just detailing how these people die. I sure hope we solve the mystery of where the plant came from, why the Mayans are in collusion with it, and if it's truly a plant at all or an extension of something much more ominous below the surface." So if you ask yourself the same questions and think you'll get answers later in the book, save yourself the time. None of those things are answered and it is, in fact, 400 pages of describing each of their demise.
Part of the problem stems from Smith's tactic of only writing from the point of view of the American characters. If the characters were interesting, it might be worthwhile to see how they handle this awful and confusing situation, but we've already addressed that these folks are pretty dull. I think a more interesting approach would've been to either tell part of the story from the Mayan's point of view or from an omniscient POV, detailing the history of why such a malevolent force is at work in this spot. Maybe my perception was skewed from the film trailers in thinking that this might be revealed.
I found the book frustrating because the characters briefly seem to be going in this direction, mentioning how the Mayans have contained the plant and guessing at why they continue to hold people captive here. They also touch on the fact that the plant may not be a plant at all. Unfortunately, Smith doesn't explore these ideas either through speculation on the characters' parts or by having the characters physically seek out the source of the plant. Sure, it may be unbelievable that the characters would risk their lives trying to find the source, but believability went out the window when the plant started talkig. Smith already set up that the characters are boring,not so bright, and going to die anyway, so why not have them die in the pursuit of what this thing actually is?
Overall, I thought the book was pisspoor. The first 40 pages are good, the story is tightly wound and propulsive, but after that, you may as well watch any generic slasher flick....less

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Christina rated it:

02/17/08

Read in February, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This is a tough one to rate, and the only way I can think to do it is through talking about the actual content. I'll warn you just before this happens.

I'm really torn about what to give this one. I picked it up because I'd seen a trailer for the movie version and thought it seemed terrifyingly good. I knew I'd never be able to stomach the actual movie and was happy when the trailer mentioned that it was based on a book. So I picked it up and gave a go. And then it left me so damn pissed off ...more This is a tough one to rate, and the only way I can think to do it is through talking about the actual content. I'll warn you just before this happens.

I'm really torn about what to give this one. I picked it up because I'd seen a trailer for the movie version and thought it seemed terrifyingly good. I knew I'd never be able to stomach the actual movie and was happy when the trailer mentioned that it was based on a book. So I picked it up and gave a go. And then it left me so damn pissed off and depressed at the end.

OK, OK! No doubt it's a horror novel, and that's part of the trouble I'm having with the rating. I mean, hello! It totally disgusted me and like -- what did I expect with a horror novel? Disney songs? But what I mean goes beyond the yuck and horror factor. Here's where you might want to stop reading if you're going to read the book or watch the movie.

OK. Ready?

Yes, it's all so very, very horrifying, no question. And perhaps more horrifying than anything else at all is how easily the characters give up, how easily their fight for survival is crushed. But I'm not sure if that's meant to be part of the larger message here. Because if it's not, and I really don't think it is, then there's not so much substance to this work. Nothing really happens at all.

It's very frustrating to me that they give up without tapping into much of their survival instinct, aside from Jeff. I kept thinking of ways for them to fight, even if it ended up fruitless. How about duct-taping wonking lengths of the vine to rocks and pelting them at the ring of Mayan sentries, for example? Maybe it wouldn't have accomplished anything, but it wouldn't been at least an attempt at fighting back. And the vine is freaked out by fire ... SO WHY DOESN'T SOMEONE AT LEAST ATTEMPT TO SET IT ON FIRE??!?!?!?!

Back to Jeff -- I hate the practical side of life, but sometimes it's just plain necessary for life to continue. Yeah, I don't know if I could actually eat any of you if we're all stuck someplace and the only option is cannibalism, especially since I'm a vegetarian. But shouldn't I have tried?

AND WHY DIDN'T ANYONE ATTEMPT TO LOOK THROUGH THE JOURNALS? There's a brief mention of one of them having Dutch writing, but it's a passing mention and the narrative never returns. Maybe something was written later by someone else.

I also didn't really give a damn about any of the people, except the most enigmatic, Mathias. (Maybe if we knew more about him, we wouldn't like him, either, lol.) One of the characters even sketches a brief movie scenario of the situation, and unfortunately, while it's meant as a kind of joke, there's not much more depth to the characters than that.

And that's what it comes to, I guess I'm circling around to: The whole work, in a nutshell: 500 pages of vapidity.

One other, very minor, thing that nonetheless annoyed the piss out of me: Um, hello. It's called "The Ruins." So where are those ruins? If it's meant to be some double entendre -- the ruins of the characters, for example -- it still doesn't work. Ruins are not a mine shaft dug into the side of a hill, damnit! They're a leaving of civilization. From what I remember, the movie trailer fixed this. So that's something. I guess....less

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Alex rated it:

03/06/08

bookshelves: books-read-in-2006

Read in December, 2007

THE RUINS BY SCOTT SMITH: For this book to be classed a mystery (at least it is at Borders) is a grave injustice to the genre community: The Ruins is outright horror, through and through; I mean it has a blood-sucking vine for crying out loud!

Scott Smith has written a most unusual book with The Ruins, starting off kind of slow with the necessary character set-up, but then suddenly kicks into high gear and goes from scary to crazy to outright impossible yet riveting. Our cast is a group of ...more THE RUINS BY SCOTT SMITH: For this book to be classed a mystery (at least it is at Borders) is a grave injustice to the genre community: The Ruins is outright horror, through and through; I mean it has a blood-sucking vine for crying out loud!

Scott Smith has written a most unusual book with The Ruins, starting off kind of slow with the necessary character set-up, but then suddenly kicks into high gear and goes from scary to crazy to outright impossible yet riveting. Our cast is a group of five twenty-something characters: two couples who went to college together (including a German and a Greek) hear about some ruins nearby while they are vacationing in Cancun. Following the paths, they end up on a plateau and find themselves trapped by a group of armed Mayans at the bottom of the hill who will shoot to kill if they come too close.

The next few days are an experimentation in the devolving of civilized humanity, as they soon find skeletons of past occupants in the area – all mysteriously stripped of any flesh. As water and food supplies dwindle, they must stick together and ration themselves to ensure survival, all with the hope that their friends back at the hotel will eventually come and find them. Then they discover that the dense green vine surrounding the camp area is not your usual foliage. As more is discovered about this plant, the story goes from bizarre to preposterous, as the vine eventually imitates sounds and smells, then their actual voices to pit them against each other. One by one, the vine gets them and causes a slow but painful death. Eventually there is one girl remaining who chooses to slash her wrists and die before she can feel the vine taking her. Three days later the friends arrive and the book ends with them being trapped in exactly the same predicament.

I have mixed feelings about this book, because there were certainly some good parts that had me wanting to keep reading on ahead, but near the end it really became far fetched from the emergency surgery that was performed – leg amputations and slicing open of bodies because of the vine – to the farcical nature of the omniscient vine that was actually speaking German to enrage the German character; though kudos are deserved for a book that dares to kill off all its characters. Nevertheless, no reason is ever really revealed for why the Mayans are keeping them there. One character hints that it might be that the vine is some sort of god that the Mayans have “sacrificed to” for hundreds of years, and this whole effort just comes off as racist.

But if it’s a blood and gore horror story you’re looking for that pushes you to your limits and makes you think how far you would go in this situation – even though nothing like this could ever really happen – then The Ruins by Scott Smith is the book for you. Now I’m just wondering why the slasher movie of this book hasn’t been made yet?

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com....less

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Caroline rated it:

(review of isbn 030727828X)

11/03/07

bookshelves: horror, read-in-2007

Read in November, 2007

The entire time reading this book, I kept telling myself "It'll get better...it has to get better! It can't all be this bad!" It did get better, for about the last 50 pages where everything just goes crazy and finally we get some consistent action.

The characters (a group of fairly dense 20-something-year-olds, a German, and some Greeks) journey deep into the jungles of Mexico to find an archaeological dig where the German's brother is supposed to be. Instead, they fin...more The entire time reading this book, I kept telling myself "It'll get better...it has to get better! It can't all be this bad!" It did get better, for about the last 50 pages where everything just goes crazy and finally we get some consistent action.

The characters (a group of fairly dense 20-something-year-olds, a German, and some Greeks) journey deep into the jungles of Mexico to find an archaeological dig where the German's brother is supposed to be. Instead, they find a strange village of Mayans that none of them can communicate with, and the path to the ruins obviously attempted to be hidden. They find the ruins, and that's when Bad Things begin to happen...so very very slowly.

I love suspense--I love the building up of worrying what's going on and wondering how the characters are going to survive their ordeal. But in The Ruins? I just wanted it all to get over with and then to die in some horrible way, because it was just dull and repetitive. The characters all have their worries they repeat over and over, and Smith loves using the technique of having them dwell on single words. It was fairly irritating for me, considering it was obvious what the characters were obsessing over without him taking up the time to do this.

I knew I was in trouble when it took an entire 50 pages of argument, debate, and repetition of "he screamed, and then stopped screaming, and the stopping was worse" when one of the characters falls about 30 feet into the ruins themselves. Seriously, it took a whopping 50 pages for them to figure out how to get him out of the whole, the entire time him screaming...and stopping...and then starting up again. I assumed it would get better after that point.

No, no it didn't. I kept teasing myself with "It should get better after this!" until about the last 50 pages, where things just go really awful and there's no more dwelling on small details that don't matter.

I had picked this book up because it had received some pretty amazing press and reviews back when it was released, and even made it on the bestseller list...and I've been craving some good old-fashioned horror. The only reason I can imagine this had so many good reviews is that those last 50 pages were actually quite good, and quite probably left a lasting impression on the early readers. That's the only reason I can come up with, since the majority of the rest of the book is so dull.

I give it two stars based on the fact it was a bit on the addictive size--Smith does a great job with the Dan Brown writing style of teasing you with bits to keep you reading a little longer, only to tease you again. Oh, and watching the characters break down and go pretty crazy towards the end was actually fairly well-done. Other than that? It felt like dredging through a whole lot of garbage to get to the nugget of gold, and honestly I wish I hadn't taken the time to do so....less

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Sarah rated it:

07/24/07

The first quarter of this book was great--a fantastic resurgence of Scott Smith, promising to be as good as A Simple Plan (one of my favorite books of all time) while at the same time giving off the eerie eerie glow found only in those books you can only read in full sun...for fear of being scared out of your mind.

Four American post-grads meet up with some European tourists in Mexico and take themselves off into the jungle to catch up with a missing friend. Great beginning, right? Suitably ...more The first quarter of this book was great--a fantastic resurgence of Scott Smith, promising to be as good as A Simple Plan (one of my favorite books of all time) while at the same time giving off the eerie eerie glow found only in those books you can only read in full sun...for fear of being scared out of your mind.

Four American post-grads meet up with some European tourists in Mexico and take themselves off into the jungle to catch up with a missing friend. Great beginning, right? Suitably unnerving scenes lead up to the meat of the book, an unsettling car ride that makes you think everything will go wrong...a strange dog with oddly human characteristics...and a series of flashbacks that underscore what can only be tragedy to come.

The characters make a trek up a flower-covered hill only to discover that they're being trapped there by a team of Mayan villagers who clearly don't want them to come off the hill and are willing to do anything it takes to prevent that. It gets creepier from here...accidents happen...and Smith paints a picture of increasing human desperation and hysteria that is simply perfect and completely on the money.

I had myself all worked up...thinking that, again, Smith had handed me a psychological thriller that was about the worst in humanity--the lengths we will go to to survive. No. Such. Luck.

Instead, through a series of unfortunate and unpleasant events, we find that the enemy here is not the armed Mayans at the base of the hill. It is not girls gone wild in terror further up the hill. Instead...wait for it...the enemy is a carnivorous plant.

what? haven't we seen this? isn't this a frank oz production? surely the enemy is not a carnivorous plant. surely i'm wrong. surely this is a ruse. a red herring.

the next chapter brings the plant nesting inside an open wound, slurping up a pool of vomit a la Audrey II, and pulling down a sign marked "danger", a sign marked "peligro", and a sign marked with the universal skull and crossbones. wtf? the enemy is a carnivorous, multilingual plant?

here's where i closed the book--before the plant claimed its first victim--in disgust. but, because i had to be sure...i did skip to the last chapter. sure enough. our enemy is a carnivorous, multilingual, intelligent plant. the mayans villagers are our Seymour in an 'Oh no, you really shouldn't have, remake of Little Shop of Horrors.' ...less

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Lee rated it:

04/25/08

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: cynics, students of human behavior, sadists

Decent page turner by a good author, but hugely frustrating due to a hard-to-swallow "reveal" at the halfway point, in addition to having characters that are well-written but difficult to like. At a certain point in my reading I had to pretty much remove myself from any identification I had with the characters and instead start to see the book as an allegory about human frailty, or as I like to look at it, "human jackassery."

The book actually succeeds as an allegory ab...more Decent page turner by a good author, but hugely frustrating due to a hard-to-swallow "reveal" at the halfway point, in addition to having characters that are well-written but difficult to like. At a certain point in my reading I had to pretty much remove myself from any identification I had with the characters and instead start to see the book as an allegory about human frailty, or as I like to look at it, "human jackassery."

The book actually succeeds as an allegory about our shortcomings and the argument could be made that it is a critique of smug American culture abroad, along the lines of the more forgiving reviews of the film HOSTEL.

A lot of backlash exists against the book due to a reveal at the midway point that the novel isn't a suspenser per se but more of a horror novel with supernatural elements. The copy I bought used was dogeared and well-read up until the very page where this reveal occurs, as if the previous owner gave up at that turning point.

Of the handful of characters trapped in the jungle setting and surrounded by hostile "natives" I only sympathized with two of them, one being "Mathias" the aloof-thus-unknowable German, but mostly "Jeff" who is determined to save the other characters, despite their profoundly useless and shortsighted natures. I saw in them exactly what he saw: an utter lack or preparedness for not only their jungle excursion but life in general. Especially the character "Stacey" who is a complete waste of skin, who wears sandals on a jungle trek and allows small children to rob her, through simple distraction, of her glasses and then her hat; she is oblivious to her surroundings and relies entirely upon others to guide her through life, yet is stubborn and frustrating whenever someone gives her advice that does not include comfort or convenience. It is a wonderful characterization of a decidely unwonderful bumpkin.

Equally encouraged to die soon by this reader was Jeff's girlfriend Amy, a slightly-better prepared person than best friend Stacey, but crippled by a tendency towards complaint and stubborn pouty withdrawal, again paradoxically dependent upon more-prepared friends, yet refusing to "follow" them when she should. Whenever left to their own devices while Jeff is either foraging or seeking oputside help, these bozos fall to pieces and either get stinking drunk or make idiotic decisions that imperil everyone.

Largely it is the population of aggravating characters that keeps this book from a higher rating, as I did enjoy the writing style but found the company unpleasant. I'm sure this was the point but I already knew about most people what the book seeks to educate, so its no five-star read IMHO. It *is* worth a couple bucks, give it a shot if you dig reading about morons who deserve to die....less

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Brooks rated it:

01/15/08

Read in November, 2006

Anybody out there ever been to Mexico? Any of you ever gotten sick of sitting around on the beach and decided to trek through the jungle to see some of the Mayan ruins? A few years back, I was in this position, but then I decided (since I'm fat and lazy) that lying around on the beach beat hiking around. After reading this thriller, I know I made the right decision.

The summary above covers about the first twenty pages of the book. The remainder is fascinating, but I don't want to risk r...more Anybody out there ever been to Mexico? Any of you ever gotten sick of sitting around on the beach and decided to trek through the jungle to see some of the Mayan ruins? A few years back, I was in this position, but then I decided (since I'm fat and lazy) that lying around on the beach beat hiking around. After reading this thriller, I know I made the right decision.

The summary above covers about the first twenty pages of the book. The remainder is fascinating, but I don't want to risk ruining any of the story for future readers, so my apologies in advance, but this review will be short on substantive information. However, I can tell you that the plot is outstanding, original, and very well orchestrated.

Without a doubt, the highlight of this book, along with the plot, is the atmosphere. Never before have I read a novel with such a sense of foreboding and despair. The longer the story goes on, the more intense these feelings become. The inevitable conclusion only deepens this growing desperation . This is one of those books that you have to set down every so often just to take a deep breath and relax from the intense emotions it creates. The setting was integral to the creation of this atmosphere and could have been a character itself. In fact, the setting was a better “character” than the remaining shallow people that populated this story.

My only complaints with this book were the pace and the characters. The characters were like a broken ankle, and the pace was the uncomfortable crutches that helped the story limp along. The atmosphere carried the pace for the majority of the story, but in other spots, especially those involving dialogue between some of the characters, the book dragged to a crawl. Fortunately, it seemed Smith knew these scenes were lacking, because they were few and far between; but when they did occur, it was very noticeable and inevitably induced this reviewer to take a smoke break. In case you didn't catch it, the biggest weakness was the characters. They were cardboard cutouts with very few, if any, redeeming qualities, and were easily forgettable. Fortunately, this story was not character driven, and as it went along, the characters themselves became less and less important.

I'll give this one 3.5 stars. Even with its faults, this novel is original and better than most of the stuff I've been reading lately. If you have the extra cash, go pick it up when you get a chance. Otherwise, wait a few months for the paperback. ...less

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Scoobs rated it:

07/16/08

I just rented this movie from Blockbuster a few days ago. I have had the book sitting on my shelf since it came out in hardcover. I decided to be a true nut and read the whole thing before I watched the movie and see how badly they ruined it. Or how faithful they were. Luckily, Blockbuster doesn't have their late fee's anymore.

Well, I jammed through the thing, not only because I wanted to watch the movie sooner than later, but because I couldn't put it down. To be honest, I didn't really like...more I just rented this movie from Blockbuster a few days ago. I have had the book sitting on my shelf since it came out in hardcover. I decided to be a true nut and read the whole thing before I watched the movie and see how badly they ruined it. Or how faithful they were. Luckily, Blockbuster doesn't have their late fee's anymore.

Well, I jammed through the thing, not only because I wanted to watch the movie sooner than later, but because I couldn't put it down. To be honest, I didn't really like the book. It didn't scare me like I thought it would. Like I wanted it to. Killer vines? Really? Didn't scare me.

Of course, what scares and creeps you out more than......your own damn stupid self? I finished the 319 page book and immediately stopped thinking about it. I started thinking, what the hell would I do in that situation? How would I react? How long would it take until I cracked? Broke? Fell apart? Died?

What choices would I make, good, bad, smart, stupid, brave, cowardly, helpful, pointless? Would I make them all? Yes. Would I be the hero, villain, comic relief, wimp, slut? Would I be them all? Yes.

We've all been out camping or hiking or out in nature, far away from civilization. We've all been in or on basements, elevators, roller-coasters, close to civilization. We've all thought...What if? What if the power went out when I was in the elevator? What if I'm trapped in a mine? What if I get lost in the forest? What If I run out of gas on the way out to Vegas, stuck in the desert? What If I get trapped under a rock?
What steps would you take? To what extremes would you go? What would you put others through? What would you force them through? What would you force yourself through?

So anyways, as I write all this, I am still only thinking about myself and what I would do. I stopped thinking about the characters and their situations. Don't get me wrong, some fucked up things do happen in this book. There is some truly great writing going on, but I just wanted some cheap scares.
I got something else.
Yee-haw Scott Smith! 3 stars! Great fucking name too!

Now I get to watch the movie. And I bet, because they always fuck up the better horror books, I'll get my cheap scares and none of the psychological mind fuck....less

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Regina rated it:

04/17/08

recommends it for: nobody

This review contains no spoilers, no specifics, just generalities.

I have nothing good at all to say about this book, one of the worst stinkeroos I've ever had the misfortune to stumble across. I can't believe it was ever even published. It's junk like this that make me feel that no matter how bad my writing is, if drivel like this can earn money, than there is no reason why anything I slap together can't make money.

Horror story? Nope. Didn't scare me one bit. Didn't even make me uneasy. ...more This review contains no spoilers, no specifics, just generalities.

I have nothing good at all to say about this book, one of the worst stinkeroos I've ever had the misfortune to stumble across. I can't believe it was ever even published. It's junk like this that make me feel that no matter how bad my writing is, if drivel like this can earn money, than there is no reason why anything I slap together can't make money.

Horror story? Nope. Didn't scare me one bit. Didn't even make me uneasy. Extended character study? Yep. But did it make me care about a single character? Nope. Maybe it was the author's intent to people his novel with an entire cast of throw-away characters. If so, then the book was a raging technical success.

Strangely, the movie trailer does look good compared to the book. This is surely a case where the movie has to be better than the book. The only other example of this I ever found was the movie Excalibur. Great movie, bad book. (20+ years later, I'm still not convinced that the duo Gil Kane and John Jakes could write their way out of a paper bag, although John Jakes did a fine job with North and South. Kane must've been the limiting facter in Excalibur.)

There are two reasons why I finished it: 1. Instead of actually reading a book, I mostly listen to books on tape, and I have a very hard time finding stuff at libraries that I want to listen to (can't afford to buy/rent books on tape). I usually end up listening to books of which I would never have read the hard copy. 2. Everything about the story was so bad that I naively thought there had to be a gold nugget hidden somewhere because, after all, the stupid thing WAS published. I kept thinking that the next chapter would take off like a literary rocket and the auther would finally deliver on the promise made by the praise heaped on the silly thing on the cover. Never happened. Nunca.

Wait... I just thought of something good to say. All aspiring writers should be encouraged, even emboldened, by this terrible little novel whose only horror lies in its horrible failure. Truly, if this is all it takes to make a name for oneself and to get a movie deal, then dazzling success is just right around the corner for all of us.

I'd love to hear from someone who liked this book. Anyone. Maybe they can explain to me what I missed in about 10 hours of listening.

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Brandon rated it:

04/17/08

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Brandon by: My friend Evelyn
recommends it for: adults

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

WOW!! this book is terrible. Castaway meets Little Shop of Horrors, and there aren't even any ruins. Oh, and it's not dramatic or scary in the least. I wasn't even grossed out at the gore. It starts off with some promise and just gets worse, not to mention that the author has no concept of how to write women. I was so irritated at his obnoxious portrayal of the brainless/spineless women in this story that I had trouble paying attention to any sort of redeeming quality that may have made th...more WOW!! this book is terrible. Castaway meets Little Shop of Horrors, and there aren't even any ruins. Oh, and it's not dramatic or scary in the least. I wasn't even grossed out at the gore. It starts off with some promise and just gets worse, not to mention that the author has no concept of how to write women. I was so irritated at his obnoxious portrayal of the brainless/spineless women in this story that I had trouble paying attention to any sort of redeeming quality that may have made the characters likable. Oh, and let's not forget that in the middle of a time of crisis, I like to think about male genitalia or how bad things smell...ya' know, because that's important. It's appalling how much men wish these things go through women's heads. I just wish he was the only author I can think of that does that to female characters, but sadly, he isn't. Even the male characters in this just kinda give up on survival. Again, I don't understand it because if my friends left out of the blue in a foreign country, it wouldn't take me 5 days to try and find out what happened to them. The ending did sorta cling to my psyche, but I have a thing about self mutilation. It wasn't the imagery, it was the thought of doing it that got me, and the fact that it almost seemed as if Stacy didn't give into the hopelessness of the situation but more like she didn't want to get off the hill if the rest of them didn't. But I can't go too deep into it because she was also killing herself in an act of defiance against a plant, which has no reason to be evil or sentient, it just kinda is. That's right, he doesn't even give a why here. And let me just remind you that there are no ruins and this book isn't frightening at all, in case you've forgotten my first and foremost complaint. I didn't want my moment of compliment-giving weakness confusing anyone on how I really felt of my book. It's about 6-8 hours of my life I'll never get back that I could have spent reading something decent....less

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Jane rated it:

10/18/07

recommends it for: People who dig horror

*SPOILER ALERT*
I consider myself a fiend for horror stories, but this has to be the most challenging horror story I've ever walked myself through.

The four Americans are pretty stereotypical characters, and they are all very unlikable, but I think this works well for the story. The characters are very bland, and with their names and their relationships to each other, it was hard at first to differentiate from them. But I think this was Smith's intention, though I can't say why. It take...more *SPOILER ALERT*
I consider myself a fiend for horror stories, but this has to be the most challenging horror story I've ever walked myself through.

The four Americans are pretty stereotypical characters, and they are all very unlikable, but I think this works well for the story. The characters are very bland, and with their names and their relationships to each other, it was hard at first to differentiate from them. But I think this was Smith's intention, though I can't say why. It takes a page before you even learn their individual names, and in the very first paragraph he refers to them only as "they." They are a collective. I don't think you're supposed to sympathize them.

The ending is predictable (as far as giving away if they're going to win or lose,) but this is good for the sort of reader who wants to know "How." Some readers like to be surprised by a story, whereas others are interested in the "how." I have a friend who reads the end of the book before he starts reading it, because he's mostly curious about how the story is going to arrive at this ending. If you are that sort of reader (and if you don't mind being incredibly grossed out) then this is a good book for you.

I also thought the slow pacing of the book is what makes it scary. It becomes clear that the vine is hunting them in a sense, and this is what tortured me as a reader, how long the characters would suffer (especially Pablo) until they got it.

I have to say, too, that what Smith does with Pablo was great. Pablo breaks his back after taking a long fall and suffers far more than anybody else in the book. But Pablo does not speak English, and nobody knows his real name-"Pablo" is a nickname he took as a joke. This is convenient for the Americans, who are shallow as it is, to avoid relating to him. It makes it easier for them to just set him aside or make a certain decision without his input. Had it been one of them that suffered this injury, say Eric or Amy, then the ordeal would be a lot closer to home. It makes it easier for them to ignore his everpresent excrement and bile or to cut off his legs, when they have that limited of a connection to him....less

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Dale rated it:

11/29/07

Read in October, 2007

This is the twenty-fourth book I read on my commute. Sweet, sweet genre strikes again in the form of good old-fashioned horror.

Horror is a cool genre because it can encompass so many other kinds of genres and tropes. The movie Alien is straight-up horror (and don't let anyone tell you different) that just happens to use sci-fi elements: a deep-space freighter as the haunted house and a xenomorph as the bogeyman. The Exorcist is horror using religious iconography; Sleepy Hollow is horror b...more This is the twenty-fourth book I read on my commute. Sweet, sweet genre strikes again in the form of good old-fashioned horror.

Horror is a cool genre because it can encompass so many other kinds of genres and tropes. The movie Alien is straight-up horror (and don't let anyone tell you different) that just happens to use sci-fi elements: a deep-space freighter as the haunted house and a xenomorph as the bogeyman. The Exorcist is horror using religious iconography; Sleepy Hollow is horror born out of folklore. And my man Stephen King writes horror using everything from government conspiracy archetypes (The Stand) to vaguely-defined Native American spiritualism (Pet Sematary) to the lone crazy person (Misery).

I bring this up because of one of the things I ultimately respected the most about The Ruins: the unapologetic lack of explanation. I knew going into this book that ultimately it is about a bunch of people terrorized by a malevolent, murderous ... vine plant. How does a vine plant become malevolent and murderous? Is it an alien lifeform come to Earth, like The Thing or The Blob? Is it some kind of demon raised by unholy blasphemy, a la Freddy Krueger? Is it an experiment gone wrong like Frankenstein, or just an example of nature run wild in an unexplored corner of the world, like King Kong? It could be any one of these possibilities, because horror encompasses them all. And yet Scott Smith never tells. He shows what the plant has done, and continues to do, and presumably will always do - horrible, horrendous, horrifying things. But it is never explained. The existence and the abilities of the vine seem impossible, except that they are described so compellingly and the victims are first so real and then so very utterly destroyed that you have to believe in it, and the utter void of reason or logic just makes it all the more gruesome and terrifying.

All of which left me quite impressed. The Ruins is a freaky, disturbing book, which is exactly what it intends to be. Any fan of horror should enjoy it - at that peculiar intersection of revulsion and fascination where good horror is enjoyed.

Running total for types of books read on the commute:

Classics: 1
Modern Lit: 7
Fantasy/sci-fi: 12
Non-fiction: 4
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Lola rated it:

04/15/08

bookshelves: mystery-suspence-thriller

Read in April, 2008

This is my first time reading a true horror novel, i have never really been into this genre. Generally i prefer horror in films and not in books, but all in all this was an interesting read. Ok that's a lie, this was a straight up CREEPY read. I was often trapped between shudder and disgust. The novel accomplished what it set out to - terrify readers, make us squirm, make us thank God that we are safely in our homes away from the horrors of such a place - but for the inquisitive reader (...more This is my first time reading a true horror novel, i have never really been into this genre. Generally i prefer horror in films and not in books, but all in all this was an interesting read. Ok that's a lie, this was a straight up CREEPY read. I was often trapped between shudder and disgust. The novel accomplished what it set out to - terrify readers, make us squirm, make us thank God that we are safely in our homes away from the horrors of such a place - but for the inquisitive reader (like myself) the bottom line is, it was a pointless read. Without giving anything away, let me just say, there was no concrete explanation for why the "ruins" (if in fact, it could be called that) existed, or how it came to be. The author was asking a lot by wanting me to willingly suspend disbelief without this explanation, so often at times while the creepy scenes unfolded and got more and more bizarre i found myself removed from the "ruins" and the characters with their frightening dilemma, because it was just too much to process, too much to swallow, too much to let my imagination go with it and accept that such things could ever happen. I was unconvinced. Although i was disgusted, freaked and chilled - but ultimately left unconvinced.

I just wanted to get to the end to see how it would all wrap up (pun intended) not necessarily because i cared about the characters. Many of the arguments they had and their actions/reaction were repetitive, which was a bore to read. But just when those moments arose and i was tired of reading, the action picked up almost immediately and i wouldn't be able to put the book down. There is no doubt in my mind that Scott Smith is a talented writer when it comes to gaining riveted attention from readers, its the convincing part that gets me wondering. Even still I'm intrigued to read his other novel.

Lovers of horror and all things creepy will be be in readers heaven with this book, it was well written, plotted and executed, just unconvincing.

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Lou rated it:

05/24/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Lou by: Stephen King
recommends it for: Bored, restless people

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Bought this book because it has an endorsement on the front cover from Stephen King which reads, "The best horror novel of the new century."

What a load of crap. Just like this book is.

Stephen King is a great writer, don't get me wrong. But he missed the ball on this one!

Spoilers from here forward. In fact, I'm just blatantly telling the story for you here!

It's a book about a group of grad school students who decide to take a few weeks and go on vacation to Mexico or ...more Bought this book because it has an endorsement on the front cover from Stephen King which reads, "The best horror novel of the new century."

What a load of crap. Just like this book is.

Stephen King is a great writer, don't get me wrong. But he missed the ball on this one!

Spoilers from here forward. In fact, I'm just blatantly telling the story for you here!

It's a book about a group of grad school students who decide to take a few weeks and go on vacation to Mexico or somewhere south of the border. They make friends with a German guy who's brother followed a girl out into the jungle to check out an archaeological dig.

They follow a crudely drawn map out in search of the brother and the local Mayan natives attempt to stop the group of six from going to the ruins. The group insists, however, and they end up on a hill where there are some freaky vines with acid for blood.

The Mayans, however, refuse to allow the kids to leave the hill and they are, effectively, trapped there. Early on, they discover German guy's brother underneath a profusion of the aforementioned vines and full of Mayan arrows. They realize, there's a chance they might not live through this, especially if they push it too much to leave.

They go into survival mode, conserving water and food. During course of their tragic demise, they discover that said vines are sufficiently sentient to imitate their voices, bait them into doing stupid things and then eat the people. The Mayans effectively have them in quarantine so they don't bring any spores from the vines into their jungle. Almost as if the Mayans exist solely to guard the hill.

They survive for nearly a week in the hopes that someone will come looking for them. They die. Three days later, someone comes looking for them and they also get trapped on the hill. Book ends.

Anyway, read it if you have nothing better to do but there are WAY better books out there. I'm betting this is one of those rare books where the movie ends up being better but I don't have a lot of hopes on that, either!

--Wag--...less

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Aaron rated it:

08/30/07

recommends it for: horror fans

Stephen King has a short story (that I believe may have been entitled "The Raft") in which four college students head out to an old rock quarry. They swim out to a raft in the middle of the lake. As the afternoon progresses, they notice what appears to be a patch of oil skimming the surface of the water. One of the students dives into the lake for a post-coital swim and is mysteriously and grotesquely devoured by the oil patch, his skin pretty much being stripped right from its bones. ...more

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