Book Review: The Ruins by Scott Smith
Title: The Ruins
Author: Scott Smith
Release date: July 18th, 2006
Over the last six or so years of dedicated reviewing, one book has been recommended my way far more than any other – The Ruins by Scott Smith. So many times, in DM’s, replies etc, people will say – oh loved that book, have you read The Ruins yet? and repeat and repeat and repeat. I’m not exaggerating when I think this book has been recommended close to 1000 times to me.
I’m also in the massive minority in the horror world, in that I’ve never watched the movie. When it came out back in 2008, I had my head down, focused on athletic pursuits and wasn’t watching a ton of movies. TV shows – sure, but movies, not to any big extent. So, I’ve simply never gotten around to watching it. Will I know, that I’ve read the book? 50/50 honestly. I don’t watch a lot of adult horror movies currently. When we have time to watch a movie, it’s typically family friendly with my son. Maybe someday, but as for right now, I won’t be running out to stream it.
What I liked: Keeping in mind two things: A) this was released back in 2006 and B) this is a fairly mainstream published horror novel, the book was a solid read. The story follows a group of friends who’ve gone on vacation. They make a few new friends while there and when one of those friends goes off into the jungle to find his brother so that they can make amends and fly home, they all tag along.
The set up is simple. They go into the jungle, travelling by way of poor roads and beaten pick up truck and when they arrive, a language barrier between them and some locals arises. This is key. Because, if they’d understood them, the book wouldn’t exist. They’d simply say “hey, thanks for the warning,” turn around and return to the resort. Instead, they continue on and find themselves on the tops of an old ruin, held hostage by the locals who won’t them leave and the ruins themselves, possessing malevolent vines.
Smith does a great job of creating a chaotic experience once they’re on the ruins. People get injured, discoveries are made and tensions ratchet up. As more and more insanity comes, they go inside the ruins, flee the ruins and deal with the reality that they very well might not make it off this piece of land.
The dynamics between the group is great. This is as much a psychological thriller as it is a horror novel based around whatever it is that exists deep within the dirt. Seeing the initial degradation of each person, which then rapidly speeds up was really well done and led to some gut-wrenching moments.
The 1-2 ending we get is completely expected – you’ll see it a mile away – but also completely perfect and works really well based on the repetitious history shared throughout and playing on the idea of hope that is sprinkled within.
What I didn’t like: The first 100 pages or so – essentially them going to the ruins – is borderline boring and I can see some people DNFing it within that section alone, impatiently waiting for anything to happen. It reminded me of when you watch MTV’s The Challenge and you have to sit through the competitors hanging around the mansion and drinking to pass the time.
As well – and this was I think more on me and my expectations – this book had been recommended to me so many times that I was expecting some really, truly brutal gory moments. Don’t get me wrong, it gets gross and dirty, but I think I had ramped this one up so much, I was a bit thrown off when the gross parts didn’t come off as gross as I thought they would.
Why you should buy this: Well, I might be one of the last horror readers in the world who hadn’t read this previously, but if you’re like me and haven’t yet – once you get past the initial slow stuff – this gallops into a fast-paced survival story where every sound means pain and you simply can’t close your eyes for fear of something wrapping around your limbs and pulling you into the depths of the jungle.
4/5
