The Ruins by Scott Smith - Book Review

"I'm going to tell you something important. Are you listening? If you're not careful, you can reach a point where you've made choices without thinking. Without planning. You can end up not living the life you'd meant to. Maybe one you deserve, but not one you intended. Make sure you think. Make sure you plan."
-advice given to Stacy, a major character in Scott Smith's The Ruins

And yet we all go through major chunks of our life without planning at all. Some of us like to think that we plan our lives down to every detail, and yet even those people would admit that some of the best things that have ever happened to them, from how they met the love of their life to what they do for a living, have been "happy accidents", things that were stumbled into without thinking, without overt planning. For most people, the impulse to plan gets even quieter on beach vacations, as the summer sun bakes us into that casual desire to let the waves take us wherever they may.

Floating through life, going along for whatever adventure greets you that day, leads six travelers in Mexico to what is basically a circle of hell in a Mayan clearing in Scott Smith's bone-chilling The Ruins. Two couples - Amy & Jeff, Stacy & Eric - make some friends on their beach vacation, including a trio of Greeks that they nickname Pablo, Juan, and Don Quixote, and a German named Mathias. One day, Mathias reveals that he was originally traveling with his brother Heinrich, but that his companion met a pretty girl who talked him into joining her on an archaeological expedition a few miles inland. Heinrich hasn't come back and Mathias talks his new friends, including the Greek named Pablo, into trying to find his brother. Why not? We weren't planning on doing anything else today but sitting by the beach? It will be fun.

As with Scott Smith's brilliant debut and only other novel, A Simple Plan, the ominous signs are everywhere, including villagers who warn them not to talk the path less traveled, barking dogs, a seemingly dead baby, and much, much more. And yet, these travelers, each with their own distinct style, keep on marching in search of adventure - it will just be for a quick afternoon and they'll be back by the pool bar before they know it. No problems, right?

In the end, the six travelers ignore all the warning signs placed in front of them, until they've gone too far to be allowed to turn back. They enter a clearing, full of tangled vines and as soon as one of them, Amy, crosses that plain, all the planning in the world means nothing and Scott Smith wraps a noose around all of his characters neck and starts slowly turning until the inevitable, brutal end. There's something alive on that hill. And not just something alive but something evil, manipulative, and truly terrifying and no one is getting out alive.

Once The Ruins hits that hill and it turns into a horror movie waiting to happen, Smith has very little time for characterization, but he does just enough in the first act of the book to give us at least four distinct personalities. There's the cold leader, Jeff, the gloomy dreamer, Amy, the comic relief, Eric, and the ditzy girl, Stacy. We all know these character archetypes and it's a shame that Smith didn't take a little bit longer setting them up, particularly the German Mathias who we never really get to know, before he started tearing them down - literally. As with most horror, the most chilling events in The Ruins come when the characters start turning on themselves and each other. Those twists of the heart could have been even more effective if Smith had taken a bit more time letting the roller coaster climb before sending it down the other side.

Still, it's a hell of a ride. Both Scott Smith novels have been bathed in a feeling of dread but even that sensation is amplified in The Ruins. As A Simple Plan marched towards its ending, you had a feeling that things were going to turn out bad. In The Ruins, you know they are. As Jeff, the "Bruce Willis" character of the four tries to plan how they're going to survive the trap they've fallen into, Smith telegraphs just how futile his efforts are. Without giving too much away, our weary travelers are trapped in a clearing without food, water, or much needed medical attention, and their consistent hope is that someone will come and save them. It's a rescue that the writer makes clear is unlikely and so we, the reader, are merely stuck on that horrible hill with these people, waiting for one of two things - a rescue that probably won't come or a disturbing death.

And disturbing is the only word for some of the places The Ruins goes. Giving away the "villain" of The Ruins and its jaw-dropping techniques for forcing people to turn on each other and themselves would only damage your experience of the book, but, and this is how Smith tightens his horror tale as it goes along, let's just say things just keep getting worse without a light at the end of the tunnel or even chapter breaks to allow you to catch your breath. Most horror writers allow for a brief let-up or a moment of hope. Not Smith. Like Stephen King's best descents into madness - you, the reader, know that once that road is started down, once the travelers of The Ruins are caught, there's simply no turning back. And it's a credit to Smith that he takes The Ruins to some of the more shocking places it goes without ever looking over his shoulder.

Check out the book's official website at Enter the Ruins

Rating out of 5