The Ruins (Mass Market Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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

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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

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--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Four American tourists vacationing in Cancun make friends with a German traveler and join the hunt for his brother, who has mysteriously vanished after following a new flame to an archeological site. But inadequate planning, horrendous conditions and unforeseen dangers quickly turn this jungle adventure into a fight for survival. The novel itself is creepy, compelling and simple in scope, but the audiobook adaptation doesn't quite succeed in relating the feeling of dread the text imparts. Wilson reads in an assured (if somewhat flat) voice in the tenor range, but his tone often seems too light to properly convey the novel's dark and foreboding mood. He also doesn't do much to differentiate between the characters; although Smith has characters who feel very real and distinct, listeners could have used more help from the narrator to distinguish one point-of-view from the next. A book like this one—which presents the story from several different POVs—would have benefited from a team of talented narrators to help bring the narrative to life. Regrettably, Wilson goes it alone, delivering a sufficient but mediocre performance.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; First edition (July 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030727828X
• ISBN-13: 978-0307278289
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,014 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #422,247 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Long on Verbiage, Short on Plot, and Ultimately Pointless, November 16, 2006

By	D. R. Jeanclerc "Reader, Listener & Obsessive... (Brunswick, OH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Ruins (Hardcover)

The book jacket for "The Ruins" offers a can't-miss premise: a group of post-grad American tourists at play in Mexico jump at the chance for a little adventure among Mayan ruins but find but then find themselves in unimaginable danger. It's the stuff of great Summer thrillers ready to be taken to the beach. But 319 pages later, the reader is left to wonder whether or not the publisher put the wrong book in the jacket.

Almost immediately, you'll notice that Smith's writing is as dense as the jungles that make the setting. However, despite the endless stream of words, his descriptions are often threadbare. Plus, there are no chapter breaks, which eventually pushes the pace until it feels like an assignment to continue.

Next, the characters themselves begin to fall flat. There are only really two couples to keep track of, and yet it's difficult for the first third of the book to distinguish them. There is little to keep you interested in what they're doing or why they might be doing it. Smith's attempts at developing these four as characters come in fits and spurts. This seems obviously haphazard and hurried - the author is jamming in backstory whenever needed to explain characters' actions as if he were patching leaks in a dam. By the end of the book, the foursome seems to be as disinterested in each other as the reader is in them.

And for the readers who are hoping to discover something of interest in the setting such as Mayan mythology or archeological lore, forget it. Aside from language barriers with the locals, there is no reason why this fantastical story couldn't have been set in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains, the Saharan desert, or anywhere else. The danger posed has nothing to do with Mexico, archeology or mythology at all.

Ah yes, the danger posed. Well, I can't say much at all because anyone could give away the entire book with one line of explanation - that's how thin the plot is. The numerous other reviews that fault this as a short story masquerading as a novel are exactly right. Suffice it to say that when you do realize what the danger is (and you'll realize it well before any of the well-educated characters do), it's a real eye-roller, as if to say "I read this many pages for THIS?".

By the time the story concludes, it's more irritating than suspenseful. The characters take so long to blithely undertake any course of action at all that you'll start rooting against them. Eventually scenes of gore start piling up in an obvious and lazy attempt to interject some action, but even aside from being misdirected, it's too little too late.

This book could have been an adventure, a supernatural thriller, a survival tale, or a horror screenplay. It could have even taken the high road as an examination on people's reactions to situations of extreme stress: some take the lead, even enjoying the challenge, while others whither into a shell of hopelessness. But none of the possibilities ever come to fruition in this disappointing effort.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ruins has ruined my vacation plans!, July 24, 2006

By	Bob Goreman (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ruins (Hardcover)

This book was so damn scary I don't know if I want to go through with my vacation planes to visit the Yucatan this coming winter? Its that good! This is a thriller of a horror story that kept me on the edge of my seat turning pages.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's a "renter", December 4, 2006

By	Amy "Hateful Harridan" (East Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ruins (Hardcover)

Some movies are worth a trip to the theater. And some are perfectly good renters. By the same token, "The Ruins" isn't worth the price of a new hardcover. But unless you crack open only a few books a year, this one is worth reading if you can buy a used copy, borrow it from the library, or wait for the paperback.

It contains a few moments of true creepiness. The villain is highly original. And the author skillfully portrays the dynamic of a group under duress. He's also nearly brilliant at capturing each character's inner dialog, fears, and regrets as the story plows unrelentingly to its conclusion.

That's what makes the story compelling in some places and boring in others. Human nature is fascinating, but how terrified can we be when Jeff is reminiscing about the CPR class he took in high school, or Amy is wishing for a shower and a hot meal? And somehow, interesting and intimate as some of their thoughts are, it's hard to care about the characters.

The author's use of detail plays out the same way -- at times it's incredibly effective and gut-wrenching. Other times it's so workmanlike, gruesome scenes become mundane.

That's why this book will probably succeed as a movie. We won't have to listen to endlessly whirring thoughts or read details about braiding strips of nylon tent together to make a rope. A visual medium will let us focus on the best parts of this book: the external terror, the horrible events that unfold, and the evil protagonist.

Read the book and when the movie becomes a blockbuster, you can threaten to ruin the ending for your companions unless they pay for your ticket, too.

And in case you got this far into the reviews without reading the premise, I've cut and pasted Stephen King's summary here: "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."

By the way, this is a nitpick, but there's an annoying continuity error in the book: on page 5, the four main characters "rode horses" and on page 254 one of them muses that if they were back at the hotel "maybe they'd have gone horseback riding. Stacy had said she'd wanted to try it before they left. Amy, too."