The Ruins

by Scott Smith

While partying on holiday in Cancun two young American couples befriend a German tourist named Mathias, and three friendly Greeks. Mathias had been travelling with his brother, Heinrich, who's disappeared off to the Mayan ruins with a woman working on an archaeological dig. Mathias is worried for his brother and, using a hand-drawn map Heinrich had left behind, sets off in pursuit. The Americans and one of the Greeks join him in his adventure to the interior. After an exhausting journey, the six reach a Mayan village. But there they receive a frightening reception and turn around, despairing of ever finding Henrich and the ruins. Following a camouflaged trail out of the village, the group come to a hillside covered in bright red flowers. As they pause at the base of this hill, transfixed by the beauty of the vision, a horseman approaches behind them. It's one of the Mayans; he's got a gun and, in his own language, orders them away from the hill. In the midst of the confrontation, one of the group steps backward, into the flowering vine. The Mayan falls silent then orders all six up the hill.
As they follow the trail across the hilltop and down the slope they see yet another group of Mayans waiting for them, weapons out - and a mound, covered with the flowering vine. They examine it and find Henrich's corpse, shot full of arrows. They are mystified. And the Mayans won't let them leave. Trapped, the group try to figure out a way to survive until someone comes to find them, imagining they've been made irrational by thirst and hunger. But as they move through their first twenty-four hours, another, far more terrifying foe reveals itself ...Eerie, terrifying, unputdownable "The Ruins" is suspense storytelling at its best.

• ISBN10: 1400043875
• ISBN13: 9781400043873
• Publish Date: 18 July 2006 (first published 1 January 2006)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 31 March 2010
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Alfred A. Knopf
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 319
• Language: English

Reviews

[empressbrooke]

The title is a bit of a misnomer - there aren't really any ruins to speak of, just a hill with a mine shaft in it. It IS horrific, though, when a group of tourists end up on this hill and aren't allowed to leave.

These tourists aren't particularly brave, which makes this horror novel interesting. Rather than being about a group of heroes who rise up and face the terror head on, The Ruins seems to be about normal people who end up in a terrible situation. It was kind of refreshing, because as annoyed as I was with everyone, I realized that it was probably a lot more true-to-life than most books and movies in this genre.

It only gets three stars instead of four because it did move pretty slowly, and I kept waiting for something MORE to happen. I do, though, like that it doesn't answer all the questions it presents - it's certainly creepier and more enjoyable in its ambiguity.