The only way I can describe this book, is that it’s like Little Shop of Horror gone wild. Add that with suspense that puts a Hitchcock film to shame and that’s what you get with The Ruins. This book has been on the New York Times best seller list for the past few weeks, and rightfully so. It is probably by far one of the most frightening, most psychology haunting books ever written. In a sense this book will make you feel like a helpless by stander watching six college aged people go though nothing but total hell.
The Ruins follows six 20 something year olds, who are on a trip to Cancun. Stacy, Jeff, Eric and Amy are from the U.S., They meet Mathias a guy from Germany, and two Greek brothers and their friend who’s only known as Pablo. Mathias asks them all if they would like to accompany him on a trip to find his brother Henrich, whom earlier in their trip took off with some girl to go on some archeological dig in the Mexican jungle. Out of the eight of them only six of them go. The two Greek brothers decided to miss the bus trip and sleep in. However, Mathias, Jeff, Amy, Stacy, Eric and Pablo, all board a bus to one city, where they find guy with a pick-up truck that will take them into the jungle for a price. He drops them off right outside a Mayan village, everything seems fine, and the Mayans seem to avoid them at first, however after they discover a hidden path that leads to a clearing, and beyond that clearing a hill. The crew decides to investigate however before they make a mistake of walking up the hill, the Mayans try to warn them, but it becomes to late, and the Mayans, have decided to keep them captive on the hill. But their is more than one reason as to why they are being kept there, and we soon find out that the vines on the hill are the biggest problem of this whole story.
This book is written very well, Scott Smith has an uncanny ability to keep you feeling helpless as the story unfolds. He makes you want to jump into the book and help these poor people escape this hell on a hill. As a reader you will not only be thrown into a world of great suspense, but you will feel absolutely helpless. The characters are likeable, and in truth they all start off as great friends, but as the days and nights pass in the book, they slowly start to fall apart, and it become apparent that it’s not just starvation and the need for a good sleep that’s driving them insane but the vines that are making them nuts.
The Ruins is written so well, that I can’t think of the words to describe it. It’s written unlike any other horror or suspense book has ever been. It’s different in the fact that you, as the reader will feel helpless, but at the same time you want the pain of the victims in this book to stop. Lets put it this way, any parent who’s kid wants to go to Cancun on spring break this year, if you read this book, you won’t let them go. Honestly if the excursions that are offered in Cancun go out of business next season, they can blame this book. Especially for anyone who takes tourists into Mayan Villages.
Overall, The Ruins is one hell of a suspense novel, You may never look at a vine in your garden the same again. My Cousins Fiancée also read this book as well, and recently we discussed it. He said to me that ever since he finished reading this book, he developed a fear of plants. I don’t blame him. Scott Smith you just gave humans a reason to be scared of not only vines, but all plants in general. We eat all kinds of plants everyday in our lives, What would happen if they started to eat us. Go buy this book and read it. You will have the scare of your life.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
