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It's been 13 years since the publication of A SIMPLE PLAN, Scott Smith's bestselling debut novel whose film version received an Oscar nomination for best screenplay. With a bit of advance fanfare, he returns with THE RUINS, which may be the first definitive horror novel of this century.
THE RUINS follows two American couples --- Jeff and Amy, Eric and Stacy --- on a three-week vacation to Mexico as an interlude to their introduction to adulthood. While there, they meet a young German named Mathias and three Greek gentlemen who hang around on their periphery. It turns out that Mathias is concerned about his brother, who had been traveling with him but has gone missing while looking for a young woman. Mathias has a map showing where his brother is headed and takes it upon himself to go out and look for him. The Americans impulsively decide to join him; they think that going into the back country of Mexico on a fool's errand is similar to a trip to the local convenience store.
To describe what happens and how the events unfold will ruin the slow cook of Smith's simmering narrative, wherein knowledge comes dear and hard, and the only thing that's certain is that all is not right. Told in one long narrative --- no chapters here, no mercy either --- THE RUINS takes its characters and readers from bad to worse, in territory that's off the map pages.
But this novel isn't all about terror. Sure, the way Smith keeps things roiling --- just when you think the situation can't get any worse, it does --- will hold you velcroed to the edge of your knickers. But, as demonstrated previously, Smith is a master of quietly exploring the dynamics of relationships, of getting into the cracks of individual personalities and laying them bare. I thought of LORD OF THE FLIES and A SEPARATE PEACE --- and yes, this book should be on the shelf next to them. I also thought of a number of films, ones that you see on the classic movie channels and others that never made it out of the drive-in circuit. If THE RUINS is ever brought to the big screen, there are bound to be moments that will send viewers running and screaming down the aisles.
If we must wait a decade or more between works of the quality of A SIMPLE PLAN and THE RUINS, so be it. If you read THE RUINS you'll still remember Scott Smith 10 years from now. And the next time someone warns you away from a place with so little as a vague shake of their head, you'll listen!
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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