The Ruins: Day Trip Gone Awry

By Chris Manson August 24, 2006 Issue

It was the best vacation ever, until…

Scott Smith’s shocking new novel, The Ruins, takes a quartet of college students and plops them into one of the most harrowing situations you’re likely to encounter this side of Stephen King. Incidentally, King referred to this book as the must-read of the summer in his Entertainment Weekly column.

Jeff, Eric, and their respective girlfriends Amy and Stacy, are enjoying a trip to Cancun, when their new chum—a German named Mathias—asks them to accompany him to a Mayan archaeological site. When last heard from, Mathias’ brother was on his way there with a pretty young thing. Jeff agrees, and Amy reluctantly goes along with her boyfriend. Stacy goes along with her best pal. Eric is hung over. Another recent acquaintance — a Greek they think is named Pablo, but cannot be sure due to the language barrier — decides to tag along, too. “Pablo” makes a hand-drawn copy of the map for his roommates in case they want to make the journey later.

Foreshadowing does not discourage these youngsters. At the bus station, Stacy is robbed of her hat and sunglasses. When a taxi driver discovers where the group is bound, he tries his best to talk them out of it. The driver functions as a toned-down version of the creepy guy who used to jump out in front of the dumb teenagers headed for Camp Crystal Lake in those Friday the 13th movies, the one holding the detached eyeball in his hand.

Once Jeff and the others arrive at the site, strange and horrible things happen. To reveal any more would be a crime. Suffice it to say there are plenty of cringe-inducing moments, but you’ll keep turning the pages anyway, hoping for a neat, tidy ending or some kind of rational explanation at least. You might be disappointed, but you won’t be bored.

The idea for The Ruins may have been partly inspired by dead teenager movies and reality television shows like Survivor, but Smith takes a worn-out premise and infuses it with memorable insights into what makes these characters tick. Jeff, the de facto leader of these day-trippers, dreams of being a hero. Amy, Stacy, and Eric have plenty of time to consider the future of their relationships and engage in a tequila-fueled discussion about who should play them in the movie based on their adventures.

Smith also focuses on the lack of communication. Not being able to speak the language may not be such a big deal on the beaches of Cancun, but in this strange land it’s a considerable hitch. Jeff and company are unable to speak to their injured Greek companion or the Mayan villagers who, with guns pointed and bow and arrows drawn, pretty much force them to stay put in the archaeological site.

This is Smith’s second novel, following the widely acclaimed A Simple Plan. Smith wrote the screenplay for Sam Raimi’s excellent 1998 movie version, and in the interim worked on a number of literary and cinematic projects that never quite materialized. I’ve been reading a lot of Bentley Little novels lately—his latest paperback, The Burning, will chill you to the bone — and Little’s twisted scenarios probably warmed me up for the more revolting moments in The Ruins. But I was still effectively horrified by most of it.

Alfred A. Knopf, 319 pages. Available at bookstores, local libraries, and online booksellers.

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