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The Ruins
 
 

The Ruins (Paperback)

by Scott B Smith (Author)
3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Corgi Books; New edition edition (1 Aug 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0552152706
  • ISBN-13: 978-0552152709
  • Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.6 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 136,656 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Of course, having an excellent film adapted from a book doesn't hurt its sales. But Scott Smith's A Simple Plan was, in its own right, a remarkably assured crime novel with strongly drawn characters and plotting that many another author would kill for. The art of generating suspense with the written word is not easily acquired, but Smith is a master. And now we have The Ruins, to prove that Smith is no one-trick pony. A decade may have passed since his debut novel, but Smith has not lost an iota of his storytelling panache.

Two young American couples are enjoying a vacation in Cancun, and make friends with Mathias, a German tourist. He and his brother Heinrich had been travelling together, and the latter has disappeared while investigating Mayan ruins with a woman friend. Mathias, concerned over the disappearance of his brother, persuades his tourist friends to help him track down his brother with the aid of a hand-drawn map the latter had left behind. After a punishing journey, the group come to a Mayan village where they encounter a distinctly unfriendly welcome. Leaving the village, they stumble across a hillside festooned with beautiful red flowers. But a Mayan is following them with a gun, and soon a body is encountered, shot full of arrows. As the above might indicate, this is by no means standard thriller territory, and Smith continues to defeat any expectations that readers might bring to his books. After a deceptive start, this turns into a much darker book than A Simple Plan, and actually defies comparisons to the earlier work, so distinctive is this new one. Readers are used to being taken on terrifying journeys, but this one is a humdinger.
--Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Craving an adventure to wake them from their lethargic Mexican holiday before they return home, four friends set off in search of one of their own who has travelled to the interior to investigate an archaeological dig in the Mayan ruins. After a long journey into the jungle, the group come across a partly camouflaged trail and a captivating hillside covered with red flowers. Lured by these, the group move closer until they happen across a gun-toting Mayan horseman who orders them away. In the midst of the confrontation, one of the group steps inadvertently backwards into the flowering vine. And at that moment their world changes for ever...

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Ruins
75% buy the item featured on this page:
The Ruins 3.1 out of 5 stars (29)
£5.49
The Ruins [DVD] [2008]
10% buy
The Ruins [DVD] [2008] 2.9 out of 5 stars (20)
£5.98
A Simple Plan
7% buy
A Simple Plan 4.8 out of 5 stars (26)
£6.99
Let the Right One in
7% buy
Let the Right One in 4.3 out of 5 stars (24)
£2.99

 

Customer Reviews

29 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (6)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Congrats to Smith for having the b***s to swap genres, 27 Feb 2008
By Croatoan (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews
I think some of the poor reviews here have been spawned by fans of "A Simple Plan" (or thrillers like A Simple Plan) gnashing their teeth because "The Ruins" turned out to be not what they expected. I mean, how dare Smith have the gall to not only write a different kind of novel to ASP, but to completely swap genres as well.
This is not a thriller in the Silence of the Lambs mold (the blurb on the cover is misleading to the point of being false advertising as King's quote refers to ASP and not The Ruins); it is not a suspense tale either, instead it is an out and out supernatural horror novel which will appeal to fans of King, Herbert and Koontz. Is it far-fetched? Of course it is, but then so are haunted hotels and towns populated by vampires. I'll not go into the plot as others have done so already, but I will say I enjoyed it immensely and look forward to Smith's next novel, whatever genre he chooses to give us.
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars GOOD, BUT, 2 Jun 2006
By George Pinkerton (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Ruins (Hardcover)
I purchased this book as I have traveled extensively in the Yucatan and I also enjoyed the authors first book "A Simple Plan." I am sorry to say this book fell a little flat to me, it just took too long to develop. The book sort of mixes genres, one of those genres is horror, which is not one of my favorites. I think the book could have been better had the author stuck to the mystery adventure aspects of the story. I also did not care for the authors treatment of the ancient Maya or modern Maya in this book, he could have done more research. Don't get me wrong this book has its moments, and I am sure some will disagree with my assessment, I just think it could have been better. If you are looking for a thriller/adventure that nailed this setting check out "A Tourist in the Yucatan."
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Page Turner!, 7 Mar 2008
By J.Flood (Dublin,Ireland) - See all my reviews
A group of friends on holiday in Cancun, decide to travel to the site of an archaelogical dig in the Mexican jungle. A brother of one of the groups members, has left on a note giving directions, to the site and has left a few days earlier. When they arrive at the site, which is on a hill completed covered in flowering vines, their troubles really begin.

I'm not too sure as to why this book is getting so many negative reviews. I found it a real page turner. There was always something happening to make me want to read on further, as the groups plight becomes more and more deperate, as essentials, such as food and water start to become more scarce. I felt the characterisation could have been a bit better, but I have read books with far more 'wooden' charcaters than this one. Worth a read, if you like the suspense/horror type of novel.



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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Where were the ruins?
I thought The Ruins was a good book overall, an interesting look at how people (might) behave when cut off from the rest of the world with only each other and a little bit of... Read more
Published 1 month ago by John

5.0 out of 5 stars Freakishly Fun but will They Get Out Alive?
The Ruins begins with two American twenty-something couples who have just graduated from college, Jeff and Amy, Eric and Stacy, vacationing in Cancun. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Tiffany Ann

3.0 out of 5 stars Good premise but unnecessarily long
This is a book that would help you fill in a few lazy hours when you haven't got anything else to do and all the bookshops are shut. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lilly Penhaligon

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Terror
what a book!!!, i had never heard of scott smith before i read this and i only picked this up on my way to the counter at the library. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Edward Checketts

4.0 out of 5 stars A book that grabs you (in more ways than one!!)
I do think the negative reviews of this novel are incredibly unfair. I read a wide range of genres, with horrors and thrillers being among my favourites. Read more
Published 9 months ago by booksy

4.0 out of 5 stars Nightmares don't come more brutal or claustrophobic than this
The Ruins by Scott Smith is an out-and-out tale of horror which solely focuses on the fatal journey that a group of young friends take into the jungles of the Yucatan... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Captain EO

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant book
what a great book ! im an reading it for the second time in a year and it still has me spell bound. cant really see how the film will go as most of the book describes the thoughts... Read more
Published 11 months ago by M. Joseph

2.0 out of 5 stars deary, deary me...
This book has more padding than substance; within thirty or so pages you realise it's actually a (very slight) short story. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. Paul Garner

1.0 out of 5 stars Tedious
Before getting into this review, I should admit that I enjoy reading Stephen King and own most of his novels in hardback, I read a lot of fantasy, science-fiction and horror... Read more
Published 12 months ago by ET

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit ridiculous
I enjoyed this book but think that Mr Smith got bored halfway through and just decided to kill everyone off. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Piperbella

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