The Ruins

by Scott Smith, Borzai

Alfred A .Knopf, 319 pp, $ 24.95

The Ruins is Smiths first novel since A Simple Plan.

Two American couples go to Mexico for a lazy beach vacation before medical school. They become friends with a German, and three Greeks [who don’t speak English] Mathias, the German decides to go to see his brother at an archeological dig, a day trip away.

When they get to the cut off shown on the map, the driver warns them against going, but does not have the language to tell them why. Even the Mayan village they reach warns them off as best they can, and has hidden the entrance to the trail. When they reach a salted clearing on the way, the villagers set up an armed guard to prevent them from coming back The find the dig, and camp, with no one left alive, and no way to get help as the jungle claims them..

To say more would tell the story, but you may never look at your garden the same way again. It is terrifying, and yet you can’t put it down. If you like Stephen King, without the extra verbiage, you’ll love this one But you may never take that Mexican vacation with the same frisson that folks came out of the movie Psycho when going to take a shower. - Pam Allan