The Ruins Book Review

Last year, the Adapt Me Podcast began a series called His/Her Reviews. In it, my husband comes on, and we talk about a movie or television show that’s based on a book. Our first episode in that series was the 2024 film Nightbitch. Our next one is the 2008 flick The Ruins based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Scott Smith. Today, I wanted to take a look at the book to see what it was all about. It’s truly horrific and will suck you in as long as you accept its premise.

The Ruins is about two American couples trapped in a Mexican jungle. A group of friends are on vacation, relaxing on the beach, getting drunk at night, and friending fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends goes missing, they venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip slowly spirals into the most horrific nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site…and the terrifying presence that lurks there.

To truly enjoy this book, readers must accept one thing: the main characters are idiots. When I read this, I was thinking, “Why would anyone go into the jungle to find a relative of someone they just met? I would never do that.”

However, after a conversation with my supervisor who loves horror (particularly the kind that one doesn’t have to think about), I realized that their stupidity is the point. All horror is based on dumb decisions whether that is hiding behind a row of chainsaws or going into a jungle in a foreign country. It also made me think of a script analysis class I took while in college. In it, my professor described multiple plot archetypes like the hero’s journey or coming of age. The one I remember the most was the story where people mess up no matter how hard they try. My professor labeled it as the Three Stooges plot. The Ruins is that. It’s about four people along with a German and a Greek tourist making one stupid choice after another.

How dumb are these characters? Well, they drink tequila as their food and water supply are low. One of them actually uses the water to clean off the urine on her foot after she accidentally pees on herself. Yes, they are those kinds of idiots.

Another thing, the four main protagonists are not exactly fleshed out (even though one of them is given more of a backstory than the others). The book itself describes them as follows: Jeff is “the boy scout,” Amy is “the prissy girl,” Eric is “the funny guy,” and Stacy is “the sl**.” At the same time, character work takes a back seat to how insane the plot is. One is reading the book to see if these stock characters survive. While I knew how flawed each of them were, I was sort of rooting for them to live and get out of the jungle. One will have to read the novel to find out the outcome.

What was the most interesting thing about The Ruins was the monster itself. It’s a plant. Specifically, it’s the vines that threaten to wrap the characters’ necks and enter into their bodies. The descriptions of how it torments the main cast physically, mentally, and emotionally are unreal. Smith leans into the gory bits that make the story truly horrific. There were many times I felt squeamish and astounded in my car whenever those sections occurred. 

Patrick Wilson narrates the audiobook. Wilson has appeared on stage, film, and television. His best known works include the musicals The Full Monty and Oklahoma; the 2004 movie version of The Phantom of the Opera as Raoul; the Angels in America miniseries; and the Insidious, The Conjuring, and Aquaman film series. He’s one of the better-known audiobook narrators I’ve looked at on this website. Wilson does a decent job. There are times that he’s simply reading the novel like he’s doing it for a paycheck. His vocal distinctions among the four main leads aren’t that different from each other, even Jeff and Eric sound very similar. The girls’ voices are basically what if a man was voicing them. As Matthias – the German tourist whose brother goes missing, Wilson’s accent is fine. I’ve heard worse German dialects in other media. He’s at his best when the monster steps in and the group is wondering how they are going to survive. He really raises the stakes with his vocal performance.

The Ruins by Scott Smith is a good horrific novel. In many ways, it’s aware of its faults, especially how flawed the main cast is in both development and how stupid they truly are. At the same time, it was fascinating to read about how these idiots attempt to get themselves out of a Mexican jungle in a similar way one turns in to see how the Three Stooges find a way out of a jam. I would recommend it to readers that love horror and don’t want to think while reading. Stay tuned for next week when I post my review of the movie version and later for the Adapt Me Podcast episode on it!

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