Plot: date=March 2008

The Ruins is the second novel by American author Scott Smith, whose first novel was A Simple Plan. The Ruins is a horror story set on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It was released on July 18 2006 (ISBN 1-4000-4387-5).

A film adaptation of the novel was released in the United States and Canada on April 4 2008.

Plot summary

The novel follows a group of tourists on vacation in Cancún who decide to visit a set of Mayan ruins.

Two American couples (Jeff and Amy, Eric and Stacy) decide to help a new-found German friend, Mathias, look for his brother, Heinrich, who has supposedly joined an archaeological dig. A Greek they met at the hotel, who they know only as Pablo, follows them. Pablo leaves a copy of Heinrich's map at the front desk for his two friends to follow later.

They find their way through the jungle to the ruins of an old mine, a large hill which is covered by vines with red flowers. A group of armed Mayans try to get them to leave until Amy steps into the vines, at which point they force the group onto the hill. The Mayans surround the ruins and set up camp to prevent them from leaving. The hill is covered with mounds of vines that turn out to be corpses, including Heinrich's.

After hearing what they believe to be a cell phone ringing at the bottom of the hill's abandoned mine shaft, the group sends Pablo down to find it. The rope breaks, weakened by the vine growing on it, and he falls down the shaft, breaking his back. Eric goes down to help him, but cuts his knee. Amy follows them down, helping to get Pablo out of the shaft but injuring his back further. Pablo is bedridden while the group tries to figure out what to do.

The group learns that the vine can move when Amy vomits and it sends out a tendril to suck it up. They figure out that vine has at least some measure of sentience and left the rope hanging over the shaft as a trap. It also pulls down a sign Jeff erects as a warning to anyone else who comes by.

Amy and Jeff go down the shaft to investigate the ringing cell phone, but find that the flowers can mimic sounds and are making the noise. The vines try to pull them down another shaft but they escape. That night, the vine works its way into Eric's cut. Mathias cuts the vine out, but Eric remains convinced that there is still some of the plant inside him. He makes his wound worse, cutting at it with the knife, and even goes so far as to cut open his chest, as he thinks he feels the vine there, too.

Also during the first night, the vine eats away the flesh of Pablo's legs. In an attempt to save him, Jeff convinces the others that they need to cut off his legs. Later that day, Eric, Stacy, and Amy get drunk and Pablo's condition worsens. They all get into a fight and the vine throws their voices back at them, making the situation worse. A very upset Jeff tells off Amy and she goes off on her own to cry. That night, he sees her vomiting and reaching out for help in the dark, but he ignores her. In the morning, Mathias finds her dead: the vine was choking her as she threw up.