Description: The Ruins does for Mexican vacations what Jaws did for New England beaches." -Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly "The most disturbing novel of the year." - Time "Smith's nail-biting tension is a pleasure all its own. . . . This stuff isn't for the faint of heart." - New York Post "A story so scary you may never want to go on vacation, or dig around in your garden, again." - USA Today "A smart, clean-burning horror machine." - New York Times Book Review "A classic horror story, told with mounting, detail. Smith spins it out relentlessly, piling chill on chill on chill. . . . What happens, and needless to say it's not good, is something readers will race page after flapping page to discover. When they do, they will findwell, better set aside eight or nine hours reading time, keep the lights on, and make sure the plants are still in their pots." -Bill Bell, The Daily News "A fast-paced suspense novel that grabs you and refuses to let go. . . Smith's characterization and timingthe ability to deliver one quick blow after antohermakes the book so freakishly fun. . . . The story turns grotesque, but Smith's command of his characters and their demons is masterful. . . . The Ruins is chilling, an icy dissection of human nature in a hot, horrifying place." -John Caniglia, The Cleveland Plain Dealer "An exercise in unremitting tension . . . Smith writes in clear, vivid language with elegant sentences." -Diane Scharper, The Baltimore Sun "One of the most terrifying, creepy, riveting novels that will hit the bookstores this summer. . . . Smith sculpts each of the characters, making us care very much about what happens to these young, naive and sometimes selfish individuals. . . . The Ruins has a claustrophobic feel, which adds to the palpatations of suspense. The great outdoors might as well be a dark, dingy basement full of things that go bump in the night as Smith finds new ways to frighten with his setting." -Oline H. Cogdill, The Sun-Sentinel "Reading Scott Smith is like having a rope tied firmly round your middle, as you're pulled on protesting tiptoes toward a door marked DOOM. . . . Smith is a master of the 'if only' scenario, that most foolish and pungent form of regret . . . At its heart, The Ruins is an old-fashioned horror story, and it's the invasive, intuitive killer that provides the ice-water dread. . . . It's Thomas Harris meets Poe in a decidedly timely story: Smith has tapped into our anxieties about global warming, lethal weather, supergermsour collective fear that nature is finally battling backand given us a decidedly organic nightmare. Grade: A-. -Gillian Flynn, Entertainment Weekly "Once again, Smith ( A Simple Plan ) deftly explores psychological tension and insidious fears. A perfect beach read; just don't stray too far from the lifeguard." - Library Journal "A word of caution to readers, gentle and otherwise: Do not pick up a copy of Scott Smith's The Ruins if you have anything else you need to do in the next eight hours or so. Don't start this book if you're especially weak of stomach or nerves, and above all don't pick it up if you're not willing to tolerate some deviation from the usual conventions of thrillers and horror stories. . . . The Ruins is like all great genre fiction in its irresistible storytelling momentum, but in its lack of mercy, it's more like real life. . . . The Ruins is ruthlessly frank about how most of us really behave in extremis. The escalating nightmare of the group's fate evolves inexorably from their personalities, in a way reminiscent of Greek tragedy, so Smith couldn't get away with the flimsy figurines that populate more genre fiction. In The Ruins , all of the characters and their vexed interrrelationships are richly and carefully drawn because, in a way, they are the story. . . . Scott Smith shows us an aspect of ourselves and of human nature we'd rather not acknowledge. He's such a master, though, that it's impossible to look away. -Laura Miller, Salon "Scott Smith is a singularly gifted writer . . . The new book is here, and the question devotees of A Simple Plan will want answered is whether or not this book generates anything like Plan 's harrowing suspense. The answer is yes. The Ruins is going to be America's literary shock-show this summer, doing for vacations in Mexico what Jaws did for beach weekends on Long Island. . . . Most of The Ruins 's 300-plus pages is one long, screaming close-up of horror. There's no let-up, not so much as a chapter-break where you can catch your breath. . . . I found Scott Smith's refusal to look away heroic . . . It's the trappings of horror and suspense that will make the book a best seller, but its claim to literature lies in its unflinching naturalism. It's no Heart of Darkness , but at its suffocating, terrifying, claustrophobic best, it made me think of Frank Norris. Not a bad comparison, at that. One only hopes Mr. Smith won''t stay away so long next time." -Stephen King, Amazon.com "At long last, Smith follows up his bestselling first novel, A Simple Plan , with a stunning horror thriller. . . . Smith builds suspense through the slow accretion of telling details . . . Eerie . . . Compelling." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) Praise for A Simple Plan by Scott Smith: "Simply the best suspense novel of this year-hell, of the 1990s. Think of James M. Cain, think of Thomas Harris-even think of Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres , to which Smith's book bears a weird thematic resemblance . . . think of whomever you want, but read this book . Better than any 'best-selling' suspense novel to hit the lists since Silence of the Lambs ." -Stephen King "[It] fulfills every expectation of a novel of suspense, leading the reader on a wild exploration of the banality of evil . . . Smith demonstrates the eerie ease with which the mundane can descend to the unthinkable . . . Smith's imagination never palls. - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "The reader is drawn along by fascination. It's like watching a train wreck: there is nothing to be done, but it is impossible to turn away . . . an almost tragic tale of pure greed . . . as compelling [as] The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ." - Chicago Tribune "The year's finest literary shivers . . . A beautifully controlled piece of writing, all the more impressive for being the debut of its author." - Entertainment Weekly " A Simple Plan works a devastating variation on the idea of the banality of evil . . . Beautifully controlled and disturbing . . . Cunningly imagined." - The New York Times Book Review "It is remarkable to read such a terrifying work expressed in such a seductively reasonable voice. A work of singular power, carrying within it a moral that might well be a metaphor for a society in love with wretched excess." &

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