Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Simple Plan | 1993 | Scott Smith | Buy |
| 2 | The Ruins | 2006 | Scott Smith | Buy |
Scott Smith’s two novels represent different angles on suspense and horror. A Simple Plan (1993) is a crime thriller about the moral unraveling of ordinary people who find a large sum of money. The novel earned praise for its tension and was adapted into a 1998 film starring Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton.
The Ruins (2006) arrived 13 years later and moved into outright horror territory. Set at an archaeological site in the Mexican jungle, the book follows tourists trapped by a menacing biological threat. Both novels share a focus on people in impossible situations who make increasingly bad decisions.