This is my second book review for the month and the year. One by One is a psychological thriller by Ruth Ware.
The book is set in the French Alps at a ski resort. The leadership team of a social media music app arrives for a skiing retreat right after the company has received a buyout offer that could make the handful of shareholders (who are present) millions. Topher, a founding partner leads the faction against the buyout. Eva, another founding partner, champions accepting it. The deciding vote belongs to 2% shareholder Liz, a former executive assistant for the company. She doesn’t want to vote at all, despite the payout, because of her history with the company, but she’s getting pressure from both sides. Liz is one of the two main points of view in the book.
The other belongs to Erin, a staff member at the lodge. She’s got her own personal demons, having lost her boyfriend and brother in an avalanche while skiing several years previous, but she’s professional enough to lead the visiting team on their ski outing. First, Eva disappears from the ski run and is nowhere to be found, and then an avalanche traps the group at the chalet with no power and no outside help. This is when the murders begin, placing both Erin and Liz under immense pressure.
This book is an ‘and then there were none’ trope thriller, and it delivers a serious punch. Ware has written others in this trope, with ‘One Perfect Couple,’ set on a remote tropical island, being a strong example. She does isolated protagonists fighting back against desperate killers well. She also does twisty plots well. This book does have a great twisty plot as the murders and the motives play out. That said, One by One has another thriller trope that isn’t my favorite, and I can’t mention what it is, because it’s a major spoiler. If you really want to know, read some other reviews. I fully expect some reviewers will have dropped that trope bomb.
One by One has some great twists and you can’t see them coming (at least I didn’t). I take a little bit of issue with that, because this is not one of those thrillers where it is not that possible to guess who the killer is based on what Ware reveals. It’s still a great ride, like a wild roller coaster, but it’s the Space Mountain version, where the lights are out and you can’t guess the twists well even if you’re trying. If you do, it’s more on your gut feeling and not your logic, based on my experience.
I picked One by One because I always read new Ruth Ware books. She’s a favorite author of mine and I love her twisty plots and beleaguered protagonists. Thrillers are my popcorn genre, where I don’t have to think as much about the theme. I just have to logic out the plot and whodunnit.
Despite containing the trope that I generally don’t care for, and despite the fact that some details were held back so I couldn’t guess the killer by logic alone, this is one of Ware’s more enjoyable books for me.
Why? She has had a few where the protagonist feels like they’re losing touch with reality to some degree, and while those have had some great twists, I haven’t liked that protagonist presentation as much as the one like this book, where our point of view characters are grounded solidly in their reality and can trust what they are experiencing. I thought this was a great offering by Ware and I give it five stars.
Who is this book for? You’ll likely enjoy this if you loved other Ruth Ware books, if you love psychological thrillers, twisty plots, and point of view characters who have made mistakes in their past. If the ‘and then there were none’ trope is calling your name, this is the book for you. If you dislike not being able to logically piece together whodunnit because some details are being withheld until the reveal, you may enjoy this less than other thrillers. But as noted, for me, other features made up for that. I really enjoyed this read.
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Thanks for reading!
