The One

by John Marrs

Soon to be a major Netflix Original series and perfect for fans of Caroline Kepnes's You.
HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO FIND THE ONE?

A no 1 EBook bestseller and featured on Simon Mayo's Radio 2 book club. Perfect for fans of TM Logan's Lies and C.L. Taylor's The Fear.

One simple mouth swab is all it takes. A quick DNA test to find your perfect partner – the one you’re genetically made for.

A decade after scientists discover everyone has a gene they share with just one other person, millions have taken the test, desperate to find true love. Now, five more people meet their Match. But even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking – and deadlier – than others...

*****

With over 600 5* reviews, this is what real readers are saying about this addictive, page-turning thriller:

'I just couldn't stop reading'

'Brilliant twists that I didn't see coming'

'One of the most gripping stories I've read for a long while'

'I was hooked and didn't want it to end'

(Note: Previously published as A Thousand Small Explosions)

• ISBN10: 1473551080
• ISBN13: 9781473551084
• Publish Date: 26 January 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 10 August 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Ebury Publishing
• Imprint: Ebury Digital
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[bearley]

Haven’t finished a book this fast in a long time. Twists at the end of every chapter that kept you wanting to go on! Marrs does such an amazing job at creating characters and connecting them to you. He somehow blended every genre perfectly into this novel, and you feel every heartbreak and happy moment. Can’t even pick my favorite storyline cause they were all so enthralling.

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

A decent mystery that asks a lot of good ethical questions, but seriously is lacking in the thriller/suspense aspect of the story since there is a serial killer involved.

I would not recommend reading this book if you are looking for crime fiction/thriller/suspense.

Since this book is told from multiple points of view which pulls away from multiple killings happening in the story. There is no cat and mouse game between a killer and someone (like a police officer/detective) trying to solve the crime. The book is truly about the ethical implications of matching people based on DNA.

[chymerra]

When I read the plot for The One, I was intrigued. A future where you can find your perfect match through your DNA. That made my interest grow even more. Then I started reading the book. For the most part, I enjoyed reading the book. But there were some little things that grated on my nerves while reading.

The plotline for The One was very original. Being able to find your perfect match through your DNA? What a way to find your soul mate. The One looks at 5 different people and how finding their soul mates affected their life. But, more importantly, The One shows the dark side of this discovery. It also raises the question: Can love truly be in our DNA or is it pure luck.

The characters of The One are Mandy, Christopher, Nick, Jade, and Ellie. Mandy is a divorce who is trying to get her life back together. When she goes to meet her match, she is in for a very unpleasant surprise. A surprise that rocks her world. Christopher is a serial killer who is blindsided by his match. Nick is engaged to the love of his life when his Match throws him off-kilter. Jade has a long distance relationship with her Match. She decides to throw caution to the wind and travel to Australia to meet him. What she finds when she arrives shocks her to the core. Finally, there is Ellie. Ellie is the scientist who found the gene that started the whole Match business. Ellie has finally found her Match but little things start to bother her about him. Things that don’t make sense. When Ellie finds out who her Match is and what he wants, he could ruin her.

What I liked the most about The One was that it made me think. It made me think “what if someone discovered something like this“. What would happen? Would people accept it and use a DNA test to find their true love? Or would they denounce it? Would the social ramifications be as stated in the book: high divorce rate? Protests? Broken hearts? Like I said, it made me think.

The multiple characters didn’t do it for me. I felt that there were too many characters for me to remember. If the author had done 2 characters, I would have been fine. But 5. Too much. On the flip side, though, I thought that the author did a great job of fleshing out the characters. He made them relatable. He also made their situations relatable.

While I liked the plotlines and found them engaging, I did find it rushed in spots. I felt that the author got sick of writing about a character and wanted to end that characters scene before starting on the next one.

Each character got their own ending at the end of the book and not all were happy. Ellie’s was the last one featured. It was also the one with the most punch. Not going to say what happened but I was kind of expecting it. I wasn’t surprised at what went down.

I would recommend The One to anyone over the age of 21. There is a serial killer storyline that gets into somewhat graphic detail. Also, there is violence and language used. There are also sexual situations detailed but no outright sex. I would recommend The One to family and friends.

I would like to thank Harlequin, Hanover Square and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The One.

All opinions stated in The One are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

[Leah]

Have you ever read a book and just known it was going to stand out from all the other books you’ve read? Let me introduce you to The One by John Marrs. It started its life as a self-published e-book by the name of A Thousand Small Explosions, until it was picked up by the fabulous folks at Ebury (who I may or may not be trying to butter up as they have proofs of the new Rowan Coleman *wink wink*) and I knew as soon as I received the proof copy, along with my very own vial for my DNA that this was going to be a special book, and this was an astounding novel. I rarely give thrillers a full five stars, because they rarely satisfy me, especially with their stupid endings (you will see this sentence in every single thriller review I write, because thrillers writers cannot write endings to save their bloody lives). However, this book ticked all of the boxes. It was thoroughly entertaining, it was the kind of book you keep putting down just so you can savour it, the whole premise was spot-on, and the ending was pretty amazing.

You’ll have to have your wits about you when you start reading The One, because at first there are a lot of characters to keep up with, all who have been matched with Match Your DNA, a service that promises you’ll be matched, at some point, with someone who shares a specific strand of DNA, that only you have. The catch? It could literally be anyone – any age, any race, any sex, but that’s the risk you have to take. You can still fall in love the normal way, or you can leave it up to fate. It actually reminded me of that How I Met Your Mother episode where Ted goes to a company like Match Your DNA to try and find “the one”, but y’know, without the DNA part. It’s an incredible, fascinating concept, one that isn’t too far-fetched, let’s be real, and could well be a look into our future? WHO KNOWS. It really works, because it introduces you to a range of characters, who all just want to find their soulmate. What could be simpler? (HA, don’t even ask.)

Obviously it isn’t as simple as that. For example, Jade’s soulmate, Kevin lives in Australia, while she lives in Sunderland (SHOUT OUT TO THE NORTH EAST!!!!); Nick is in a relationship with Sally and doesn’t want to risk the fact they may not be each other’s match (boy, are you in for a surprise), Christopher is…. well, you’ll have to read the book because it’s better kept as a surprise; Mandy just wants to find her soulmate, and her story is both poignant and weird and Ellie is a business woman, who doesn’t think she has time for love… Until she meets Tim. It all sounds so rosy, doesn’t it? So perfect. So rom-com. But there is so much more to it than that, and to say any more than that will actually spoil it, because you need to go into the book with little to no information, so that when you discover all the amazing little plot twists, you’re surprised. The one that got to me the most was Ellie and Tim. It was the one I was rooting for, most of all. And that properly surprised me.

The One (which really should have just been called Match Your DNA, because that’s an epic title, and they should also have a real live website to go along with it because what a cool thing to have) was such an incredible read. How this wasn’t picked up before John Marrs self-published it is baffling to me, because it’s such a unique read, without been overly far-fetched. The writing is real, the chapters are short and to the point and leave you hanging for more, and that’s the key. You will literally just keep reading until you’re done, because it is captivating. I need ALL the John Marrs books in my life, because he really is an incredibly talented storyteller. To be able to tell five stories in one book, with so many intricate ties and webs and threads and not drop the ball is an immense effort that I applaud. It’s a book like this that makes me wish my imagination were better. I could see this being a movie, this would be an INCREDIBLE movie. If you read just one thriller this year (actually, read two because Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land is also incredible) make sure you pick up The One, because you won’t regret it and you’ll find yourself hankering for more. I honestly could have read about these characters all day long. Thank you, John Marrs. And please WRITE MORE BOOKS.