One by One by Ruth Ware

One by One

by Ruth Ware

'The sense of dread deepens as the snow falls in Ruth Ware's tensely plotted and deliciously cast alpine thriller' Louise Candlish, bestselling author of Our House

**The unmissable new thriller from the queen of the modern-day murder mystery.**

Snow is falling in the exclusive alpine ski resort of Saint Antoine, as the shareholders and directors of Snoop, the hottest new music app, gather for a make or break corporate retreat to decide the future of the company. At stake is a billion-dollar dot com buyout that could make them all millionaires, or leave some of them out in the cold.

The clock is ticking on the offer, and with the group irrevocably split, tensions are running high. When an avalanche cuts the chalet off from help, and one board member goes missing in the snow, the group is forced to ask - would someone resort to murder, to get what they want?

PRAISE FOR ONE BY ONE:
'A chilling, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Agatha Christie would have been up all night reading this one!' Shari Lapena, author of The Couple Next Door
'The queen of just-one-more-chapter has done it again' Clare Mackintosh
'Impossible to put down and perfectly claustrophobic and gorgeously atmospheric' Gytha Lodge, author of She Lies in Wait
'So fast paced, action packed, twisty-turny, modern, clever, scary and ingenious!' Lisa Jewell, author of The People Upstairs
'A fab psychological thriller and I loved the snowy setting! Incredibly tense and kept me guessing to the end' Emily Koch, author of If I Die Before I Wake
'Chilling, claustrophobic and clever. This is Ruth Ware's best yet' Jo Jakeman, author of Safe House
'One By One has all the elements of a classic crime novel, brilliantly reinvented for the modern era with a dramatic setting, pin-sharp characterisation and up-to-the-minute plotting. It is fast-paced, astute and utterly compelling.' Jane Casey, author of The Cutting Place

Reviewed by Leigha on

3 of 5 stars

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A startup company goes on a holiday working retreat with deadly outcomes in this rather boring murder mystery.

I found my first Ruth Ware novel to be rather boring and predictable. The set-up is nifty – what happens when coworkers with secrets to protect end up stranded alone in a ski chalet during their work retreat? Not much, apparently. The killer was rather obvious, the deaths themselves lackluster, and the conclusion underwhelming. Why is the overlooked mousey girl at the company the killer? So cliched it hurts.  Erin and Danny, the two staff members of the chalet trapped with the tech company members, were by far the most interesting. It would have been pretty fun if they were the two narrators rather than Liz and Erin. Liz didn’t bring much to the table, and Erin was a little too Mary Sue to make it suspenseful. I’m still interested in trying another Ruth Ware novel!

tl;dr An underwhelming story with a lackluster mystery and boring characters.

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Reading updates

  • 27 November, 2020: Started reading
  • 29 November, 2020: Finished reading
  • 20 December, 2020: Reviewed