My Thoughts
I really like Ruth Ware. My favorite book of hers is The Lying Game but these last few books I have read of hers just didn’t do it for me. For One by One the writing as always is great but the premise just didn’t feel super original to me. Actually when I started reading the book I thought I was reading Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Game again.
One by One introduces a huge cast of characters, and while we only have POVs from two of the characters, I just had a really hard time keeping all of the equally important characters straight. There are just to many with crazy names for me to really focus. Erin, the chalet employee, and Liz, an minor sharehold in Snoop, are our two narrators. They add a lot of extra context into the story line that really does keep you guessing.
Our story follows a small tech firm called Snoop. Snoop, an app that lets users listen to music with others, allow you to not just listen to the same song, but also ‘snoop’ on what others, including celebrities are actually listening to at any given moment. The concept of the app is cool, I mean I’d love to know what Adele listens do on the daily. The small tech firm have booked a week excursion to the in France for skiing. On the first day of their trip, one person is missing and an avalanche has hit, leaving the group stranded. Soon others start to wind up dead in the house. In typical Agatha Christie style, everyone in the house is a suspect.
I love Agatha Christie and who classic whodunit murders. But this felt like a copy of And Then There Were None. I definitely know that Ware takes inspiration from Christie but this was almost too much. With the answer of whodunnit coming too soon and then the end dragging out a bit.
One by One is entertaining to say the least, and the social media aspect is really imaginative. However, this book is a strong mixture of Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Game and The Guest List. If you’re just looking for something enjoyable to read and like Lucy Foley, then this will be great for you. If you’re looking for a truly original thriller/mystery this one isn’t that sadly. I still really love Ruth Ware and hope her next book really delivers.
This book comes out September 8th, get it HERE!
I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on One by One If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books. Huge thank you to Scout Press for my advanced copy! All opinions are my own.
About the Author
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Allie thanks for the insight.