One by One

Ruth Ware once again reminds me why she is the queen of suspense and one of my favorite authors! I easily gave <b>4.5 Stars</b> to her latest, and in my opinion, best thriller.<b>SUMMARY</b>Erin and Danny work at a remote luxury chalet high in the Swiss Alps. Each week they serve as host, cook, concierge and housekeeper to a new set of pampered guests. This week, the guests are from a hot music app called Snoop. Snoop has brought their voting shareholders plus some of their key management for a retreat but, they are also there to discuss a recently received buyout offer. The problem is that the two main shareholders have opposite opinions on selling. Ava wants to sell immediately and make hundreds of millions of dollars. Topher wants to wait and take the company public at some point in the future. Ava and Topher each hold 30% and each has the support of one other shareholder, giving both sides 49% of the vote. Then there is quiet, meek Liz who holds the remaining 2%. That 2% makes her the deciding vote and the most powerful person in the chalet. You can only imagine the level of tension, competition and arguments at the chalet!On their first day of skiing, the skiers get separated and Ava does not return. To make matters worse, a huge avalanche hits the mountain, taking out the power, cell service, internet and cutting off the chalet from everyone and everything.Panic ensures, with no phone, internet or way down the mountain, they cannot contact ski patrol to find Ava. No one is holding out much hope of finding Ava alive. But then things get even worse; a Snoop employee is found dead in his room. And then another... It looks like Danny, Erin and the remaining Snoop team are locked in an isolated chalet with a killer. It could be any one of them.<b>WHAT I LOVED</b>There were so many things to love about this book, but if I had to pick, I say the combination of the suspense and setting. Tucked away in what should be an idyllic mountain get away, the characters are stuck with a dead body and a potential murderer, with no help arriving, limited food and nothing to do but wait to see who will be next. I don't feel like I'm selling it well, but trust me. It really works.I loved Erin and Danny's friendship. They have an easy rapport, they are unquestioningly loyal to each other and they take care of each other. It's what a friendship should be.Most of the characters are hiding at least one secret and the reveals are sooo fun!!!The story is told alternatively from the points of view of Erin and Liz. They make great narrators because they are both natural observers, each for their own reasons. As part of the chalet staff, someone who has no connection to Snoop, Erin makes a fantastic observer. Also, some of the Snoop employees speak freely when she is in a room, almost forgetting that she is actually a real person versus part of the chalets furnishings. Although she is a shareholder, Liz no longer works for Snoop. During her tenure there, she was mainly ignored and treated as the least relevant employee. Now that she holds the deciding vote, she is being "wooed" and everyone is showering her with attention. All these factors make Liz a fascinating narrator. The story would not have been as interesting or nuanced coming from anyone else.<b>WHAT I DIDN'T LOVE</b>One small complaint; the ending was a little too drawn out. This statement makes me sound impossible to please because I love a nicely sewn up ending, one where I am not left hanging. But this ending was a bit too long. I thought the book was already over (and I would have been satisfied with the ending) about three times before it was actually over.<b>OVERALL</b>My one complaint was very minor so the book still gets it's 4.5 Stars. I hope to see it on the "best of" list for 2020. I highly recommend for fans of Her Highness, Queen of Suspense, Ruth Ware and for anyone who loves a good, slow burn thriller.

Two narrators: one works at a ski resort; the other accompanies a tech company she used to work for on a week-long holiday at the resort. Then comes a blizzard, an avalanche, and total isolation of the vacationers and the resort workers. Murders ensue.I found this story extremely compelling throughout, it's very well-written, the characters are strong and believable, and puzzling but engaging facts keep being revealed. The book is so compelling that it ruined a night's sleep for me; I couldn't put it down. My only complaint is a disappointingly flat ending, but that's not enough to take away from my deep enjoyment of this novel. I highly recommend it.

Ruth Ware does it again. I read “Woman in Cabin 10” in 2017 and wrote that I stayed up way too late reading it. This time I started listening to “One By One” on Audible but became so impatient to know what was going to happen next that I bought it on Kindle. And spent the next three hours compulsively reading.Some have compared it to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” but apart from a vague plot resemblance in terms of murders and stranded people, this book is way more. It’s Agatha Christie on steroids in my opinion. I read every Agatha Christie book as a teenager and have seen every film and TV adaptation at least twice so I feel fairly confident in my opinion.Story: a group of 10 employees/shareholders in a music listening app called Snoop—the one weak thing in the book, I don’t understand the value of an app that lets you know what other people are listening to at the time they are listening; I felt it made the beginning awkward—rent a luxurious chalet in the French Alps that comes with two staff, chef Danny and hostess Erin. They are there for a week of skiing, relaxing, and, it turns out, for announcing that Snoop is in the midst of a buyout offer.Tempers flare over this. Some of the shareholders want to hold onto the company and take it public while others want the buyout. Tension is high and, as the group head out for a morning of skiing in bad weather, the reader knows this is not going to end well. However, there is more than just a person disappearing—a tragic accident? A major avalanche, damages the chalet and cuts out egress to the village below. “And Then There Were None” indeed, two more murders occur. However, there are still survivors and the question for me became, who the murderer was and why and who would ultimately survive. Although we do know, right at the beginning of the book in a news item, that only four people actually die. Which will be the four?The story is told in alternate chapters by Liz, minority shareholder, not quite part of the sleek group that forms the majority of the Snoopers and Erin, the hostess. That was actually another reason why I switched from Audible, because it was hard for me to keep track of who was speaking. The narrator did change accents and in general did a good job but I still found it difficult, especially if I got distracted.I very much enjoyed all the descriptions of snow and skiing as I enjoyed downhill skiing when I was young. Never skied in France and, truthfully, I was not a great skier but that actually lent a lot to my understanding and empathy of the fear that some of the skiers had.If you like thrillers that are one notch above “cozies”—have a bit more fear and modernity in them—or perhaps if you have ever gone on a skiing holiday, I think you would find this good escapist reading. A word of warning, there are a lot of f-words in it. No sex though.

Ruth Ware’s talent within the thriller genre is well known and I generally think she has warned the hype. This book just didn’t live up to its full potential for me. Loved the setting and some of the characters but I honestly felt like it was very obvious who the killer was. I do always enjoy a full resolution and this did a good job with that so bonus points in that aspect. Worth the read just don’t expect to be blown away.

This book was brilliant. My daughter read it after me I’m not gonna say anything about it but you need to read this and you will have to turn all the pages until you get to the end. Love the author.

Having enjoyed Ruth Ware’s previous novels, In a Dark Dark Wood and The Lying Game, I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of One By One. I still need to catch up on some of her books which I hope to get round to doing this year. I thought this was such a tense read and I was racing through it to find out what was really going on here. It was atmospheric and really entertaining. Throughout the book, there was a menacing atmosphere which kept the tension turning up a notch.I’ve really grown to enjoy locked room mysteries, and One By One is a really chilling one. A group of business partners have travelled to the French Alps and are staying in a luxury chalet. They are there to discuss the next proposals for their new app, Snoop, which they plan to roll out. There are already tensions among the group early on. When they venture out skiing, just before an avalanche is about to come crashing down, one of them doesn’t come back. As they try to work out what is going on and if their friend could still be alive, someone starts killing them one by one. This is when the tensions really begin to rise.I couldn’t turn the pages in this book fast enough. The chapters are told primarily from Erin and Liz's point of view, and they are short and snappy. One By One is definitely the kind of book which makes you think; oh I’ll just read one more chapter. As I got to know the characters, the only person I felt sympathy for was Erin. Erin works at the host and is there to accommodate the guests when they arrive, and during their stay. I didn’t like any of the individuals who were staying there. That didn’t stop me, though, from wanting to find out who the killer was. Erin finds herself in the midst of everything that is happening. Liz, the other person whose point of view the book is told from, is one of the shareholders of Snoop.The pace doesn’t drop at all, and it keeps picking up as the novel progresses. I found it a little slow at the beginning, as the group started to arrive at the chalet, but as I got further into it, I couldn’t put it down.I loved the isolated setting, which definitely heightens the tension. I could picture the mountains and the chalet really well in my mind. You feel as though everyone is walking around on eggshells. They know the killer could be among them, but the question is, who is it, and why are they doing this?I really enjoyed One By One. I’m looking forward to catching up on Ruth Ware’s previous books that I have missed. If you’re looking for a chilling, highly entertaining crime thriller which will keep you hooked, then I highly recommend this book.

If I'm honest this book has been on my kindle waiting to be read for quite some time. Heavens I am glad I finally read it!!To me this is perfect for fans of Lucy Foley, Catherine Cooper and even the great Agatha Christie, yet it feels terribly modern. Told with alternating narrators, we quickly build up a picture of the toxic environment of Snoop, the hottest new music app. At the start of each narrator's chapter, we see their Snoop profile which builds into the story. Erin is a likeable and capable host who gave up a career as a Doctor, Liz is a nervy, dowdy ex-employee who is derided by former colleagues, but needed in the battle of the Board.And then an avalanche occurs, killing one of their colleagues and leaving the party stranded in their remote ski lodge. One by one they start to be picked off, paranoia grows, the atmosphere becomes oppressive and slowly people unravel. I couldn't put it down and found myself thinking 'just one more chapter'.The location and the food are amazing (before the avalanche obviously), the setting is stunning. All in all this was an extremely enjoyable read and a great page-turner.

Couldn’t stop reading, would recommend

A corporate retreat to a luxury mountain chalet goes wrong when members of the board start dying one by one. It soon becomes clear there is a killer in their midst, but who is it?Cut off from power and electricity with no WiFi or phone signal, the two chalet hosts, Erin and Danny, must keep everything together as their guests start turning on one another.This is my third Ruth Ware book and by far my favourite so far. It was fast paced and kept me guessing until I was about two thirds in, after which, I sussed out who the killer was and was kicking myself for not realising sooner 😆Overall, a solid 4 ⭐️ read. One I would for sure recommend.