Book Review: One by One by Ruth Ware

 

Book: One by One 

Author: Ruth Ware

Pages: 384

Read on: Kindle 

Read in: ~4 hours 

Plot Summary: 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?

Things I Liked: 

1. The premise and setting of the book seemed very atmospheric and interesting. I mean, let's face it, work offsites are shyte! Those are the facts! There are no fun work offsites! All of us grin and bear it and just go through the motions of each day, reluctantly participating in "team building" activities and waiting for the day to end so that we can go back to our rooms and watch TV! Seriously! So, the premise of this book, where an offsite goes horribly wrong and people end up being murdered just checked all the boxes for me! 

2. The book was very atmospheric and taut with tension. You can feel the oppressiveness of the impending snow storm- the still air, the dark, menacing clouds, ski slopes being slowly closed off. The tension amongst the team members of Snoop is also, similarly, palpable. There is, clearly, something big that is going to be discussed and decided upon in this offsite and every employee- senior to junior- is feeling the stress of it. It does not help that the former founders of the company are now divorced and each is on the opposite side of whether or not they should sell out for the big bucks. Loyalties are tested. It's all very nicely done and just the right amount of dramatic. 

3. Apart from the various Snoop employees, whose characters could be fleshed out a bit more. I mean, the lack of fleshing out of some characters makes it kinda obvious who the killer is, but more on that later! There are also two employees of the Chalet where the team is staying- Erin- the manager/ cleaner/ general helper/ in-charge of guest relations, who has her own secrets, and Danny, the chef. Their reactions and horror at what happens is also nicely captured. 

4. The book is quite a gripping read, even if one figures out who the killer is, because the motive is very unclear right up until the end. So, one stays gripped because of that. 

Things I Did Not Like: 

1. In books such as this where 10-12 people are trapped by an avalanche or on a deserted island (And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie), the most interesting and gripping bit is the reveal of the real killer. As people drop dead like flies and few and few survivors remain, the guessing game of who the killer is, is what makes the book interesting and gripping. In One by One, it is pretty obvious who the killer is! I mean, even if you are not a big crime/ thriller reader, you'd still guess who the killer could be, which, honestly, is no fun! I wish the author had made the killer less obvious. Yes, you stick around to learn the motive behind these senseless murders, but that is not the same thing! 

Rating: 3.5/5