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julienicole1106's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
beca_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
_chelseachelsea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really, really like Ruth Ware’s writing style - she’s great at layering meaning behind dialogue and spreading exposition so her books don’t feel like a dumping ground. So when I started One by One, I was expecting a little more than what I got, which is a basic Orient Express-style story with characters who, while certainly more diverse than your typical thriller, were also pretty predictable.
I want to start with what’s good, because this is a perfectly good book. Ware has clearly spent time researching the history and language of her chosen setting, and it shows in both her descriptions and the dialogue between characters. The novel is quite immersive, so that by the end I nearly felt chilly myself.
The pace is just medium enough that I couldn’t rush through, but it rarely felt like it was dragging. Just when you think the pace is slowing, Ware gives a much-needed push to the next piece of action.
The other thing I liked was the setup of a young tech company grappling with financing, privacy, and morality against the backdrop of a luxurious ski resort. The best thrillers, in my opinion, provide stakes beyond the murder mystery. Our characters aren’t just threatened by a killer, or even the avalanche that’s trapped them - they are also threatened by the pressure of what waits for them back in the real world. These are people who just want to live the millennial dream and were clearly unprepared for the reality of running a business, and as their pristine, curated identities begin to crack, there are real people underneath. This, I think, sets Ware’s writing apart from other thriller authors. It’s hard to write likable jerks, but she manages to create humanity in even her most intolerable characters.
I think my dislikes really just boil down to narration problems. Ware writes this novel from only two POV’s. In a whodunnit, I think that’s a mistake. You know that your readers (especially those well-versed in thrillers) are going to cross examine every interaction, every internal piece of narration, looking for double-meaning and misdirects everywhere. With only two narrators, the magnifying glass is placed squarely on everything they say and do. This, I’m afraid, makes the killer’s identity glaringly obvious and the plot unpleasantly easy to predict.
I was about halfway through the novel when I figured it out - a single line of narration from one of the POV’s made it clear. If there had been more POV’s to get lost in, I might not have identified the “twist” so easily. I think thrillers with this kind of plot really need either ONE narrator (which Ware does very well in her first novel, In A Dark, Dark Wood) or they need several POV’s so you’re not inside the head of a single character for too long (Lucy Foley’s The Guest List is a recent read that achieves that goal in a really fun way).
Plot twist issues aside, I think this is a nice, moody read for those who like a mystery without too much gore or violence. And even though I knew who the killer was with over half the book left to go, trying to figure out the how and why was significantly harder and enough to keep me reading.
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
taleofabibliophile's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Cursing, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Gore, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault
morganperks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Grief
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Suicide
closelywatchedfilms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Medical trauma
flik's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ware evokes the beauty and danger of this snowy retreat with mastery, and it was no surprise to me to read in the acknowledgements that she had visited and skied upon the mountain for her research. (Oh, to be a gifted and recognized author!)
Against this threatening background are the members of Snoop, once a Spotify with extras start up, now a multi million pound company. Each character is well fleshed out, and there are plenty of motive and history reveals dotted throughout the storyline, leaving me feeling that I really knew each person by the end of the book.
It soon becomes apparent that the remote location and the weather aren't all our characters need to worry about, as they start dying off.... one by one. The plot takes as many twists and turns as a salem skier, and whilst you might guess whodunnit, the most compelling chapters arrive after their identity is revealed.
Like any creative thriller there are a couple of leaps in logic or motivation to enable the plot to bear fruit, but Ware handles and explains these with a deft touch.
I very much enjoyed the heart pounding ride One by One took me on, and have rated it 4 stars. I would recommend it to anyone looking to escape into a snowy thriller full of contemptible characters.
For ages 15+, content warnings for (major) Death, (moderate) Blood, Cursing, Murder, Grief, (minor) Bullying, Sexual Assault, Sexual Content.
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Cursing, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Bullying, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
patricia_epub's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I also enjoyed the back-and-forth POVs between Erin, the chalet worker, and Liz, the oddball in the group of guests. I knew there was a reason why they were chosen as the "eyes" of the story and I am quite proud to say that I pieced that together early in the story. I loved the epistolary-like sections at the start of each chapter, which ultimately showed me the author's hand long before she was ready to give the readers the twist. Despite this, I am happy that knowing the identity of the killer did not put a damper on my enjoyment of the remaining 70% of the book.
I have my reservations with the fleshing out of some of the minor characters, who felt at times like caricatures with their brief comments or opinions. But considering how short their 3-day interaction was (not to mention the tragedies they faced on after the other), I think it's easy to get over with and just enjoy the ride. They were all definitely archetypes, as I had suspected right from the beginning, which did not give me much expectation in the character development area. My biggest issue was how some parts felt a bit draggy or even unnecessary. When I realized the entire ordeal only happened within 3 days, I was shocked because it felt like they've been in the cabin for a week at least.
The ending for the "villain" felt a bit anticlimactic for all that build-up, though. But I do appreciate Ruth Ware's attempt at parallel imagery. I would say that despite the twists and turns of the plot, the ending definitely cemented to me that this was a character-driven story. Overall, it was a good story and an equally-as-good execution.
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Blood
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, and Stalking
readerette's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Death, Blood, and Medical trauma
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, and Cursing
kecresser's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault