A review by xabbeylongx
One by One by Ruth Ware

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

SPOILERS AHEAD
Book Review: 
This is the first one of Ware’s books I’ve read, and, I must admit, it certainly won’t be the last. 
My summer really doesn’t really do the book justice. It’s so thrilling, so many twists and turns. It really does keep you on your feet, because just as you think it’s one person, evidence for another arises. It honestly really connects you to the book; you almost feel as if you’re also a character, trying to figure it out with the others. 
I wasn’t a fan of the characters, if I’m being honest. None of them I felt really hyped for, but I actually kind of liked it? They’re quite realistic characters, with flaws and quirks, and I really, really like that in a book - I prefer that over a perfect character any day. 
Everything in this book was perfectly written. The setting, the characters, the dialogue between the two, the tension created… I just loved everything about it. Especially towards the end, I couldn’t put the book down, even if the beginning was quite slow. I thought that could have been condensed a little more, I can’t lie, as it did take me a while to get into, and also, the ending, when Liz was chasing Erin, I felt that was unnecessarily dragged out, but other than that, I can’t fault this book! I would definitely recommend! 
 
Book Summary: 
We follow two POVs, Erin and Liz, through this book. Liz is part of a big party of work colleagues that are going on a skiing holiday, and Erin works at the chalet that said party are staying at. Liz, technically, doesn’t work with them anymore, but because she put a heap of her money into Snoop, their business and her old business, she now owns shares, so this affects her too. 
Right from the beginning, Erin can see that Liz isn’t one of them. She’s uncomfortable with them, all the time. She doesn’t even like skiing. And we find out that Eva and Topher, two of the ‘main’ leaders of Snoop, both have different viewpoints, and they are trying to get Liz to side with them. Liz owes it to both of them, apparently, but she can’t make up her mind from the pressure on both sides. 
There’s an avalanche warning, and soon, they are snowed in. However, Eva goes missing. No one knows where she is. They want to go out and look for her, but the reality is, she won’t be alive, due to the weather. It’s seen as an accident due to the weather. However, when Elliott is then murdered (by sleeping pills) after finding something out, and then Ani remembers something, and then is found out to be strangled in her sleep, they realise there is a killer among them. 
No one is safe. 
They go around in pairs, and they are safe until Danny’s, Erin’s business partner, keys to the rooms go missing. Now, really, no one is safe. 
Danny and a few others leave, as it has been a few days without communication from the police, and the avalanche and the weather is getting worse, and everyone from the chalet is slowly going insane, worried about who’s going to be the killer. Erin and Liz are left behind at the chalet, waiting for them to return. Erin has a swollen ankle, from where she went out when the avalanche first arrived, and Liz has a swollen knee, from falling down the stairs. 
Once left alone with Liz, Erin notices that the meek girl disappears. From thinking she wouldn’t be able to be the killer, to now seeing the murderous look in Liz’s eyes, Erin now knows what Liz is capable of. Danny’s keys fell out of her pocket, so that can only mean one thing: she had the means to kill Ani, and also, everyone else. 
As Erin leaves to use Elliott’s phone and power block, she realises that he was following only one person on his Snoop account, and that was the same person whose geolocation placed them at the scene of the crime. It was Liz. He knew it was Liz, and he was silenced before he could say anything. She messages Danny from his phone, and tries to pretend everything is okay, because she knows if she doesn’t, then she is next. However, everything goes wrong when that phone pings, and Liz reads the messages. 
Liz tries to kill her with sleeping pills in the kettle, but not after she explains everything to Erin. How she owed Topher for giving her a chance, but Eva was blackmailing her. Eva sent a man in to harass Liz, and she pushed him, and he was killed. However, she was filming it, and holding it over her. That was why Liz eventually killed her. 
Erin pretends to drink the tea that she makes, but, knowing it’s filled with sleeping pills, doesn’t actually. And, when Liz leaves for a bit, when Erin is ‘dead’, she uses it as her chance to escape. 
Despite their injuries, they ski off-piste, Liz chasing after her. It’s a long journey, but Erin somehow manages to do it, just not quick enough. She’s about to give up, when Liz faceplants into a rock, not judging the slope enough. She’s dead. And Erin no longer has to worry about being chased. 
The chalet closes up, so Danny and Erin have to part ways. Danny moves in with his new boyfriend, and Erin goes home to see her family, after making amends with her demons, after the loss of her boyfriend and brother in a skiing accident that she has been ignoring. Snoop goes out of business, due to the company’s debt. However, a new one arises in its wake! 
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