One by One, by Ruth Ware
I found this recommended by those who enjoyed The Guest List, and while I can see the likeness, it didn’t capture me from the onset like TGL did. Though it was slow starting and maybe a little confusing, once I got to know the characters a little better, the story fell into place for me.
It was intriguing with interesting plot twists and unforeseen secrets, but they could have been juicier.
The stage was set for confusion when you began to see the inner conflict among the co-workers, and the clear battle lines of who sided with Eva, co-founder #1, or Topher, co-founder #2. And then you throw into the mix the unknowns of the ski chalet hosts and an oddball ex-employee, who were the main narrators of the novel, and the relationship dynamics get a little complicated, albeit slightly predictable with romantic mashups and infighting.
What wasn’t predictable, however, was who among them would be the first one murdered, and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the victims that followed, until the pieces started coming together, of course. So, that made it interesting to question which of these characters wouldn’t make it to the end (we did know from the initial “newspaper” story that four had died).
I did struggle with trying to figure out whodunit a bit (like I’m supposed to!) but it didn’t take long for me to nail it down and just wait for the reveal.
And the reveal was okay. I was waiting for it to be a big surprise, or something completely out of the blue like a huge secret among the group that would have shocked the company to its core, but the surprises were kinda meh. Not bad, just not “wow, did not see that coming” kind of a thing.
I did enjoy the book overall, however, so it’s not that I wouldn’t recommend it. It picked up in the middle and kept you glued to see who/what was next, so if you can get to the middle, it becomes a hard-to-put-down-until-I-finish page turner.
To learn more about this week’s author and her book, you can find her here: https://ruthware.com/