One by One

By: Ruth Ware

Narrated by: Marin Ireland, Imogen Church

From Ruth Ware, the number-one New York Times best-selling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, and The Turn of the Key, comes her highly anticipated sixth novel.

Getting snowed in at a mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world. Especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. Unless that company happens to be eight coworkers...none of whom you can trust. When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong with the arrival of a monster storm, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps synergy. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?

©2020 Ruth Ware (P)2020 Simon & Schuster

A locked room full of idiots

Ruth Ware seems to be hit or miss for a lot of people. This one is a miss.

Just couldn't suspend the disbelief. Too many things happen that are simply not believable, even for a thriller.

If you were stuck in a chalet and members of your group were gradually being murdered, would you really be discussing the deaths and pointing fingers so flippantly? Yet, when characters know key pieces of information, they withhold these secrets resulting in even more chaos and deaths.

The police don't arrive right away (for reasons that are later explained). The group struggles to contact the police from the chalet. But why is this left completely on the group's shoulders? Apparently the company who owns the chalet, which is pretty much cut off from the world, has no contingency plan for emergencies?

"Kate is the area rep, and is in charge of coordinating all the bookings and logistics for all six of the company’s chalets. She likes us to greet the clients by their names right from day one."

Couldn't Kate help to get things moving on that rescue if she cares about the clients so much? Especially when she can't get through to the employees.

Because there is no cell service... except sometimes there is. With no power they have no way to charge their phones - except when they FORGET about one working charger and one phone with juice.

The narration wasn't bad. But the two female perspectives sounded too similar at times.

Ware tries to pull out some character growth out at the end, but it feels like a last-ditch attempt to add some depth to the story. This could have been a quite creepy and tension-filled read, but it misses the mark.