I had a hard time getting into this book, which is a real shame because I’ve heard such good things about Ms. Ware. The story was a very classic take on a whodunnit and I found the plot fairly predictable. Nevertheless, I would still recommend this book especially for fans of Agatha Christie or cozy mysteries. The writing style and tone is excellent.

Against the recommendation of a trusted friend I tried to read this and give it a chance. I should have saved my time and skipped it. It was boring. I hate to say that after I have enjoyed several of Ware's other novels but this one fell flat. It moved really slowly. Did not have lots of suspense or twists unless they came at the very end, which I did not reach. I made it about 70% before I gave up so that I could work on the other 30+ titles on my Netgalley TBR list. Hopefully Ware's next book will bring back the good stuff she gave us in Turn of the Key.

Ruth Ware just gets better and better with each book! A devastating avalanche crashes down in the french mountains as a British tech company is renting out a chalet for an employee retreat. On top of that natural disaster and losing all connection to the outside world, someone in the group is murdering off its members one by one. It’s like Clue but not as funny. A whodunit-turned-thriller with ski-slope levels of twists and turns, this will definitely be one of your mystery favorites for 2020.

Getting snowed in at a ski resort in the Frech Alps doesn’t sound too bad right? A start up company cofounder organizes a weeklong trip for his team. They get stuck at the resort when an avalanche hits. Tensions build and without any sign of rescue one by one the group dwindles down.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of One by One by Ruth Ware.

There is a hot new app floating around. It's called Snoop, and it enables you to listen in on what others are listening to in real time. And now this company is heading to a ski chalet for a business retreat, mixed with recreation. But it's a treacherous time to be in on the mountain, the snow just keeps coming down, and this area has been known for it's avalanches. But the real danger is within, when members of the company start dying, all in different ways, one by one.

This is very reminiscent of And Then There Were None, a story that I ADORE. I love few things more than a secluded creepy hotel, with mysterious guests, and a juicy whodunnit. Unfortunately, this did not come with quite the kick as books like it. I felt like the author showed her hand way too early on, so it took the punch out of it. But it still had a lot of excitement and danger, so it wasn't hard to continue reading.

Well, Ruth Ware has done it again! One by One was a thrilling story of murder, secrets, and seclusion. I found myself immediately drawn in and seriously could not put it down! I will say that it wasn’t quite as good as The Turn of the Key, but that was by far my favorite by her. This one takes us back to her stories that put a group of people together and then start killing them off. It was very reminiscent of in a dark, dark wood, but I really enjoyed it!

A company trip to a secluded ski resort starts off tense with characters that are segregated into smaller groups of friends and enemies. As the story unfolds, we begin to understand that there is an opportunity for a buy out of the company Snoop, but not every shareholder wants this. What was supposed to be a week-long retreat to decide on what to do, turns into a heart-racing trip to stay alive.

I loved the characters in this story. The cast has two employees for the ski chalet, and 10 guests. It’s told from the POV of Erin, one of the workers in the chalet, and then Liz, a guest and minority shareholder for Snoop. I liked this story-telling choice, as we got insight into some of the Snoop backstory, as well as the chalet worker’s thoughts as things begin to happen.

I’ve read some reviews that felt this had a slow start, and I agree, you can call it a slow burn. I didn’t feel like it was slow though. I think you do have to enjoy Ware’s other books to find this one intriguing. All of her books really give some backstory before they start killing characters off. So, if that’s not your thing, you may want to skip this one.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. This is my second favorite book of hers, behind The Turn of the Key. I enjoyed the character development and the multitude of secrets that begin to come out as the story progresses!

To Read or Not To Read:
I would recommend One by One for readers that enjoy thrillers with a cast of characters, and a secluded setting. If you are already a fan of Ruth Ware, you will definitely enjoy this one!

Ruth Ware is a master story teller that grips you in her novels through her signature atmospheric thriller, locked room mystery in a closed circle setting.

There is nothing more horrifying than the feeling of being isolated, only to be picked off one by one while stranded, in a luxurious chalet in the French Alps no less. No matter how luxurious, the suffocating feeling when trapped in close proximities not knowing who the culprit is while slowly losing basic necessities like water, electricity, wifi and phone access is more than terrifying. This book had me in palpitations especially with the Jason Bourne type of chase scenes down the French Alps.

The story was told in the point of views of two women - Erin one of the two chalet employees responsible for the guests and housekeeping and Liz, the socially awkward minor shareholder invited to the company retreat.
The characters were so distinct and I loved that they were introduced right away in the beginning so cleverly as an “About Us” profile from the company page. I thought that was brilliant!

If you are a thriller fan, this is a must read. This was highly enjoyable and I highly recommend!

In One by One, a troupe of employees from a trying-too-hard-to-be-hip social media music app company come for a week-long team-building trip to a remote ski chalet, run by Erin, our protagonist chalet-keeper, and Danny, a chef. One of the guests, a previous employee, is clearly on the outs, and turns out to have a vital voice in the future of the company. Nobody really seems all that excited about being there, and when one of the employees goes missing, they're even less excited to stay, Sadly, an avalanche traps them, and employees start dropping like flies.

I was drawn to the premise of this book, and for the most part I felt it was realized well. There were a few parts that felt a little saggy in the middle, and some of the motivations ended up feeling a bit muddy for me, and required enough suspension of disbelief that they didn't feel seamless. However, parts of the book were absolutely brilliant. In the scene where Liz is being forced to go up to La Sorciere and ski down a slope she wasn't skilled enough to go down, I felt her tension and fear as though I were in the situation myself, and had to force myself to relax my muscles because I was physically reacting to her stress--this was possibly the most powerfully, deliciously suspenseful scene I've read, ever.

Overall, I found this book to be an enjoyable, suspenseful read, and would recommend to a friend.

Plenty of things sound like less fun than a week-long team-building trip with co-workers--root canals, watching paint dry, etc--but as far as “having-a-great-time-and-getting-away-from-work-crap” goes, it ranks way down the list.

Of course, when you picture one of those corporate morale-boosting retreats, it’s likely full of “trust-fall” games, goofy role-playing exercises, and rah-rah positivity talks. What probably never, ever, crosses your mind is a weekend in which the object is—literally— just stay alive… which is precisely what one company trip becomes, in Ruth Ware’s latest thriller, One by One.
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A week at a small, boutique ski resort high in the French Alps, with a few work meetings penciled in around the hours allocated for skiing, snowboarding, and partying aprés ski in the cozy, private lodge (which also boasts both a live-in housekeeper and chef, to ensure all needs are met)… sounds like a perfect bonding-and-work jaunt for an up-and coming British high-tech outfit—responsible for designing a hot new app, Snoop—made up of a group of ten millennials. (What could possibly go wrong?)

A whole lot, it turns out… beginning with a major blizzard that’s fast approaching (severely limiting options for the aforementioned fun-in-the-snow activities). So, following the first meeting—during which one of the two founders blindsides the rest of the team by springing her grand plan to sell the cash-strapped company for a huge profit—a break is called, to let everyone go blow off some steam on the slopes (before the weather deteriorates any further).

The skiing-as-pressure-release idea backfires, though, when that same partner fails to return from their afternoon in the snow, leaving the rest of them even more on edge. Did she manage to ski down the mountain, to a little village below? Did she get confused out in the poor visibility and go off-piste, encountering difficulties, or… something worse??

Then, in the middle of that worry, the unthinkable happens… an avalanche, sending tons of snow and rocks hurtling down the mountain, obliterating the trails, knocking out the power, leaving the chalet cut off from any source of help… and stranding a handful of increasingly fractious and terrified colleagues in the very last place most of them want to be: together.

But, it’s only when there’s another suspicious event—a death, this time—that everyone begins to comprehend the greater threat isn’t outside in the frigid cold… it’s inside, with them.
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Ware is often called our modern-day Agatha Christie, and One by One does nothing to dispel that comparison, with its And Then There Were None format (plus a bit of a “locked-room mystery” aspect).

One by One gets an au courant spin via its cast of techno-geek millennials, who converse expansively in cyber speak… but, for the most part, are noticeably less fluent in regular, person-to-person communications. (Ware employs a Snoop-based device at the start of each chapter that speaks to who/what the characters—and their world—are, to clever effect.)

With its young, attractive set of characters, stunningly-picturesque locale, timely topics (themes of privilege, the realities of start-ups, and sexism in the workplace run throughout), vivid natural disaster, and plenty of hold-your-breath scenes, One by One is a book I’m really hoping gets optioned by a movie studio… but for now, you’ll just have to enjoy the written ride. I certainly did. :)
~GlamKitty

When executives of an upstart app company called Snoop reserve a skiing chalet in France, Erin and her coworker Danny are hired to provide hospitality and meals. These aren’t your normal people from Snoop but edgy influencers who have a highly successful app on their hands. Imagine if you could listen to whatever Lady Gaga is listening to or whoever’s music you love. Beat for beat you are experiencing the same thing as a celebrity. Unfortunately, with any gathering of creatives there are arguments, lies, and in this case a sense of entitlement that is downright annoying. There are so many wonderful characters, reminding me of a Christie novel, but in the year 2020. The characters begin to be picked off one by one and identifying the killer is difficult due to the author’s great detail. This was a true mystery, through and through.

I obtained this book through Net Galley and have left an honest review.

I'm not entirely sure why I keep reading Ruth Ware. The books are fine, easy reads- no more, no less.

Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic 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. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?

This was a great who done it novel.
I enjoyed this novel. But in all honestly there was way too many characters for me to keep up with.
I kept going back to keep track of who was who.
But all around the story was nice, the whole mystery of it all was good.

Overall- Good Book.
Thank You NetGalley, Publisher and Author for this copy.

Ruth Ware's mysteries are often akin to Agatha Christie novels. They feature premises that are reminiscent of some of Christie's most loved and enduring works.
In ONE BY ONE, we find ourselves in a plot that is more like the board game CLUE. After getting snowed in, eight co-workers fight for survival, and the stakes for each individual are high and intense for different reasons.
As the novel unfolds, we learn hidden motives, and of course the twists and turns are clever and engaging.
While not Ruth Ware's best, this book is a solid read to kill some time.

I was so lucky that I was given the opportunity to receive an advanced digital copy of One by One by Ruth Ware through Netgalley. When I got this notification, I squealed! I am a Ruth Ware fan, Turn of the Key is one of the best books EVER and I’m equally obsessed with The Death of Mrs. Westaway. I can honestly just fangirl about Ruth Ware for days.

One by One centers around a group of tech executives/app developers of Snoop on an executive retreat at a ski chalet in France. They are there to make a decision about selling the company. By selling they become millionaires, some want the money, some want to hold out.

Character wise I had a few issues with this book. There were a lot of characters and they just weren’t all fleshed out. You learn about some characters and then they don’t show up much at all.

This is a multiple POV story, from Liz, a former employee and Erin the vacation hostess. Liz holds the voting power and everyone is working to sway her to vote their way. Liz just wasn’t a likable character for me.

I won’t say too much more but I knew who the killer was almost immediately. This one just didn’t wow me. It gives MAJOR And Then There Were None vibes but it was not my favorite Ruth Ware book at all. It was a quick read and others may love it more than I did.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 stars. Thank you @Netgally and @gallerybooks for my advanced digital copy of the book to review.

Who doesn’t dream of a ski trip with your work pals? The latest music app, SNOOP, is taking the world by storm and the company leaders are taking to the slopes. But something is off. There is tension between the founding members and it’s downhill from there. Ruth Ware creates a plot that will keep you turning the pages to see what happens next. I will definitely be reading more by this author!

I think One By One may be the best Ruth Ware book yet!
I was hooked straight from the beginning and I was guessing at the outcome almost all the way to the end. Ware crafted multi-layered characters that made the story engaging and move at a quick pace. A stellar story.

The tension in this novel was written really well so I gave it 4 stars. But I sort of wanted to give it fewer stars because I guessed who the murderer was so early on that I kept waiting for a twist, hoping the author was making me believe it was someone it wasn't. So while the writing itself was done well, I was disappointed with the overall transparency.

I'll still check out other Ruth Ware books.

Thank you Gallery Books and NetGalley for providing me with a preview copy in exchange for my honest review.
One by One, my 3rd book my Ruth Ware and I was surprisingly riveted. This is a locked room mystery that takes place on a snowy mountain. Are you shivering because I was. 😉
Snoop, a social media company based around music, decides to have its corporate trip to the French Alps for some forced skiing and a few surprises. There are five shareholders, five employees, and two chalet employees. The chalet includes nine suites, an indoor pool, beautiful scenery, a private chef, a coordinator, and more alcohol than they could possibly need. Sounds perfect. Maybe too perfect…
Our POV is provided by two outsiders; Erin the observant and smart chalet coordinator and the uncomfortable minority shareholder, Liz. Through these two we meet ten other characters. I had to make mental notes on who was who, what their title was, what their Snoop account names was, and eventually why they were important. Going in you think this is just a fun retreat but we learn it’s really to make a major decision that will affect the ten people involved with Snoop.
The first day of skiing end when one of the ten Snoopers doesn’t return to the chalet. There is talk about who saw her where last and arguing about where she might be. Erin, the chalet employee, offers to go into town to see if the employee is there. Erin leaves the chalet and the mounting snow from the past week crashes down around them, cutting them off from the world. And One by One they start to die.
I admit I was fairly certain of the killer from beginning. I was hoping I would be wrong and some fun twists were in store that would surprise me, but that didn’t happen. For me this was a fun read. It wasn’t a shocking mystery, but I enjoyed the location and a few of the character secrets. I felt like there were some missed opportunities, but that’s easy for me to say as an outsider.
Overall, I would recommend One by One to mystery fans, especially if they like Christie’s And Then There Were None. I think Ware did a good job of taking that premise into 2020. And let’s be honest, after the year we’ve all had you might like a book about being isolated…

What begins as a last ditch effort to save a tech company with a team building retreat escalates to tradgedy. Snoop a new app that allows users to listen to fellow users music choices and other private moments is in the last testing phase. It’s company founding members are trying to pursuade one of its members to vote with a sale that would ensure futures for everyone. They choose an isolated chalet for this summit meeting and here the fun begins. The personalities range from the usual to the unexpected. High profile A types, self assured , cunning, always on the advancement trail. The curious aspect of this tale is the narrator, a minimum wage host, housekeeper and her good friend the chef. The prospective these two bring are pure common sense and they speak the language. A natural disaster brings the activities to a head and bodies begin to pile up. It’s not just a good versus bad situation,underlying the obvious is a backstory of deceit and betrayal just to get ahead.

Ruth Ware is back! I really enjoyed this Agatha Christie-style whodonit novel after struggling through The Death of Mrs. Westway.

The story begins when members of a tech start-up company, Snoop, arrive at a ski chalet for their corporate retreat, the meeting veers off course when there is an avalanche on the mountain. Not only does the timing of the avalanche coincide with the mysterious disappearance of one of the firm’s co-founders and majority shareholders, but the avalanche leaves all the other guests in the Snoop party, along with the chalet employees, trapped by the avalanche inside the chalet and cut-off from the rest of the world. The story is told in alternating points by Erin, who is managing the chateau and Liz, who is one of the tech minority shareholders and former employee.

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the advanced copy of the book. In return, I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads page and Amazon.

#Onebyone #netgalley #gallerybooks @Ruthware