I’ve only read one other book by Ware, but I really like her ability to capture such a good sense of apprehension for the reader as the mystery goes on. I’m also a sucker for the forced proximity trope in a thriller and the fact that there might be a killer in the midst of a group of people who THINK they know each other. There weren’t many twists per se and if you have an instinct about the killer early on you’re probably right, but I was so immersed in this as a read (especially reading it out in the middle of the woods) that I didn’t mind having that knowledge in my pocket as I made my way through the story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This may be my least favorite Ruth Ware book. Everything about it: the plot, the characters, the setting were all so boring. NOTHING happens for the first 2/3 of the book and even when the plot picks up I didn't care. It was so obvious who was the murderer from the first chapter and there were no interesting plot twists. Most of the book the characters just talk about their app and company or they complain about first world problems. I didn't care about any of the characters or what happened to them. I kept waiting for a massive twist and that's what kept me reading but by the end it was just disappointing and boring. I would skip this. Hopefully, Ware's next book has a more unique concept.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great suspenseful mystery! A corporate skiing retreat turns into a horror show as one by one the participants begin to die. And when a blizzard and then an avalanche cuts them off from help, it gets even more terrifying. Trying to figure out who the killer was & why was very entertaining. The characters were interesting & the writing was engaging & i literally couldn’t put it down!

One By One By Ruth Ware Review
Let me be honest and upfront. If you are looking for an entertaining review? I’m sorry but this isn’t it. Ruth Ware’s latest, One By One in summary is boring. I don’t know how to write a review that explains it or makes it interesting. It is boring. I mean One by One is bland and boring. The best way I can tell you how boring it is would be to show you the following scene from the Golden Girls. Just remove the sentence I am stunned and replace it with One By One is boring.


*At the end of the post, I have provided three other One By One reviews that you can check out!

Worse Than The Guest List
I know. You can’t believe it. I don’t care. I can’t believe I typed it. There are two fundamental reasons that make Ruth Ware’s latest (and subsequently my review of One By One) worse than Lucy Foley’s The Guest List.

I was not anticipating the Guest List. Therefore, it could not disappoint me. One By One was one of my most anticipated books of the year. This epic fail was a betrayal akin to Kaz killing Inej.
At the end of the day, at least the Guest List made me laugh. It wasn’t supposed to make me laugh but boy did I laugh. Since it made me laugh, it was interesting. It was interesting for ALL THE WRONG REASONS. However, since it made me laugh AND was interesting for all the wrong reasons, I could write an incredibly entertaining salty review.
To the point made by #1, Ruth Ware’s One By One is and will easily be the biggest reading disappointment of the year. Turn of the Key, along with Dear Wife by Kimberly Belle and The Chain by Andrew McKinty were the first three Adult Psychological Thrillers I ever read. They started me on the trash path. This betrayal… brutal.

To the point made by #2. It really speaks for itself, I guess. I mean I just don’t know what to say other than how damn boring One By One is. How many ways can I that in summary, it is boring? I don’t know how to make a review about boring, interesting, entertaining, or even how to explain it, other than to say that, in fact, and in summary, it is boring.

One Great… Erm… Double-Edged Sword
This really is sincere. Admittedly, it is also a double-edged sword. What I’m about to say is absolutely and exactly right.



One By One By Ruth Ware Review

Thank You to Gallery/Scout Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review
Chapter 72 (I believe I counted right) is the most brilliant chapter ever. I have never seen what was done in chapter 72 executed before (that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done before, I just haven’t seen it). It is a brilliant, masterful. And I mean that completely sincerely.

At the same time, the fact that the content in chapter 72 (which I can’t expand on) is the most brilliant in the book, also tells you how confoundingly boring it is.

And I’m sorry but that is seriously all I’ve got because everything about this book is just boring. From the characters to the plot to the setting. The damn avalanche couldn’t spice it up.

Check Out These Reviews For Other Perspectives:


Orangutan Librarian

Ludwig’s Book Reviews

Just Reading Jess

Ruth Ware is one of my auto-read authors, and this one was exactly what I have come to expect from her- an entertaining, if somewhat predictable, mystery. The killer was obvious pretty early on, but the story still held my attention for the most part- the ending did feel like it dragged on for way too long after the killer was revealed and the mystery had been solved, and I was ready for the book to end long before it finally did. Overall, still an enjoyable read and an author I will continue to read/buy.

I wanted to like this book. I liked the premise of a Tech company corporate retreat that turns into a nightmare when they are all trapped in a rustic chalet by an avalanche with a murderer in their midst. The tech company has created a very popular app called Snoop where you can listen to what other people are listening to in real time. This includes friends, strangers, celebs. The company is about to go public and there is talk of a multi-million dollar buyout. However, the share holders find themselves in two groups of selling now or holding out for more money. Then one of the main share holders goes missing and an avalanche traps them all in the chalet. Then two more members of the group are found dead in their rooms. Soon the members are taken over by fright and accusations. The story is told from from the dual perspectives of one of the chalet workers and one of the shareholders. I could not like anyone in this book. I also thought the murderer was obvious from almost the beginning of the book, so I found it to be disappointing. I have read Ruth Wares other books and enjoyed them. I will read more books by this author but felt this one was a disappointment.

Ruth Ware’s latest thriller takes us to a familiar premise… One that I have called a country manor mystery in the past. Put a bunch of interesting characters in a creepy or isolated setting and let their past and present conflicts work themselves out… I’ve now read four of her novels, and quite frankly, they are perfect to read between my big clunky SFF books. Here’s a rundown:

The Woman in Cabin 12: A travel journalist is tasked with writing about a brand new luxury cruise ship. Things go wrong when she thinks she see a mysterious woman fall overboard.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway: A young woman finds herself the recipient of an inheritance letter. Down on her luck, Hal decides to travel to the country house and gets herself involved in a treacherous situation.
The Turn of the Key: A nanny takes a job at an isolated house looking after several interesting kids and a tech-filled house. All that can go wrong does… it’s creepy and spooky and out-of-control!
Now we come to One By One… The senior leadership of a tech company go on a skiing retreat/ work vacation in the French Alps. Ware uses two points of view to give the reader the play-by-play. Erin is a host in the chalet who is tasked with making the guest as comfortable as possible. She is the outsider who starts to see the tiny cracks split open as part of the group wants to sell the company and the other faction see it as time to expand. Liz has not been a part of the day-to-day business of the company for a long time, but is one the retreat because she is a shareholder. She is now somewhat of an outsider herself and is pulled is either direction because she has the power of money.

The app is called Snooper and kudos to Ware for coming up with this realistic piece of fiction. I could totally see this platform taking off on peoples’ phones. The ability to follow a celeb or an interesting discoverer of new music as they access their playlists in realtime would be an addicting habit. And things hum along with minimal tension for a few pages and then the drinking starts and people start to crowd in corners and bedrooms for one become bedrooms for two… Then the snow starts to fall and visibility on the slopes drops to a minimum. Avalanche. Disappearances. Murder?

Another solid Agatha Christie- esque work by Ware. I flew through the pages of this one. Every secret that came out ramps up the tension and makes each remaining character look a little more guilty. It was a good book that I definitely see Ware fans gobbling up. You may want to save it for a weekend away, a cup of cocoa, and a cold draft coming through your window.

4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

This is my first Ruth Ware read and it did not disappoint! It reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel and I absolutely loved it. I could not stop thinking about this book or put it down. The characters were so well put together and the plot line was great!

I have a love/hate relationship with Ware. I always have high expectations for her novels, but they are hit or miss for me. In her latest novel she creates another inescapable setting, this time a chalet in the French Alps.

The founding members of "Snoop," a music app that allows you to listen to the music other users are listening to in real time, have booked a ski retreat. The hidden agenda quickly comes to light and the reader just has to sit and wait for the tech entrepreneurs to be picked off one by one.

As you can see by my rating, this one was a solid hit for me. I love man v. nature stories and the avalanche, and to a certain extent the ski runs, provided additional complications that enriched the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book! I have read other books by Ruth Ware and she is one of my favorite authors! I was very happy to get an ARC of this and I enjoyed reading this book too! I was not sure how I would feel about the "ski" setting, but in the end, I was glad I read it. I found myself anticipating what was going to happen next! Erin was by far my favorite character. She was so strong and resilient! Once again, Ruth did not disappoint and I look forward to reading more of her books! Thank you again to NetGalley! This was well-worth the read!

I read all of Ruth Ware's novels. They've all been good and caught me off guard with the plot twists. This book is no exception. I couldn't have guessed what was going to happen in One by One--classic Ruth Ware with this ski resort drama.

Another thing I appreciate about Ruth Ware is her books are suspenseful, but never gory. They are gritty and real, but they're always clean and tasteful.

My only negative is that this book had a lot of main characters to keep up with.

I count One by One as another winner.

My thanks to Net Galley for the review copy of this book.

Unfortunately, this was a miss for me. I never found myself fully interested in the story. I think it was difficult to make myself care about a fictional app and a huge cast of characters without much personality. Once the killer was revealed, the rest of the story felt like a waste of time. I wanted to enjoy this one but it bored me and I wanted so much more from the atmosphere!

Ruth Ware is such a hit or miss author for me, and unfortunately this one was a miss. The story had great potential, but the execution was clumsy and fell flat for me. Not at all impressed.
2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

I was really, really wound up and excited by this book for the first 75% of it. And then things went downhill. Fair warning: More bad skiing jokes ahead.

The premise and setting for One by One felt like a cant miss, and Ware was at least partially successful with both. The setting and atmosphere were used well throughout, from the oppressive, isolated creepiness of the lodge after disaster strikes to the weather and the elements out on the mountain. Ware made both work for her all the way through to the end.

But the story itself didn’t make it that far before the cracks started showing.

First, the comparisons between this book and And Then There Were None are a big, big stretch. The setup is vaguely similar, but this book is completely devoid of one of the most important components of that story. Though on the plus side for Ware, her solve actually made more sense than Christie’s.

The problem with that solve is that it comes way too early in the book. We find out the Who and the Why when there is still a LOT of text left to go. I spent the entire rest of the book waiting for some twist that just never came. And while all the loose ends that still existed when the killer is revealed are tied up in the end, that happens in a spectacularly disappointing fashion.

It also didn’t help that it was pretty easy to figure out who the murderer was going to be very early in the book, even if the motive wasn’t yet apparent. And then we get both of those far too soon anyway.

Ware did do a lot of things well here. The setup and the atmosphere were excellent, and the cast of characters/suspect pool and the complexity of the whodunit were also exceptional. It’s just a shame she missed out on some key follow-through with those and tipped her hand so early that the end of the book felt anticlimactic.

I did have fun reading this most of the way through, and it’s a fun book to speculate about with others while you’re still figuring it out. It’s just a shame that it felt like Ware quit in the middle of a fantastic story and gave us a solve right when things were really getting interesting.

In all, this is a much better book than the Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, and In a Dark, Dark Wood, but falls well short of The Turn of the Key and doesn’t quite match The Death of Mrs. Westaway either.

Ruth Ware sucked me in again and completely blew my mind. I was hooked on this snowy thriller that gave me Agatha Christie "And Then There Were None Vibes." So glad to have gotten an advance copy from netgalley and a physical copy from book of the month. Read this one if you want a snowy murder mystery with the twists up to the last page.

Loved this! Couldn't put it down and there were parts that were legitimately scary. I want to read more by this author now!

I am a Ruth Ware fan. I enjoy her writing style and story development. While I liked this book, it wasn’t my favorite by her. The mystery was set at a mountain lodge in the middle of a snow storm with a shady cast of characters and nothing but time on their hands. It was very similar to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. It was pretty easy to figure out who the murderer was, and there wasn’t a whole lot of character building for most of the characters. There were certain relationships in the book that I wanted more backstory on, while others didn’t interest me at all. Overall, not a very mysterious or thrilling mystery, but not a bad story.

Ruth Ware is one of my favorite authors. In all of her books, she describes the scenery so perfectly that it's very easy to imagine that you're there and "One By One" is no different! From the very beginning, I could picture myself at the chalet and with the characters. At first I thought I would be confused, as we are introduced to many characters at once, but Erin and Liz are the only main characters as the story is told from both of their sides. I don't want to give much away, but the characters begin to drop off "one by one" creating high suspense throughout the entire book. Don't pass this one up!

With a riveting locked-door mystery, Ruth Ware once again proves why she is the reigning queen of suspense and without a doubt, the Agatha Christie of our generation.

Ware masterfully re-imagines Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE with 11 people trapped in a posh ski chalet after an avalanche.

When the team from Snoop—a music-sharing tech startup—arrives at the luxurious chalet high in the snowy French Alps, breathtaking vistas serve to quell the anxiety of the impending, mandatory bonding with coworkers.

But something more than anxiety simmers below the surface, as secrets plague the company on the brink of buyout. Before the first night is even over, anger boils over and loyalties are tested as tension ratchets inside the chalet. Outside, however, the weather threatens something far more sinister.

When the avalanche hits, one of their own isn’t back from skiing and the rest of the group is essentially cut off from the rest of the world. As the snowstorm relentlessly rages, hostility and panic inside reaches a fever pitch, especially when someone is found dead. It’s clear there’s a murderer among them, and they’re being picked off, one by one.

Ruth Ware brilliantly sets the scene in the familiar mystery narrative—the dreadful feeling of isolation, the panic it evokes, the tension that thrums in a group hiding far more than they let on. It’s as terrifying as it is timely. Never a dull moment as secret motivations come to light, egos clashing amongst this group of hipster techies. Misdirections aplenty kept me guessing until the very end with a seriously brilliant, heart-pounding climax. Somehow, Ware gets better and better with each book she delivers, tightening her craft in ways that make it incredibly exciting for thriller and mystery junkies like me.

Do not miss this propulsive, adrenaline-fueled thriller—you’ll relish every page, I promise.

This is my first mystery by Ruth Ware, and I was not disappointed. One by One is focused on a group of privileged, high-maintenance individuals headed to the St. Antoine Chalet for a corporate retreat. Everything is smooth sailing until an avalanche traps the party in the mountains and one of the company's founders disappears, turning this retreat into a game of whodunit. It's a modern twist reminiscent of Agatha Christie novels, and was well executed.

The story is told from differing perspectives: Erin, a chalet housekeeper, and Liz, one of the employees of the tech company sponsoring the retreat. Both gave nicely balanced, and complementary views on the narrative as it unfolded, and they do a fantastic job of developing both the isolated, haunting setting, and the morally grey cast of characters. This novel was as exciting as it was fast-paced, and it never lost momentum! It flowed very well and the suspense was maintained until the last page. I will definitely be reading more of Ruth Ware's books in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ruth Ware for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.