One of my favorite murder mystery subgenres is the ‘locked room mystery’. Featuring a cast of creepy characters, locked away from the outside world, while a serial killer hunting them, one by one. The thrill of seeking the killer hiding in plain sight is simply unparalleled. Agatha Christie has done it before and with One by One, Ruth Ware has tried to give us a modern version of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.
Set in a perfect atmospheric & isolated location in the beautiful snowy mountains, a tech startup has organized a weeklong trip for their team. What starts out as a corporate retreat takes a disastrous turn when an avalanche leaves the group isolated from the outside world. As hours start passing without any sign of rescue, panic mounts as the group members start getting killed off in a mysterious fashion.
The basic premise of the locked room mystery has been done many times before but what makes the book immensely readable is Ware's ability to build a creepy atmosphere with some excellent storytelling skills.
The book can be roughly divided into 3 parts, the first 25% which I found slow due to the vast no of characters. The story picks up from there and is totally intense till the climax. We have an avalanche and a killer killing randomly. This part of the book was the most fun with many suspects and clues. The last 25% of the novel played out like a thriller and was equally strong for me. The best things about the book were the excellent storytelling which kept the readers hooked at all times.
Having said that I had some issues with the book. Firstly, a large number of characters. The book begins by introducing a vast no of characters that we have to keep track of. Among the dozen, so characters, there are hardly memorable ones, barring a couple and I had to keep going back to the first chapter that introduces the characters, just to remind myself of who is who exactly. The story revolves around ‘Snoop’ a music streaming software and the book goes into great detail explaining how Snoop works. Having done that, Snoop hardly adds anything to the plot. In fact, even a basic GPS tracker would have been enough to move the story ahead, without too much diverting the plot. The book continues to drag on after the ending, tying all ends when it doesn’t really matter. I felt the killer's revelation was a bit obvious and the ending felt a bit abrupt.
Overall, One by One is an exciting and entertaining thriller. Despite its flaws, I still thought One by One was immensely readable. It starts slowly but once it gets going, you will enjoy the story immensely. It could have much simpler and more focused on the mystery but Ware's writing still makes it a really good read. 4.0 out of 5 stars
Many thanks to the publishers Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss for the ARC.
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