One by One

I had such mixed emotions going into this book because I have heard very differing opinions from people who have read this book before me. At first I wasn't even sure if I should pick it up but the cover really just sold it for me, yes I am a sucker for a beautiful book cover. Thankfully, I was not disappointed, on the contrary, I loved EVERY single second of this beautifully written and orchestrated book! It reminded me of Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and even though I read that book back in school, I remember absolutely loving it. I haven't read a closed off “who-dunn-it” in a really long time and this book reminded me of how much I love these kinds of thrillers. There is no way around it, this is my favorite Ruth Ware book and even though I've had mixed emotions about her books in the past, this book has restored my faith in her ability to write an outstanding thriller. I will be picking up all the other books she has written without any hesitation.

To start of, this novel is about a group of co-workers and ex co-workers who escape for the weekend to an expensive ski resort in a beautiful mountainous location and then, after an avalanche closes them inside of the resort, people start getting killed and various things start coming to light. I have read two of Ruth Ware's other novels and I have never seen a plot as intricate and complex as I saw in this book. It's fast paced and thrilling and even though I couldn't stop reading it for the life of me, I was also really anxious and stressing, afraid of what was going to happen. There was not a moment when I was bored reading this book, if anything I had to drag myself away because it was really late and I needed to go to sleep. If I didn't have two kids and a household to take care of, I would have, without a doubt, finished this book in one sitting. That's how good it really was.

Next, the characterization is the best I have ever encountered from Ruth Ware's books yet. In the other books, even though the characters were good, they weren't exceptional. However, in this novel she really delivers on that front. Because the book is written from the perspectives of two people who are at the resort when everything goes down, we really get a deep look into their psyches and what makes them tick and what ultimately drives them to be the person that they are. It was fascinating because every character, even the ones who's perspectives we didn't get to read from gave us a look into their own souls, either through their own actions or just how the two main characters saw and perceived them. I could see positives and also flaws in each character and it made me care about what happened to them all the more.

Thirdly, the writing is flawless, as I have always found with Ruth Ware's books. It flows smoothly and helps get through the book even faster, if that's at all possible considering I read this book in a few days with a lot of other responsibilities on my plate. I love that her writing really gets to the point and doesn't phrase things in odd ways to expand the book and make it longer. I feel like in thrillers especially, that is the wrong style of writing, at least I haven't found one thrillers with that kind of writing that I liked. Also, the writing really just painted all the action scenes beautifully and really made me see the story and things as they were happening, almost as though I was watching it on a screen.

In conclusion, I can say that I am beyond grateful that I brought this book, even if it was really mainly for the beautiful cover. It delivered an amazing story to me, full of twists and turns and things revealed that I never could have even imagined. I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves fast-paced and “makes-your-heart-beat-faster” kind of thrillers because I don't think you will be disappointed. I wasn't sure how I felt about Ruth Ware's books before this one but now I can say with certainty that she is one of my favorite thriller writers of all time. This book will forever be a favorite of mine! Highly recommend!