One By One
By Ruth Ware
Gallery/Scout Press, 9781501188817, September 2020, 384pp.
The Short of It:
I’ve read many of Ware’s books but this was a total miss for me.
The Rest of It:
Ten obnoxious people from a tech company named Snoop rent a French Chalet for a week. They are on the verge of a large buyout with the potential to make them all very rich. Not everyone is on board with the idea and when people begin to drop dead after an avalanche that keeps them from alerting the authorities, things go south very quickly.
Danny and Erin, the people charged with caring for this group, find themselves fending for their own safety when they realize one of these guests is a murderer. There is some suspense and it’s not immediately clear who the murderer is but this story felt rushed and there is virtually ZERO character development.
With all these people dropping like flies, I could care not one iota for them and that is not a good sign. This story felt very formulaic and the plot resembled three other books I’ve read this year. Not unique. Not riveting. People you don’t care about, except for maybe one person.
Anyway, if you are a Ware fan, just know going in, that this is a different type of book for her. If I had read this book without knowing who wrote it, I would not guess it was Ware, if that tells you anything.
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.
Book Chatter 
I had a similar reaction to this one; so disappointing!
It’s disappointing when you’ve read and enjoyed all her other books. This one, out of the gate, was not good. I kept turning those pages hoping the story would redeem itself.
I think I have one more Ware book to read and then I have read them all. I’ll continue to read new ones as they come out but not if they fall into this formulaic trap.
it sounds very inspired from the Christie novel – And then there were none. That was a very compelling book though.
You are correct. I did read somewhere that the Christie book did inspire this one. The execution though, not even close.
Ah, my mom likes her books, but she doesn’t have this one. We just got her the Into the Dark, Dark Wood for her birthday in September. So I hope that one is good.
Dark Wood is pretty good. Enjoyed it.
I’ve liked all of Ware’s books except this one- I really felt that she must have had some kind of book deal and had to churn one out to fit the deal. Really weak overall.
You know, I thought the very same thing. A book deal or a commitment to bang one out. What a rush job this one was. It was really not good at all.
I have also liked the Ruth Ware books I’ve read, but will skip this one as I keep hearing that it’s not nearly as good.
I don’t know what happened with this one. I am guessing she had to meet a quota of some sort. Now that she is so well known people just buy her books without any doubt.
Hi Ti. Sorry this one disappointed. Such a bummer, eh? Well, I’ve read all of Ware’s books and this one was such a fail. To be honest, there are maybe two that I actually like. The rest have been way too predictable and just not good.
Some Ware books are definitely better than others. For sure. Not very consistent, is she?
Ditto – almost no character development and she rolled out too many old tricks.