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Book Summary and Reviews of One by One by Ruth Ware

One by One by Ruth Ware

One by One

by Ruth Ware

  • Published:
  • May 2021, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

This instant New York Times bestseller and "claustrophobic spine-tingler" (People) from Ruth Ware follows a group of employees trapped on a snow-covered mountain.

Getting snowed in at a luxurious, rustic ski chalet high in the French Alps doesn't sound like the worst problem in the world. Especially when there's a breathtaking vista, a full-service chef and housekeeper, a cozy fire to keep you warm, and others to keep you company. Unless that company happens to be eight coworkers…each with something to gain, something to lose, and something to hide.

When the cofounder of Snoop, a trendy London-based tech start-up, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other: presentations and strategy sessions broken up by mandatory bonding on the slopes. But as soon as one shareholder upends the agenda by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. The storm brewing inside the chalet is no match for the one outside, however, and a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. Even worse, one Snooper hadn't made it back from the slopes when the avalanche hit.

As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further…one by one.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Especially timely, given that the terror of isolation is at its heart… This is And Then There Were None rendered for the twenty-first century." —Booklist (starred review)

"Ware's gifts for characterization, plot, and pacing shine here… Ware's fans will devour this in a sitting." —Library Journal (starred review)

"Ware does what she does best: Gives us a familiar locked-door mystery setup and lets the tension and suspicion marinate until they reach fever pitch. Another win for Ware… Simply masterful." —Kirkus Reviews

"Ware manages to make a retreat in a chalet in the wide-open French Alps feel claustrophobic, nerve-wracking and deadly… The author's choice of telling the story in dueling narratives – Liz, a former Snoop employee who was invited to join in the retreat; and Erin, one of the chalet's two staff members – enhances the steadily escalating pace of the book." —USA Today

"[Ware] sets the bar higher in One By One by burying her principal players in an Alpine chalet beneath an avalanche... . Readers will recognize the obvious homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, but with enough ingenious twists to make this whodunit another triumph for Ware." —The New York Times Book Review

This information about One by One was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer. She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail (Toronto) bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood; The Woman in Cabin 10; The Lying Game; The Death of Mrs. Westaway; The Turn of the Key; One by One; The It Girl; Zero Days; and One Perfect Couple. Visit her at RuthWare.com or follow her on socials @RuthWareWriter.

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