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boba_n_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Grief, and Cursing
vaguely_pink's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Sexual assault, and Bullying
Minor: Confinement, Alcohol, Classism, Toxic friendship, Rape, Infidelity, and Vomit
erkietheturkey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Blood, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Bullying, Grief, Violence, and Medical content
Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Drug use
saliwali's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Bullying, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Classism, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
noxygens's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Classism, Sexual assault, Grief, and Drug use
achay91's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Toxic friendship, and Death
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Sexual assault
blouviere4's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Gore, and Sexual assault
julienicole1106's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Confinement, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
beca_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Alcohol, Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
_chelseachelsea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really, really like Ruth Ware’s writing style - she’s great at layering meaning behind dialogue and spreading exposition so her books don’t feel like a dumping ground. So when I started One by One, I was expecting a little more than what I got, which is a basic Orient Express-style story with characters who, while certainly more diverse than your typical thriller, were also pretty predictable.
I want to start with what’s good, because this is a perfectly good book. Ware has clearly spent time researching the history and language of her chosen setting, and it shows in both her descriptions and the dialogue between characters. The novel is quite immersive, so that by the end I nearly felt chilly myself.
The pace is just medium enough that I couldn’t rush through, but it rarely felt like it was dragging. Just when you think the pace is slowing, Ware gives a much-needed push to the next piece of action.
The other thing I liked was the setup of a young tech company grappling with financing, privacy, and morality against the backdrop of a luxurious ski resort. The best thrillers, in my opinion, provide stakes beyond the murder mystery. Our characters aren’t just threatened by a killer, or even the avalanche that’s trapped them - they are also threatened by the pressure of what waits for them back in the real world. These are people who just want to live the millennial dream and were clearly unprepared for the reality of running a business, and as their pristine, curated identities begin to crack, there are real people underneath. This, I think, sets Ware’s writing apart from other thriller authors. It’s hard to write likable jerks, but she manages to create humanity in even her most intolerable characters.
I think my dislikes really just boil down to narration problems. Ware writes this novel from only two POV’s. In a whodunnit, I think that’s a mistake. You know that your readers (especially those well-versed in thrillers) are going to cross examine every interaction, every internal piece of narration, looking for double-meaning and misdirects everywhere. With only two narrators, the magnifying glass is placed squarely on everything they say and do. This, I’m afraid, makes the killer’s identity glaringly obvious and the plot unpleasantly easy to predict.
I was about halfway through the novel when I figured it out - a single line of narration from one of the POV’s made it clear. If there had been more POV’s to get lost in, I might not have identified the “twist” so easily. I think thrillers with this kind of plot really need either ONE narrator (which Ware does very well in her first novel, In A Dark, Dark Wood) or they need several POV’s so you’re not inside the head of a single character for too long (Lucy Foley’s The Guest List is a recent read that achieves that goal in a really fun way).
Plot twist issues aside, I think this is a nice, moody read for those who like a mystery without too much gore or violence. And even though I knew who the killer was with over half the book left to go, trying to figure out the how and why was significantly harder and enough to keep me reading.
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, Blood, Sexual assault, and Gore