A review by house_of_hannah
The One by John Marrs

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I am actually quite surprised with how entertaining this read was in the end. The writing is simple and bland, especially for an adult novel, so I was nervous that it might end up being a DNF. However, I did find each scenario to be intriguing, and I wanted to know what happened to the characters. 

This book follows five characters/couples, which I do think is too many, as most situations stay pretty surface level. We go through each character a chapter at a time, and then that repeats until the end of the book. The characters stay in the same order throughout the entire story (Mandy, Christopher, Jade, Nick, Ellie), which I do appreciate, because it was very easy to forget who was who. The chapters are really short though, so it was a revolving door of plotlines. 

I thought the concept of the story was interesting, and as this is a thriller expect a helping of twists and turns. Most of the characters are just terrible people though, so it was honestly hard to find someone to root for. This is also more of a "tell" instead of "show" book, since the chapters are such bite size pieces, and the book itself isn't that long. 

My four star rating is just for the entertainment value I got out of this. I don't believe this is an author I would seek out. However, if you're looking for a quick and easy thriller with some romance for Valentine's Day, then this would be a safe bet. 
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