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keking 's review for:
One by One
by Ruth Ware
Read my reviews at https://everytrickblog.com
3 Stars
I love mystery-thrillers, and I loved Ware's In a Dark, Dark Wood. Yet every one of her books I've read since has fallen far short of expectations. This was no exception.
This book is what I consider a classic "diverse group of people trapped some place, usually snowy, when a murder occurs amongst them" book. There's even snow! But it's just as predictable as that all the way through.
The identity of the killer is painfully obvious as soon as you meet all the characters. I thought to myself that surely this was poorly executed misdirection, surely it wouldn't be SLAPPING ME IN THE FACE, but I was wrong. I'm not normally very good at figuring out mysteries ahead of the reveal, so the fact that I could solve this so early on says a lot.
There was also an excessive amount of irrelevant detail, about the company (Snoop) and each person's currently listening, follower counts, etc. I also learned way too much about skiing and its different techniques. I've never skied before but I feel I surely could after reading through all this...
The characters were pretty flat and one dimensional. Each person fit snugly into an archetype and never deviated, ex. the moody, loner programmer. Another example being the hippie, free spirit creative. This didn't help engage my interest but reading about all the entitled people in the group was positively grating.
As for the positives, I did generally enjoy the latter quarter of the book, despite knowing the general direction it was heading. I thought the tension was built up very nicely even if the specific details on how and why seemed rather contrived. I legitimately got scared during the final tussle and had to stop a few times to take a break. I think without that, this would be a solid 1.5 stars.
At this point, I have to really consider whether Ware is somewhat of a "one hit wonder" as far as I am concerned. I would really think before purchasing any of her future novels.
3 Stars
I love mystery-thrillers, and I loved Ware's In a Dark, Dark Wood. Yet every one of her books I've read since has fallen far short of expectations. This was no exception.
This book is what I consider a classic "diverse group of people trapped some place, usually snowy, when a murder occurs amongst them" book. There's even snow! But it's just as predictable as that all the way through.
The identity of the killer is painfully obvious as soon as you meet all the characters. I thought to myself that surely this was poorly executed misdirection, surely it wouldn't be SLAPPING ME IN THE FACE, but I was wrong. I'm not normally very good at figuring out mysteries ahead of the reveal, so the fact that I could solve this so early on says a lot.
There was also an excessive amount of irrelevant detail, about the company (Snoop) and each person's currently listening, follower counts, etc. I also learned way too much about skiing and its different techniques. I've never skied before but I feel I surely could after reading through all this...
The characters were pretty flat and one dimensional. Each person fit snugly into an archetype and never deviated, ex. the moody, loner programmer. Another example being the hippie, free spirit creative. This didn't help engage my interest but reading about all the entitled people in the group was positively grating.
As for the positives, I did generally enjoy the latter quarter of the book, despite knowing the general direction it was heading. I thought the tension was built up very nicely even if the specific details on how and why seemed rather contrived. I legitimately got scared during the final tussle and had to stop a few times to take a break. I think without that, this would be a solid 1.5 stars.
At this point, I have to really consider whether Ware is somewhat of a "one hit wonder" as far as I am concerned. I would really think before purchasing any of her future novels.