We went from The Turn of the Key to this?? How low we've sunk!

Snoop is a modern, trendy, innovative Company that has created a successful music app of the same name, that allows users to ‘snoop’ what tracks their friends (and even celebrities) are playing, and listen along with them in real time.

Ten Snoop Employees, Two staff.

A week-long stay in a chalet high in the French Alps.

There to decide the future of Snoop.

Five shareholders. Two in favour of the buyout, two against, one undecided.

A morning of skiing sees one of their group fail to return to the chalet.

Then the Avalanche hits.

As you can see, One By One had plenty of potential, but unfortunately almost nothing about it worked for me.

*WARNING: MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.*

Did anyone not guess who the killer was? Well, if your answer is no, you didn't have to wait long to find out because their identity was revealed at 66%? That's right, 66%! I couldn't believe it – wondered if the last 30% was going to contain an excerpt from a much better Ruth Ware novel, The Turn of the Key perhaps? You know how sometimes they do that? But then, sadly, I remembered I was reading an e-ARC, so that didn't seem likely. So, I consoled myself, certain that there was a phenomenal big twist/s still to come. Nope, there was no twist, instead we were subjected to a repetitive very long cat-and-mouse game, followed by an underwhelming motive for the murders.

There were only 12 characters, but I honestly struggled to keep them straight, as the majority of them may as well have been cardboard cutouts. Tiger or Ani? Inigo or Rik? No clue? Never mind, it was of little consequence anyway, since most were neither suspects or contributed anything to the plot.

An overload of business, tech, and ski jargon, profit and loss sheets, contract clauses, etc, really bogged down the first half.

The two alternating POV's was okay the first 50% but then became insufferable. Would've been nice to hear from some other characters – maybe then they wouldn't have been so underdeveloped?

The constant bickering was a bore to read.

Why did characters keep running out of a room when something upset them? I can't count the number of times it happened. Someone, turn it into a drinking game.

The snoop app was a cool idea. I'd use it. At the start of each chapter were four lines of ‘snoop statistics' pertaining to the POV, which I quite liked. And the ‘clue’ revealed in that data was one of my favourite parts.

The themes of entitlement and inequality and the character growth that resulted from this realisation had me somewhat emotionally invested.

My recommendation, read The Turn of the Key instead. Or, if you’re after a snowy setting for your next whodunit, Lucy Foley's, The Hunting Party is my pick.

I'd like to thank Netgalley, Random House UK Vintage Publishing, and Ruth Ware for the e-ARC.

I'm a huge fan of Ruth Ware and was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of her latest, One by One. I was particularly pleased because the wintery setting makes it an absolutely perfect read for this time of year.

One by One is set in one of those exclusive skiing resorts in the Alps. The shareholders and directors of a hip new social media app called Snoop have gathered at a luxury chalet to discuss a prospective buyout. With the group already split, tensions are running high when a massive avalanche hits, isolating them from the outside world. No Internet, no phone signal, the power cuts out and the pipes begin to freeze, but it takes two deaths before they begin to realise that someone might be deliberately picking them off, one by one...

The story is told from two points of view: Liz, who is a minority shareholder in Snoop but feels hopelessly out of her depth, and Erin the housekeeper - who has a few secrets of her own. The story has a slow burn start to allow for a proper introduction to all the characters, but once the avalanche hits the tension really tightens. The last quarter of the book, involving a cat-and-mouse chase through the snow, is extremely exciting. I'm amazed I still have any fingernails left!

One by One (as you might have guessed) is a 'locked room' murder mystery with an affectionate nod to a couple of Agatha Christie's bestsellers. Fans of Ruth Ware's earlier books, particularly In a Dark, Dark Wood, will love it. Recommended, especially on a snowy winter's night...



Thank you to Ruth Ware and Vintage Books (Random House) for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

I read in a dark dark wood quite a few years ago and I’m sure I liked it but didn’t love it. I think I need to say the same for this. It wasn’t bad at all but I felt it was a bit slow and a bit predictable. This locked room style book follows a company retreat to a french ski chalet. I loved that it was set in a ski resort and really made me want to try and get skiing again (one day! 🤞🏻). Ruth wares has a writing style that is easy to follow and this sorry started well with interesting characters but it just didn’t do much for me beyond that.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc.

I love a cosy mystery so I was instantly drawn to this and this was my first Ruth Ware book.

This started off strong and it was good getting to know the characters, and their individual vengeance's. I did find at points in the beginning that this dipped a bit, and for me there was quite a lot of discussion on skiing, which is something I know nothing about so was difficult to follow.

Once we got really into the mystery I was really invested and wanted to find out who done it, I must admit I did guess at about 65% into the book, but it didn't distract from the rest of the book.

The ending felt a bit rushed, so overall this was a 3.5* and I am interested to pick up more Ruth Ware.

I devoured this book in two days! Easy reading, a pace that will leave you breathless and a classic plot with a modern twist. What's not to like?!

One by One follows a group of employees on a corporate retreat in a ski report. They become stranded there after an avalanche, where one of the members of the group goes missing. After things start to emerge which makes the person’s disappearance suspicious, the group have to start questioning whether one of their own is a murderer.

Thrillers are such a hit-and-miss read for me, usually. I love the idea of them and I get excited about the blurb but oftentimes they are a let-down: I find that they can be badly written, poorly paced and easy to work out. However, I can confirm that none of these things were true for One by One, which is my favourite thriller I’ve read this year.

The first thing I will say about the novel is it has an almost relentless pace, jumping straight into the main plot and action. It didn’t take too long to get started, and once it did, I was hooked – I devoured this book in a day, which isn’t something I do all too often anymore.

The set-up of the novel is ideal for a thriller – they’re cut off in the middle of nowhere, so there’s a closed pool of people that could be the murderer. The novel does a good job of throwing your suspicions on to one person and then another, never letting you stick on one person for very long. I did start to suspect who the murderer was, but I thought it was handled well enough (and gave you enough doubt) that I wasn’t absolutely sure and couldn’t work out how.

The book is split into two points of view – Erin, one of the hosts at the ski chalet they are staying in – and Liz, an ex-employee of Snoop. I liked this as it gave you a chance to see multiple perspectives of the group and how they acted. Both narrative voices were distinctive, and Ruth Ware did a good job of making Liz feel rather cold and distant at times, like her characterisation in general.

I would definitely recommend this to thriller fans! The pacing is excellent, the writing is really good and the characterisations are done well. It also didn’t feel like something too outside the realm of possibility – sometimes these sorts of novels push that a bit – and I was tense enough to want to know what was happening, devouring the novel until I got the answers.

This is a great murder mystery.
Set in the mountains of a French ski resort, the shareholders and directors of music app, Snoop get together for make or break talks.
Erin and Danny work for the chalet company and are there to help with food and skiing but they don’t know what to think when this strange group of people turn up.
There’s a multitude of characters in the party of ten people and Erin can’t work some of them out.
They decide to go out skiing as the weather is set to worsen but only 9 of the group come back.
Eva was last seen on the slopes and after some digging, her phone signal is showing she’s gone over the edge of a sheer drop.
The group are sad at first then murder is suggested so emotions then go through the roof.
An avalanche then hits them and phone signals go, shortly followed by the electricity.
Another body is then found in the chalet, so they know one of them is a killer.
This is a tense, gripping read that had me questioning everyone but I got it totally wrong.
This book has a great reveal and a nail biting conclusion which I absolutely loved.
Thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Oh, I loved it. An atmospheric and claustrophobic thriller, it got me hoocked and I couldn't put it down. It has all the elements I like on a thriller book: a secluded place, group of weird people, misterious deaths, loads of snow. It looks like the perfect enviroment for something terrible to happen. The only downside is that I kind of guessed who was the person killing everyone but I didn't not see the reason for that coming. Oh wow... It was a great book by Ware and another one I loved. Highly recommend it.

So I frigging loved this book! Although, not sure I want to go skiing again after reading this and I do enjoy a spot of skiing, might just stay away from this resort. I loved the concept of Snoop too, a social media app to track people’s music taste and listen to what they are listening to in the moment, it is quite intimate and intrusive at the same time but it brought background to the team to where everything begins.

As is the way when skiing, at times you are truly isolated when on the mountain if you have an empty run, but those avalanche warnings aren’t something to be messed with. That warning brings the start of something quite dark and devious. I had my suspicions from the start, but I wasn’t 100% confident in my reckoning. It reminded me of Agatha Christies And then there were none (my second favourite Christie book) where people are picked off One by One. But like always, is it the obvious person who is committing these heinous acts or is there someone else to blame?

I flew threw this book, the chapters are short and succinct. When we are with Liz, a shareholder of Snoop we see what it is like to be on the inside. When we are with Erin, the Chalet host, we see the outsiders point of view and both offering interesting takes on the events as they unfold.

I loved that the story is only told from two characters point of view. It made for riveting reading and adds a layer of mystery because you really didn’t know what was going on outside that small bubble. We are only told things when the character themselves learn of the events. Who is safe? Who should we be worried about? When the avalanche causes problems and the chalet is basically on its own kind of lockdown then the fun really begins. A web of deceit has been woven but do the reasons justify the crime.

Gah, so much I want to say, I just thoroughly enjoyed it, the cold and stark yet beautiful setting of the mountains. The unsuspecting flies in the middle of a spiders web. For me, it worked, I know it hasn’t for some people, but for me it did. I was racing through the book, eager to know how it would all end. To see if it would end, or would it just be a vicious loop. I felt the cold, I have experienced that cold but to be shut off from the world. To be truly alone, on a mountain that truly terrifies me.

Ruth Ware has done it again! A modern day Agatha Christie! A remote chalet with a corporate group spending a week together and gradually members of the team begin to disappear and a killer is in their midst. The dynamics between the shareholders/top employees is believable; their sense of entitlement and what they expect from the 'staff' is believable. The surroundings are well described and the extremes of weather had me reaching for a blanket. Ruth Ware shares who is responsible for the deaths about four fifths of the way through rather than at the end of the book and there is a change of pace and direction taking the story to a conclusion with a clear explanation rather than just tidying up loose ends. Another good read!
Many thanks to Netgalley/Ruth Ware/Random House UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

3.5 ⭐

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC
I thought this story was an easy enough story to read and was suitably interesting.

It didn't leave me with strong feelings either way of I'm honest and it was easy to predict the killer so the reveal felt lackluster.

There was a decent bit of action near the end.

Overall a decent story, very enjoyable. Just nothing earth shattering

When you have a chalet in the Swiss alps, 10 people who don't all like each other and an avalanche that cuts the power and cell reception, you know it's not going to be a book where people will be sitting around a fire roasting marshmallows waiting to be rescued!
Although some bits were predictable I still thoroughly enjoyed this book and felt like taking out my old Cludo board. Who did it; how and why are the questions you keep asking and together with some of the characters you play armchair detective.
If you feel like a great whodunnit in the classical Agatha Christie style this is a must-read.
"Now we are ten. Now we are nine. Now we are eight. The words chant inside my head, a kind of gruesome countdown, edging closer to zero, one by one."
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Have to say I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting something quite special with all the 5 star reviews.
I did guess quite early on who the killer was and for me it really didn't pick up until 70% of the way through. The tension then ratchet up.
Some of the characters were unlikeable, Topher especially.
The friendship between Danny and Erin was genuine and they really cared about each other.
The descriptions of the ski resort and the weather were very atmospheric.
I so love a thriller but for me wasn't pacy enough.
Thanks to Netgalley and Vintage for the ARC

One by One is an entertaining, slow building thriller. We join Erin and Danny, the staff at a luxury skiing chalet in France. They have a corporate party coming to stay – the inventors and staff of hip startup Snoop – and the party consists of quite a mix of characters, almost all staff – apart from one, Liz. Why is she there?

As disaster strikes, the tension rises and we learn about secrets and surprises that suddenly make things feel very dangerous…

I have to say, the book starts a little slowly. I find this with a few of Ruth Ware’s novels, so sort of expected it. We get a slow build up of tension and are introduced to the many characters – not only Erin and Danny, who are relatively easy to remember as they’re the two staff members, but also the Snoop staff – all nine of them! I think there were nine, anyway – there were a lot of people to remember, and I found that at times I had to flick back through the book to remind myself of some of the supporting cast members. However, once I’d got to grips with who was who, I found myself drawn into the mystery and rooting for Erin and Danny to be OK – all the time wondering if everyone is quite as they seem…

The tale is told from two different perspectives – staff member Erin and guest Liz. I liked this dual narrative and as the book continues, it builds in momentum. There are plenty of twists to keep readers on their toes throughout. Some parts are a little predictable and some are a bit unbelievable, but it didn’t hamper my enjoyment. I wish some of the characters were a little more developed, as there are so many of them and some feel surplus to requirements, but overall this is a solid release from Ms Ware.

This is a gripping story set in an isolated ski-chalet. Ten people from a big tech company ('Snoop') rent it out for an intense company retreat where very important decisions need to be made. They're joined by Erin and Danny who live and work there. It's clear there are tensions between the employees as they split into opposing sides about the company's future. Shenanigans ensue and we're left trying to figure out who is the cause and who are the victims. I thought the writing was captivating - and I work in tech myself so loved the descriptions of how the app works!

One by One by Ruth Ware is a modern take on the mystery genre, very much in the style of Agatha Christie, and a very successful one at that. The book is set in an Alpine ski resort that has been booked out by up and coming social media success ,Snoop , a music app that has taken the world by storm. Using the ski trip as an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of a potentially very lucrative buy out offer are the company founders, Topher and Eva as well as their most trusted high level employees, including Eliot the tech wizard, Miranda the social media maven , Rik the money man and Carl the legal eagle, plus various assistants and the one person who doesn't seem to quite belong, former employee Liz. It soon becomes clear that Eva and Topher are on opposing sides of the argument, and the decision lies in the unlikely hands of Liz, who only became a shareholder by chance. Also at the resort are staff members Danny and Erin, whose job it is is to keep the guests happy, fed and satisfied, something that may be easier said than done with this group. When Eva goes missing on the slopes with a storm rolling in , Danny and Eliza decide that the best thing to do is get help but before they put their plan into action disaster strikes and an avalanche hits the chalet, trapping them inside , with no phone signal to allow them call for help. Trapped in a chalet with plenty of food and firewood might not seem to be the worst thing in the world, but when first one and then another of the group dies in suspicious circumstances it seems like there may be a killer on the loose , and nobody knows who the next target might be.
The story is told from two perspectives, those of Liz and Erin , giving us a sort of upstairs/downstairs view of what is happening. Each of the women have an interesting story to tell , and as we learn more of their individual stories we gain a greater understanding of their place in the group as a whole. The alpine setting almost feels like another character in the book, so wonderfully has the author described the cold and isolation. The pacing is perfectly on point, fast paced enough to make you want to keep turning the pages but with enough time to get to know the characters and how they relate to one another. The plot is clever, and there are certainly enough twists and turns to satisfy any reader. Overall an excellent modern day mystery and one that I would recommend to any fan of the genre.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Many Thanks to Net Galley, Random House UK, Vintage Publishing, and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

Snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation
And it looks like I'm the queen

Ever since I had read An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena, I have been waiting for a similar ‘all strangers inside a locked room thriller and ONE BY ONE, the latest from Ruth Ware is exactly that.
Like the oft repeated mantra in my blog, have a cuppa and enjoy this atmospheric thrill fest.
An exclusive French chalet in St Antoine nestled between the Dame Blanche, is cut off from the outside world by the blinding snow and an avalanche. The guests, all employees of a social media company called Snoop had come for an out of office business and pleasure get-together. As Erin and Danny, the chalet caretakers discover to their horror that there’s nothing pleasurable about Snoop.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside

The story begins with an introduction to the ABOUT team of Snoop, all 9 of them including Liz an ex-employee and shareholder of the company. As the story unfolds thru Liz and Erin, the reader is given tantalizing glimpses of the mini-camps inside the company and the underneath resentments that explodes out of the cauldron.

Now we are ten
Now we are nine
Now we are eight

Very soon a partner is missing as the avalanche forces everyone in close proximity and with no means of communication to the rescue team, pointed fingers raising suspicion and discontentment. As the mystery deepens and becomes more darker, someone is picking one guest after another for reasons unknown.

Let the storm rage on

Ruth Ware’s writing is effortless and the claustrophobic terror is conveyed wonderfully even though half of the things regarding skating and techniques were totally Greek and Latin to me. Those were the parts that I really wanted to skip and kind of reduced the panicky intensity in the story. What I absolutely loved is that the story adds to the drama even after the murderer is unveiled. The reveal, honestly feels a tad underwhelming after all that build-up of pressure. However, the final few pages with skiing and chasing had my heart galloping at a breakneck speed.

Winter is almost here, many of the places in the world covered in a vison of white, and this book is the perfect pick for a snow-laden dark night, OK, even without any snow, like in India here, where the crazy weather is playing havoc with my reading thrill! LOL

This review is published in my blog rainnbooks.com; Amazon India, Medium.com, Goodreads and Twitter.

I read this book in a day! I picked it up and simply could not put it down. I loved the way that the employees of snoop were introduced to us as readers, like we were reading some 'super fun' small-medium business website that likes to list it's employees with irrelevant info like 'favourite chocolate bar' or 'favourite quote' to appear young modern and fresh (we all know at least one..). It quickly stuck in my head as a reader, which was great as due to the number of characters it could have been difficult otherwise! The story had me gripped from start to finish and I loved the descriptions, I could picture everything - and felt like I was down the slope in the chase!. My favourite characters were Danny & Erin without doubt; they reminded me of Inspector Barnaby and DS Troy from Midsomer Murders when they were trying to work out who killed who! A page turning thriller with lots of suspense and a host of really interesting characters.

I love a good murder mystery and have to say that Ruth Ware certainly does not disappoint when it comes to this genre. In fact if Agatha Christie was still to be alive, she would be giving her a run for her money!

The setting of a chalet in a ski resort was both wonderfully idyllic yet secluded enough to up the anti when it comes to the air of suspense. What starts out to be a great getaway mixing business and pleasure for the staff within the Snoop company, ends up being a deadly and dangerous one. There are quite a lot of characters so it did take me a little while to remember who is who. Most are more background characters though with the story flicking between Liz one of the Snoop members and Erin a member of staff who lives in to look after the guests.

Along with Erin we have Danny, another member of staff, whose character I especially loved. I enjoyed the working relationship as well as friendship between both characters. It’s obvious that Erin has something from her past that she is hiding, which added to the suspense of what was going on inside the chalet.

Tensions rise throughout the story when the group are cut off from the outside world. Its not long before its obvious that one of the people in the chalet is a killer but who? Well if you are an amateur sleuth, you are going to devour this novel. I was pointing my finger at everyone and getting it horribly wrong. This isn’t just about the who though, it also about the why and it makes for some compulsive reading.

One By One is the perfect title for this page turner of a read. I couldn’t help but thing of Agatha Christie’s ‘And Then there Was None’. The remote location with a small number of characters with murder in the midst. That’s where the similarities end though and Ruth Ware shows that she rightly deserves to be one of the leading names in this genre. The chapters are relatively short and the deeper into the story I got the less I wanted to get back to reality. Towards the end I was holding my breath as to just who was going to get out of it alive and it ended up being an edge of your seat read that had me feeling quite nervous in which direction the author would take me. A tense, nail biting ‘whodunnit’!

So grateful to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the digital ARC of Ruth Ware's newest book 'One by One'. I have mentioned this before but Ruth is one of my favourite authors and it was her debut 'In a dark dark wood' that got me into reading, so when I received the approval notification, I was over the moon.

The premise of the book is super intriguing, a group of coworkers of a start-up company Snoop arrive at a beautiful chalet in France for their corporate retreat, but soon it becomes clear that there is a whole lot of tension among them and few of them have a hidden agenda for being here.

Soon an avalanche hits, and one of them disappears while skiing. The remaining co workers trapped inside the chalet with no electricity and communication to the outside world seem to be safe only until another one of them turns up dead and it becomes clear that a killer is hiding among them.

This is a classic locked-room mystery (which is my favorite kind of book to read) but with modern technology in the form of a Snoop app added to it which manages to intrigue the reader. Similar to her previous novel 'The Turn of the Key' where a creepy smart home system app named Happy was introduced, the Snoop app mentioned in this book is also quite eerie as it allows the user to spy/ listen to exactly what other people are currently listening to.
I honestly really like these fictional modern technologies Ruth has been using in her books to add a thrilling and sinister touch to the storyline.

Anyways, this superb mystery with its alternating narrators and suspicious characters is not only thrilling and but highly entertaining, keeping the reader at the edge of their seat from the very first page to the very last.
Talking about the ending, I definitely didn't see it coming and I must say Ruth Ware did a brilliant job at casting suspicion on each of the characters (they all have secrets of their own that they want to protect at all cost), confusing the reader to find the identity of the killer and then finally wraps up the book very cleverly.
I highly recommend this book. 5 stars from me.