One by One
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4.1 • 1.9K Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“An excellent mystery/suspense novel that will remind you of Dame Agatha at her best.” —Stephen King
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Get cozy with a sophisticated whodunit in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie. At a resort in the remote French Alps, a hot new tech start-up’s leadership team have met to discuss business, and tensions run high from the first crunch of snow under boot. There’s conflict brewing over whether to sell the company off or go public, and it all comes to a head when an avalanche cuts the group off from the world. And that’s when the first person goes missing. We loved the way British mystery master Ruth Ware (In a Dark, Dark Wood) uses this natural disaster to remove modern technology from the situation, leaving the characters trapped in a tense scenario that we could picture in almost any decade. The revelations that unfold as everyone’s motives come to light had us gasping out loud, but Ware’s plot twists never strain logic—only the characters’ nerves.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in a remote chalet at an exclusive French Alps resort, this tempestuous locked-room mystery from Ware (The Turn of the Key) centers on the 10-person corporate retreat of social media company Snoop. Snoop's shareholders cofounders and ex-lovers Topher St. Clair-Bridges and Eva van den Berg, coder Elliot Cross, comptroller Rik Adeyemi, and former secretary Liz Owens (all millennials) bitterly disagree on whether to sell the business to investors or to seek additional funding and work toward an IPO. The group goes skiing to dispel tension, but then Eva fails to report for lunch. Before chalet employees Erin and Danny can arrange for a search, an avalanche eradicates the exit routes and knocks out power, internet, and phones. After another guest dies, the panicked survivors wonder whether there's a murderer in their midst. Liz and Erin share the narrative, which Ware rapidly cycles to accelerate pace and amplify suspense. A somewhat contrived denouement does little to diminish the thrill of this claustrophobic, adrenaline-fueled cat-and-mouse game. Agatha Christie fans take note.
Customer Reviews
Interesting and fun to read
There are lots of twists and turns, with characters that aren’t totally likable so you are guessing until the end. It also reinforces my desire to never go alpine skiing.
Page turner
This is a great book. Fast paced thriller ! I enjoyed it from start to finish.!
A good read
But it helps if you’re a skier, which I’m not.