By Ruth Ware
Scout Press, 2020. 372 pages. Fiction
Getting snowed in at a luxurious 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. But as soon as one shareholder upends the agenda by pushing a 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 hasn't made it back from the slopes. As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further...one by one.
As the weather turns cold and snow begins to fall, this is a perfect read for a winter's day in. Ruth Ware earns her title as a modern-day Agatha Christie with this claustrophobic and isolating mystery. The POV alternated between Erin, a chalet employee, and Liz, a minor shareholder of Snoop. Telling the story through the perspective of two outsiders puts the reader in the same spot as our narrators. We could relate to their confusion and suspicions of the other characters. Ware also excelled at creating an ambience that matched these characters’ personalities, beautiful yet cold. As more and more Snoopers went missing, the tension grew until the surprising twist ending. Overall, if you want to snuggle up with a good mystery on a cold day, One by One is for you!
If you liked One by One, you might also like:
By Heather Gudenkauf
Park Row Books, 2022. 332 pages. Fiction
True crime writer Wylie Lark, snowed in at an isolated farmhouse where she's retreated to write her new book, finds a small child in the snow outside and, bringing him inside for warmth and safety, learns that the farmhouse isn't as isolated as she thought.
By Lisa Jewell
Atria Books, 2021. 401 pages. Mystery
On a beautiful summer night in a charming English suburb, a young woman and her boyfriend disappear after partying at the massive country estate of a new college friend. One year later, a writer moves into a cottage on the edge of the woods that border the same estate. Known locally as the Dark Place, the dense forest is the writer's favorite area for long walks and it's on one such walk that she stumbles upon a mysterious note that simply reads, "DIG HERE." Could this be a clue towards what has happened to the missing young couple? And what exactly is buried in this haunted ground?
BW
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