Snoop has taken over the music industry, allowing users to “snoop” on other listeners and their music preferences. The company is poised to go even higher so when the company’s employees take a work trip to a remote ski resort in the French Alps no one expects anything to go wrong. But former employee Liz knows better and when the group is stranded in their chalet things slowly begin to unravel and will continue to until everyone is gone, one by one.

I picked up this snowy thriller during a heavy snowstorm and it was the perfect atmospheric read. If you live in a place where you get snow I would highly suggest picking it up when you experiencing snow or cold weather. It helps one get into the story more but even if you live somewhere where you don’t get this, One by One is still a worthy thriller to pick up. The story is told from the perspective of two characters; Liz, a former employee invited to the company retreat for unknown reasons at the beginning, and Erin, an employee at the chalet who finds herself in the middle of a power battle between Snoop’s two executives, Topher and Eve. Both women don’t seem to be behind what is going on but as the hours tick by and the situation becomes more dire, everyone begins to become a suspect.

I liked the setting of this thriller as it does expose itself to be the ideal situation for anyone wanting to take out a couple of individuals and the killer does an excellent job of disguising themselves. Again, as I mentioned previously, I loved the atmosphere Ms. Ware creates in this book and it reminded me of my other favorite Ruth Ware book, The It Girl.

Admittedly, I have had a love-hate relationship with Ms. Ware’s books, with the last one I read ending up with only two stars. But in this story I felt Ms. Ware was in great form, creating a compelling story with flushed out characters. The only note I would make about the characters is that it does seem like there are one to many and perhaps one or two could have been cut. I wasn’t also a fan of the twist involving the character of Erin. I think when it comes to surprise secrets being revealed about characters Lucy Foley does that the best but I appreciate what Ms. Ware was trying to do, make everyone a suspect and keep the reader guessing until the end.

The last 25% of the book is the best as we are locked in the chalet with two characters. It becomes clear only one of them is going to survive and the nail biting conclusion to who that person will be was very well done. Ultimately, I would say this is a superb thriller that should absolutely be picked up in the dead of winter.

5 out of 5 stars