One by One

The streaming app, "Snoop", is devastatingly successful, and the company is on the edge of a major buyout, that is, if the shareholders vote to do this. The founders, Topher and Eva, are torn, and the other three shareholders are being courted to encourage them to a choose side. Most of the pressure falls on Liz, an awkward individual when compared with the glamorous, beautiful people who head up this company. Though she doesn't work directly for Snoop anymore, Liz is included in the leadership retreat: It's her and eight other board members at a lush, remote French ski chalet for a little skiing, a little more pampering, and quiet a lot of back-biting business talk. Erin and Danny, the caretakers of the resort, notice all the tensions show more among the members of the group right away, but overall, it seems like just another wealthy, entitled corporate gathering. Meanwhile the weather on the mountain has grown increasingly dangerous, and then nine people go out to ski and....you guessed it... only eight returns. Fear and suspicion start to rear their ugly heads. Then we have an avalanche that cuts the chalet off from the rest of the world...no contact with the outside world whatsoever. Then another member of the group dies...this time it appears to be from poison, and then another one is murdered because of something she saw. The survivors split up to search for help before there's no one left. The story is mostly told in alternating chapters expressing Liz's and Erin’s point of view, Ruth Ware does what she does best...sets the stage for a "locked door" mystery and lets the tension and suspicion simmer and marinate until they reach the boiling point. While the reader will discover that the solution is maddeningly simple...the construction is nothing short of masterful. show less

Danny und Erin warten in dem französischen Luxus-Chalet auf die nächste Gruppe von Gästen: ein britisches Start-up, das dort die Neuausrichtung der Firma diskutieren und gleichzeitig entspannen will. Doch schon bei der Ankunft wird deutlich, dass es große Spannungen gibt und die Gruppe in zwei Lager zerfällt, die sich zwischen den beiden Gründern und Mehrheitseigentümern Topher und Eva aufspalten. Nur Liz scheint irgendwie nirgendwo dazuzugehören, es ist auch nicht klar, weshalb die ehemalige Mitarbeiterin überhaupt zu dem Trip mitgekommen ist. Die ohnehin angespannte Stimmung wird herausgefordert als erst Eva von einem Ski-Ausflug nicht zurückkommt und dann eine Lawine das Chalet von der Außenwelt abschließt. Doch statt show more zusammenzuhalten und sich gemeinsam der Situation zu stellen, ereignen sich mysteriöse Todesfälle, die nur eins bedeuten können: unter den Anwesenden ist ein Mörder.

Wie gewohnt routiniert erzählt Ruth Ware auch ihren neuesten Thriller und erfüllt mit diesem genau die Erwartungen, die ich hatte: Die Story beginnt harmlos und entwickelt sich dann langsam zu einem spannenden Katz-und-Maus-Spiel, bei dem man keiner Figur trauen kann, denn alle haben ihre kleinen und großen Geheimnisse. Der Kreis der Verdächtigen ist überschaubar, aber es ist nicht nur die Frage, wer da ein perfides Spiel treibt, die einem das Buch nicht mehr weglegen lässt, sondern noch viel mehr jene nach dem Warum.

Die Abgeschiedenheit des Chalets hoch in den Alpen bietet die perfekte Kulisse für den Thriller, die junge hippe Gruppe des Start-Ups erfüllt zunächst auch alle Klischees, die die Sympathien herausfordern. Es scheint als sei das im Raum stehende Übernahmeangebot das Moment, das sie auseinanderdividiert, bald jedoch wird deutlich, dass noch viel mehr dahintersteckt und dass das Beziehungsgeflecht komplexer ist als vermutet. Als Mordmotiv würden zig Millionen aus dem Deal ja allemal ausreichen, aber das wäre hier bei weitem zu kurz gedacht.

Die Handlung wird im Wechsel aus zwei Perspektiven erzählt, die zunächst verwundern. Zum einen von Erin, die als Mitarbeiterin des Chalets Außenseiterin der Gruppe ist und diese mit einem gewissen Abstand betrachten und analysieren kann und der man aufgrund ihrer zuvorkommende und hilfsbereiten Art auch gerne glaubt. Bis ihre Figur Fragen aufwirft, viele Fragen, große Fragen. Nicht minder sieht dies bei der zweiten ich-Erzählerin Liz aus, deren Anwesenheit ebenfalls verwundert und die ein natürlicher Störkörper zu sein scheint. Sie passt in keiner Weise zu den anderen, aber hätte sie wirklich ein Motiv, ihnen was Böses zu wollen?

Die Autorin hat ihren Stil gefunden, der mir immer wieder gefällt und mich bestens unterhält. Wenn man mehrere ihrer Romane gelesen hat, weiß man worauf man sich einlässt und was einem erwartet, auch „Das Chalet“ ist diesbezüglich keine Überraschung, was ich allerdings keineswegs negativ sehen würde. show less

Another gutsy murder mystery, a psychological thriller, that wrapped me in knots and had me constantly wondering, What Next!

After being introduced to the characters we head into the read via a release from the BBC news website, part of which includes,
"Now, reports are emerging that in one remote ski chalet, cut off by the avalanche, a “house of horror” situation was unfolding, leaving four Britons dead and two hospitalised."
I was pulled in immediately with a host of who's, what's and how's!
Reading on it seems that SNOOP personnel, a hip music APP company with a difference, had flown to a remote chalet at the ski resort of St Antoine in the French Alps for a week of skiing and heavy restructuring discussions, including the possible show more sale of the business.
They become trapped after an avalanche. One of their number, Eva, had been seen skiing the black piste run, La Sorcière. She's disappeared. Now another, Elliot, the tech designer is found dead. Someone amongst their number is a killer. I could feel the cold seeping into my bones with all power gone. My dread was heightened by the unknown.
The two chalet staff become embroiled in all that goes on. One of them, Erin is running from her own dark challenges. She takes on the 'haunted heroine' trope.
Does the Avalanche act as a catalyst for the killing or was it already planned? This 'empathetic environment' adds to the terror of the situation as people become victims.
I thought I knew who 'dunnit' early on, but when that mystery was finally revealed I was further caught up with the why's. What triggered the person behind the happenings?
Of course this reminded me of Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Was None.' Instead of being trapped on an island our cast is trapped by an avalanche. A variation on the 'locked room' trope. We even have one of the trapped repeating the nursery rhyme line, "and then there were six."
The moving between the narrators Erin and Liz adds a further dimension to all that's happening. The storyline introduces a series of missteps and/or focused planning, by both the victims and the perpetrator that further adds to the tension as those situations unravel.
I felt just as trapped into the storyline as the characters.

A Gallery Books ARC via NetGalley
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change show less

Oh wow, what a ride I have been on with One By One. It's an absolutely brilliant read.

The book begins with a list of the personnel at Snoop, an innovative music app. It's quite obvious they're all a bit pretentious but also very successful. The team gather at an alpine ski resort to engage in what is basically a corporate get together from hell, to discuss whether they should let Snoop be bought out or not. Some people stand to gain more than others if it is. The one person who doesn't quite fit in is Liz. She doesn't work for Snoop anymore so why has she come along?

The story is told from two viewpoints. One is Liz and the other is Erin who, along with Danny the chef, runs the chalet in which the Snoop team are staying. This is such an show more effective way of telling the story giving both an insider and outsider perspective in terms of the hierarchy of the group, and from someone who is unfamiliar with their surroundings and someone who knows them well.

The setting is amazing. It actually gave me the heebies. The thought of being stuck in that chalet with people who could stab you in the back at any moment (maybe literally!) made me feel claustrophobic and that was even before the avalanche that cut them off from civilisation. It really felt like the elements were conspiring against them and the author did a magnificent job at setting the scene and portraying the unpredictability of the weather.

What Ware also does impeccably is ramp up the tension. Combined with the volatility of the snow, we have somebody who is picking off guests one by one and I was on the edge of my seat. It's not necessarily that there were huge surprises in this story; it's not about unexpected twists, it's about the way we're kept wondering and the expert plotting that really brings this story right off the page.

I really didn't want to put One By One down. It's so fast-paced and flicking between Liz and Erin, sometimes in short chapters, just enhanced the tension for me. This is a book that's full of atmosphere, it's exciting, it's chilling, a cat and mouse game at its best, and a fantastic locked room style mystery. Bravo! show less

fiction - suspense/thriller set in a snowed-in ski lodge in the French Alps where a bunch of Brits (each with their own secrets) are staying/working. Shifting POVs between Liz, former member of the organization going on a sort of corporate retreat; and Erin, one of two staffers employed by the lodge.

very enjoyably suspenseful read; if you're paying attention at all you'll notice that both narrators are keeping some information back, and very possibly significant information to the whole murder mystery aspect of the plot, but it's still a fun thriller and a quick read.

So I really loved the first 3 quarters of the book. I had my murder suspect, albeit you could argue it was pretty obvious, but I was having fun adding all the pieces together.

However, once it was established in the story who done it, it got a little bit boring. The moment when I thougt the real suspense was coming, was when it all kind of got 'uninteresting'. It defenitily should not have dragged on for 100 pages.

I did however love the story up until that point, and I was feeling a 4 star fibe, but it was not meant to be. 3,5 is where I land.

Reminiscent of Christie's And Then There Were None, this creepy novel turns to horror when a group of vacationers start to die one by one. I love the claustrophobic atmosphere of the entrapped ski chalet, hints of dark secrets and deadly mistakes. The light-hearted introduction quickly turns dark and the short chapters had me turning page after page. There were some passages that could have been shortened - the suspens sometimes felt drawn out - but I mostly gobbled up this spooky tale.