One Perfect Couple

When you jump into a Ruth Ware thriller, you know you’d better buckle up because you are in for one helluva a bumpy ride and One Perfect Couple is no exception to this rule. The story revolves around five couples taking part in a reality show being filmed on a remote and idyllic looking island. The couples are housed on the island while the crew, when not filming, stay on the yacht which transported them here.

But right from the first page, even before the action begins, Ware ramps up the suspense and tension through the judicious use of foreshadowing, letting us know that a storm will strand the couples on the island, that they have a means to communicate with the outside world but can’t reach anyone including the yacht, that there show more are dead and injured among them, and even, perhaps, a murderer.

The characters are a fairly diverse group but all beautiful and with the kinds of professions one would expect on a reality show. There's.the actor, the model, the youtuber, the influencer, teacher, and a scientist. And, of course, since this is reality tv, one of them is to play the role of villain. Fortunately, given the large cast, they are all well-drawn and easily distinguishable.

The story is told in the first person by Lyla Santiago, scientist and reluctant contestant, there only to please her actor boyfriend and she describes the growing desperation, fear, and divisions which develop as rescue becomes less likely. Juxtaposed with this is the diary entries of another contestant who isn’t readily identified and who gives another much less desperate view of events making you wonder which voice is closer to the truth.

Ruth Ware really delivers with One Perfect Couple. It is one fast and furious tale, sorta Survivor meets Lord of the Flies, and a completely non-stop page-turner of a thriller and I loved every tense OTT minute of it.

Thanks to Edelweiss+ and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

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A reality tv show involving five carefully selected couples who are dumped on an island South West of Java goes awry and turns into a lords of the flies horror show.

Originally crafted to test the fidelity of the partners, and engineered to bring down the popular youtuber and murderer of the producer’s niece, Conor, after a terrible storm hits the island, one staffer and one participant are dead, and another seriously wounded. The Tv producer’s yacht and its crew has gone awol and the reality show gears from a relationship drama into a survival count-down.

What evolves is a typical survival scenario with a clear villain, Conor, who abuses his girlfriend, Zara, and manipulates everybody else with a smile and display of physical show more prowess. Conor’s character is wonderfully painted, including the tropes of the misogynist, closet racist, youtuber with millions of MAGA-type followers. Never quite explicitly racist or misogynist, he airs such feelings of the gut by asking silly questions and at crucial moments does not ask any questions at all. Conor at first seems to be the guy who will guide everyone to an organised survival – introducing water and food rationing, safely storing that same food and water in his water villa out in the sea, coming up with chores and tasks, answering all queries with a smile and a voice of reason. But gradually the eyes of all remaining participants are opened to the level of viciousness that is displayed by Conor behind the voice of reason. When Bayer, a pumped up gym alpha with the sturdy body of a rugby player, confronts Conor’s policy of hoarding and rationing of food and drink with plain aggression, hitting him on the nose, Conor responds in kind and kills Bayer with his bare hands in front of everyone. Slowly awareness of their dire circumstances sinks in, but people respond differently. Yet all men pay the price with their lives.

The thriller consists of three parts – The Calm, the Storm, and the Reckoning. We hear the voice of Lyla, in the first person. She is a virologist ending a one year post-doc contract with little hope of an extension, who wishes to help out the fledgling actor career or her boyfriend Nico. For Nico the reality tv show is his chance of a lifetime to make it big. In part 2 we get snippets of a different POV, that of Zara the co-dependent girlfriend of Conor, in the form of a diary reporting on what purportedly happened on the island in the 2 weeks or so after the storm hit. This diary reads like the report of an unreliable witness – all of Conor’s actions are sanitised and presented from a favourable point of view. Conor is a hero. Only at the very end, we as readers, understand why this is so. But the initial creepy effect of the alternative narrative presented by Zara’s diary is that of distrust, suspicion of a less than happy ending in the offing, and outright fear that Zara has gone gaga out of fear for her abusive boyfriend. show less

This novel is an interesting reflection on the creation of reality TV shows. As we know, these shows rely heavily on factors like surprise "tests", contrived romances, losers and winners, the embarrassment of participants, early ejections and so on. In this case the storm that strikes the island soon after the group's arrival complicates the scenario beyond all predictions. Not only does the boat that dropped them all at the island depart soon after their arrival, taking with the first ejection, the storm causes huge destruction and a couple of deaths.

The novel is very well written, and structured with a couple of very interesting plot lines.

Highly recommended.

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware is a very highly recommended closed circle thriller that follows five couples, the cast of a new reality TV show, who are trapped on a remote island in the Indian Ocean.

Virologist Lyla Santiago is frustrated that her postdoc research is not providing the expected results, so when Nico Reese, her actor boyfriend, wants them to join the cast of a reality TV show called "One Perfect Couple" she reluctantly agrees. She can take off a couple weeks from work and assumes she can write up the disappointing results while on the island. Hopefully this opportunity will be the break that Nico needs and help their relationship.

Their audition leads to a quick approval and Lyla and Nico quickly find themselves on a show more boat in the Indian Ocean heading toward Ever After Island with the four other couples: Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana. After the first challenge, things go wrong very quickly. This is followed by a powerful storm which slams the island, leaving the contestants isolated, without any support from the show's crew and assistants and with limited resources. Since they had to turn in all electronics, their hope is in reaching someone via the two-way radio. These are strangers who must band together for survival.

One Perfect Couple has strong And Then There Were None merges with Survivor and reads Lord of the Flies vibes and the plot held my complete attention throughout. Once they reach the island, the tension rises quickly and, after the storm hits, stays high as the stakes are life or death and their expectations for survival lower with each passing day. There are new issues occurring daily that will challenge each individual.

The writing is excellent. The narrative unfolds through Lyla's point-of-view, with brief pleas for help on the radio and later diary entries between the chapters. Lyla is an exceptional character and an appealing character to experience the drama through her observations. The characters are all written as unique individuals with their own strengths and weaknesses and it is easy to follow who's who while reading.

Ruth Ware is a writer who always seems to deliver an excellent novel. This one would make a heart-pounding movie. Thanks to Gallery/Scout Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
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A quasi homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, with a modern twist on the story. Lyla is asked by Nico, her boyfriend, to go on a reality TV show, One Perfect Couple. Since her post-doc research is a bust, she plans to go for just 2 weeks, and figure a way to get booted from the show.
The couples are taken to a tropical island, but Nico fails on the first night's task and the staff take him away on a boat. The remaining couples are left on the island with one staff member. A terrible storm hits the island, and the 4 couples: Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana, plus Lyla must deal with the aftermath. They are stranded, and food and water is limited. People start dying, and there is something show more sinister at play.
A tense story. show less

It’s always a treat to return to Ruth Ware’s world—she’s one of my favorite authors. I’m especially grateful to the Goodreads reading challenges for finally pushing me to pick up One Perfect Couple.

Lyla Santiago, a virology post-doc, finds herself in a professional dilemma. To escape her predicament, she joins her aspiring actor boyfriend, Nico, on the cast of a new reality TV show. The show takes five couples to a luxurious, isolated resort on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean. They compete in various challenges while being constantly filmed. However, their promising start takes a perilous turn when a massive storm hits, leaving them stranded and cut off from the outside world. Forced to confront survival in unexpected show more ways, the group must rely on each other to navigate this dangerous situation.

I’ll admit I was only cautiously optimistic going in. The premise heavily features reality TV, which isn’t usually my cup of tea. Thankfully, Ware crafted a smart, relatable protagonist who shares my skepticism, which immediately put me at ease. The show itself mostly serves as a clever framework to gather the characters on that remote island. From there, the story shifts into the kind of tense, locked-room mystery Ware does so well. As expected, the suspense builds beautifully, keeping me glued to the pages (or, in this case, my headphones).

I loved this one. The clever ending and satisfying wrap-up made it even more enjoyable.

I listened to the audiobook via Libby, narrated by the wonderful Imogen Church. She remains one of my all-time favorite narrators—her performance was pitch-perfect.

I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog show less

Love Island meets Lord of the Flies in this intense thriller. Five couples head to an island in Indonesia to compete in a reality TV show. After a storm they find themselves stranded. Tension starts to build as food and water becomes scarce and when the contestants begin to die, it becomes a matter of survival. This is a compelling read where I didn’t know who to trust at first. The claustrophobic feeling of the island is really well depicted as is the paranoia. When the villain of the piece starts to be revealed, the suspense increases, the characters’ anxieties ratchet up and the pace escalates. It’s not my favourite book by Ruth Ware so far, but I still very much enjoyed it. It kept me turning the pages.