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    Second thriller/suspense novel of choice for the year and Ruth Ware doesn't disappoint! I actually nominated this novel for January's choice for a book club at my work and I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on this storyline. One By One is a 2020 publication depicting a group of current and former coworkers taking a frigid getaway trip to the French Alps. With two ski chalet employees accompanying them during their stay, a weather-predicted avalanche causes the party to end with a serious note of survival. Ware develops the storyline through two POVs, that of Erin (one of the two chalet employees with extensive medical background) and Liz (a former employee of the start-up group staying in the chalet). Erin and Liz are portrayed as slight opposites, but they both take time throughout the storyline to sit back and watch what's occurring among the guests, which happens to be murder.

    As each character is picked off one-by-one, (of course I'm using a pun in relation to the title, who could pass up this opportunity?) the reader is sucked into both Erin's determination in discovering who's dishing out the blows and Liz's instincts on utter survival among those last standing. Despite the POVs only giving clear thoughts of two characters, it's apparent how others are feeling/thinking throughout the novel given the circumstances of constant vigilance in determining who might be committing the crimes. Three characters end up dead in total, a fourth missing for a precarious amount of time and in the end it's just Erin and Liz to sort things out together. Although, in that sorting between each other, either has come to the conclusion of who the true killer is - which just so happens to be the other of the two...

I love Ware's writing style. Short chapters, subtle details that keep the storyline moving and characters developing within just the right amount of time for a plot twist that blows your mind. As a reader, you need a bit of time to recover after finishing the book but you're always left wanting more of Ware's next publication. I appreciated the setting of the novel, especially given the time of reading it within the first month of the 2023 new year - in the middle of my hometown's third/fourth blizzard of the season. It only seemed fitting! I'd have to give this piece 5/5 stars! Admittedly, I thought I'd read Turn of the Key but that doesn't seem to be the case - I'm looking forward to that one next! :)

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