Susanne’s Review:
A Locked Room Mystery in a French Chalet? Sounds Idyllic!
Unfortunately, all does not end well for those who are snowed in at Chalet Perce-Neige.
Quelle Surprise!
“Snoop” is a social media app that allows users to listen to music that celebrities and their friends are listening to at the exact time they are listening to it. It has, in its own way, changed how people listen to music and has brought people together.
Now that there is some potentially big news on the horizon, all of the shareholders of Snoop gather at a Ski Chalet in France to vote on whether or not Snoop should go public. Most of those gathered are current employees of Snoop, with one exception. Liz is a former employee who is extremely uncomfortable in the company of her former coworkers. Though she is a minority shareholder, Liz potentially holds all the cards and this makes everyone else ill at ease.
Erin is an employee of the Chalet and is in charge of Guest Relations. She does her job superbly, even amid chaos.
Desperate to ski, most of the shareholders decide to go skiing right before a major storm hits. This decision is a costly one as one skier, Eva goes missing on the slopes. To make matters worse, while the storm gains traction, an avalanche hits and the Chalet loses electricity and WiFi.
If only that was the least of their problems.
Told from the POV’s of Erin and Liz, this locked-room mystery is full of suspense and kept me entertained throughout even though I guessed who the culprit was extremely early on.
The setting here is quite atmospheric. Cold, dark, and eerie, there was a sense of desperation throughout that was palpable. Though this wasn’t as good as my favorite novels by Ruth Ware (i.e. “The Woman in Cabin 10” and “Turn of the Key”), I found “One by One” to be enjoyable and intriguing and would recommend it to those who enjoy mystery suspense novels.
A Buddy Read with Kaceey.
Thank you to Lucy Nalen and Jessica Roth at Gallery Books for the arc via NetGalley and Edelweiss / Gallery Books for the arc.
Published on Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram.
Kaceey’s Review:
I had put off reading this book for so long… and truly now that I’ve finished all I can ask myself is why did I wait so long!💁🏻
A work retreat for the founders and staff of the app known as snoop. This app allows you to listen in real time to whoever you want to snoop on. Perhaps a loved one or maybe your favorite celebrity or athlete. Personally the concept of this app didn’t interest me…but that’s just me!
After an avalanche leaves one member of the party missing, panic start to take hold as the group finds themselves isolated in the chalet on top of the mountain. Was it an accident? Did someone want her gone? Could somebody else be next in line?
This was a great who done it in classic Ruth Ware mode. She was able to weave a tale that left me guessing to the end. (Though Susanne had it figured out right away).
My only issue was that there was a large cast of characters and not all were developed equally. This did lead to some difficulty keeping everyone straight. But, it never took away from the hold this book had on me.
If you’ve enjoyed Ruth Ware’s books in the past… don’t miss out on this latest!
A buddy read with Susanne!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Gallery/Scout Press for an ARC to read and review.
Books are a Girl’s Best Friend.com 