Hello Lovely Readers and welcome to another blog post!

‘On a Monday?!?’ I hear you say. Yes on a Monday indeed! I have been spending my weekends getting my house revived and ready to sell once the new year comes around – exciting times!

It’s somehow nearly Christmas, so time to start thinking about what books you want to put on your wish lists (if you haven’t already done so!).

If, like me, you’re vowing not to ask for books for Christmas because you have far too many on your TBR then you might want to turn away now.. then again,.. one more can’t hurt, right? 😉

Its not very often we get new thrillers that are really the page turners they claim to be (in my opinion of course!), but this is exactly what I found when I received an advanced e-copy of Ruth Ware’s latest novel, ‘One by One’.

ONE BY ONE, BY RUTH WARE

If the name Ruth Ware rings a bell, its because she’s the number 1 New York Times bestselling author of ‘The Turn of the Key’ which was very well received by the thriller loving book community. I for one find the thriller genre so exciting, but I genuinely find it hard to find ones I really get excited about, that have Gone Girl shiny book ‘this is a special read’ vibes. They tend to be either pretty good, or far too predictable, but give the author’s previous novels, I was excited to give this one a go.

Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a cozy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your coworkers…and you can’t trust any of them?

When an off-site company retreat meant to promote mindfulness and collaboration goes utterly wrong when an avalanche hits, the corporate food chain becomes irrelevant and survival trumps togetherness. Come Monday morning, how many members short will the team be?

So from what I understand this is a bit of a modern twist on Agatha Christie’s ‘And then there were none’ and there is the odd nod to this throughout the book with lines such as ‘and then there were nine‘.

The story follows a group of employees on a work leisure trip, from a funky trendy tech company called ‘Snoop’. Also along for the ride is their ex employee (who sounds completely nervous and out of place), called Liz. For the first few chapters it is very unclear as to why Liz is even on the trip. Clearly, she doesnt like the people she’s with, all of whom are rich, extravagant, extroverted or a bit weird. Liz comes across as timid, shy and unsure of herself. She also doesn’t work there anymore, so its not like she has to be there or her best friend is one of the group. It’s very unclear to begin with.

We are also introduced to the characters of Danny & Erin, who are the staff who run the Chalet. The story opens with the staff arriving to the Chalet, to explore the mountains. It’s not long until those mountains claim their first victim.. the question is – by who’s doing? Nature or Murder?

As the story progresses we soon see that Snoop is not the big happy family it proclaims to be, and perhaps that our chalet employees are not quite what they seem either. With avalanches, sub-zero temperatures and no contact with the outside world, the trip is already dangerous. But few understand just how dangerous it’s going to be…

I read this book in a day! I picked it up and simply could not put it down. I loved the way that the employees of snoop were introduced to us as readers, like we were reading some ‘super fun’ small-medium business website that likes to list it’s employees with irrelevant info like ‘favourite chocolate bar’ or ‘favourite quote’ to appear young modern and fresh (we all know at least one..). It quickly stuck in my head as a reader, which was great as due to the number of characters it could have been difficult otherwise!

My criticisms would be that there were a few characters that just ‘padded out’ the story to add to overall numbers and I can’t honestly say that I can remember their names, what they did for the business or what the brought to the story. It was also pretty clear to me who was going to be bunked off and when, but I was split between two characters as the ‘who dunnit’ for quite a while.

There was also a lot of technical information about Snoop and the character’s ‘snoop follower count’ was included at the start of every chapter, which seemed a bit like a waste of time, I wasnt certain what it was supposed to signify.

CAN’T PUT IT DOWN RATING: 4/5

The story had me gripped from start to finish and I loved the descriptions, I could picture everything – and felt like I was down the slope in some of the most exciting thrilling scenes.

My favourite characters were Danny & Erin without doubt; they reminded me of Inspector Barnaby and DS Troy from Midsomer Murders when they were trying to work out who killed who. There is a scene that Erin found herself in where I was thinking about how you would even handle something like that and the poker face required!

A page turning thriller with lots of suspense and a host of really interesting characters (although some extra ones I could have done without). Perfect read for the winter season and for lovers of thrillers. This book has it all, secrets, scandal, exciting action scenes and heart racing moments, definitely one to add to your Christmas list or to treat yourself to this Cyber Monday!

Where to Buy:

Amazon: £6.50

A Great Read: £9.83

The book was released a fortnight ago so this is Hardback only at the moment.

Kindle: £7.99

I cannot wait until the English lockdown is lifted – I need to get out and purchase some new loose leaf tea to try! I definitely have become a coffee and loose leaf tea gal this year. Teabags are great for convenience but I find you tend not to get the same brew. The exception in my opinion being Teapigs, their teas are exceptional! I shall be getting my teapot out for our next post and sharing my new tea discovery with you.

What books are on your Wishlist this Christmas?

Until the Next Chapter

Emma

X0

Socials: @papyrusandpeppermint