ONE BY ONE

 5 stars out of 5

Oh, how I envy the creative minds of fiction writers!

Mind you, I'm a writer too - not a bad one, even. And I probably could make a convincing case that writing a newspaper account of the same event 10 different times in 10 different ways gives me some claim to creativity. But the kind that's in this book? Only in my dreams.

That's a roundabout way of saying those dreams came true in this book (which, happily, was written by someone with actual talent for fiction). Not only is it an engrossing story, it took what to me is a new approach that made it stand out among all the others I read every month (86 so far this year). To begin with, there's a timely hook: a British social media tech company called Snoop that offers a wildly popular music app that allows members to "see" what other members are listening to in real time. The shareholders have gathered at a ski chalet for some R and R, but right off the bat, things go a bit haywire with the realization that one who is here was left off the guest list sent to the chalet hosts. Inadvertently? Maybe yes, maybe no.  Then comes the founder's announcement that could spell gloom or doom for the company going forward.

Faced with incoming inclement weather, the group decide to hit the slopes before they're shut down. And from that moment on, things go from bad to worse as an avalanche cuts off all communication with the rest of the world and shareholders start taking hits "one by one." The only things they're sure of is that there's nowhere to go but down (and even going in that direction could lead to dire consequences) and one among them is, shall we say, not a very nice person.

From the middle of the book on, it was hard for me to put down; sorry to say I can't share many of the juicy details without spoiling things for others who haven't yet read the book. Suffice it to say I was happy that an event we'd planned was canceled, thus giving me two straight edge-of-seat hours to finish up. Thoroughly enjoyable, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with a pre-release copy to read and review.

One By One by Ruth Ware (Gallery/Scout Press, September 2020); 383 pp.