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Reviews tagging 'Murder'
One Perfect Couple: Der New-York-Times-Bestseller | »Köstlich düster und absolut fesselnd.« LUCY FOLEY by Ruth Ware
123 reviews
boba_nbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Spice Rating: 🫑 / 5 🌶️
Ruth Ware's books are usually hit or miss for me, but One Perfect Couple fell pretty squarely in the middle of the road.
Lyla has been doing post-doctoral research for years now, and she doesn't know where her career is going to go from here. So when her boyfriend and aspiring actor, Nico, suggests the two of them enter a reality TV competition called "The Perfect Couple," Lyla decides to take the leap and try out. The two of them are swept away to a remote island to participate with four other couples, but from the get go, the process and the show itself seem sort of... suspicious. It doesn't take long for things to outright start going wrong, and soon enough, the group is cut off from the rest of the world with not much hope for escape or help. They have to survive together before they all die from dehydration, starvation, or something much worse.
I thought the concept behind this novel was quite intriguing, and I always love a good Agatha Christie-esque story. The story took a while to take off, but in the last 25% of the novel, I was on the edge of my seat. Though One Perfect Couple was somewhat predictable, it still had a decent plot with character traits I don't usually see in thriller novels.
Ruth Ware's books are usually hit or miss for me, but One Perfect Couple fell pretty squarely in the middle of the road.
Lyla has been doing post-doctoral research for years now, and she doesn't know where her career is going to go from here. So when her boyfriend and aspiring actor, Nico, suggests the two of them enter a reality TV competition called "The Perfect Couple," Lyla decides to take the leap and try out. The two of them are swept away to a remote island to participate with four other couples, but from the get go, the process and the show itself seem sort of... suspicious. It doesn't take long for things to outright start going wrong, and soon enough, the group is cut off from the rest of the world with not much hope for escape or help. They have to survive together before they all die from dehydration, starvation, or something much worse.
I thought the concept behind this novel was quite intriguing, and I always love a good Agatha Christie-esque story. The story took a while to take off, but in the last 25% of the novel, I was on the edge of my seat. Though One Perfect Couple was somewhat predictable, it still had a decent plot with character traits I don't usually see in thriller novels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Blood
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, and Suicide
oxfordcommas91's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This book was an absolute disaster. Maybe I've just been lucky and read some great thrillers, but honestly I don't think this book should be able to be classified as a thriller. The premise was intriguing enough: 5 couples get dropped off on a dreamy tropical island to compete against each other in a reality TV show, but a massive storm sweeps through the island and turns the competition into a fight for survival. Who wouldn't be interested? I was hoping for mystery and psychological suspense (as promised in the book's description) but instead got a highly predictable rip-off of Lord of the Flies with a cast of instagram influencers. (The fact that LOTF, a classic novel, even gets referenced during the climax of the manufactured "tension" really set me off...).
There's so much wrong with this book that it's difficult to know where to start. The characters were all shallow caricature's of what the author assumes that Gen Z/millennial influencers are. She posits our "main character," Lyla, as the "brains" of the book since she's a postdoc scientific researcher, but Lyla ends up being just as superficial and helpless as the rest of the women. Though the book picked up pace towards the middle/end (and mercifully put us out of the misery of the first 30% which was slow as molasses), at no point was I gripped or desperate to know what happened next. I was waiting for the twist that literally never came. If the reveal that happens around 90% of the way in is Ruth Ware's idea of a "twist," I am so glad that I have never picked up her other novels. By the end I literally felt like I had wasted all the hours I put into reading this.
The only reason it gets 2 stars instead of 1 is that there was some semi-intriguing moments of tension throughout, and I was invested in a few characters and their survival by the end. The writing wasn't terrible, I just wish that the plot was more fleshed out in a way that was at least semi-believable.
There's so much wrong with this book that it's difficult to know where to start. The characters were all shallow caricature's of what the author assumes that Gen Z/millennial influencers are. She posits our "main character," Lyla, as the "brains" of the book since she's a postdoc scientific researcher, but Lyla ends up being just as superficial and helpless as the rest of the women. Though the book picked up pace towards the middle/end (and mercifully put us out of the misery of the first 30% which was slow as molasses), at no point was I gripped or desperate to know what happened next. I was waiting for the twist that literally never came. If the reveal that happens around 90% of the way in is Ruth Ware's idea of a "twist," I am so glad that I have never picked up her other novels. By the end I literally felt like I had wasted all the hours I put into reading this.
The only reason it gets 2 stars instead of 1 is that there was some semi-intriguing moments of tension throughout, and I was invested in a few characters and their survival by the end. The writing wasn't terrible, I just wish that the plot was more fleshed out in a way that was at least semi-believable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcohol
tspice24's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
sammietee's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
hal00alex's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
A bit different from her usual novels. Better than Zero Days. Not as good as It Girl.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide
shesflippinpages's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Suicide, and Vomit
ernis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I read this book assuming it'd be a thriller or mystery, like Ruth's other books. However it was more of a desert island survival story than anything else. If you go into it with that mindset, the story is hard to put down and easy to read. It did bother me that almost none of the male characters are presented in a positive light whereas all the female characters were- yes, there were some specific themes the author was spotlighting, but I didn't think all the men needed to be written as such terrible people.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Murder
tayreads10's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I loved the vivid imagery she portrayed that had me picturing every bit of the island vividly. My daughters live with Type 1 Diabetes and I was so pleasantly surprised that she did her research and got all of the diabetes related scenes correct! This book was definitely Lord of the Flies, but adult version. Very well written!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
abitofapoet's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
okay, admittedly I can see someone not liking this book if they’re expecting a mystery, because honestly there wasn’t much whodunnit involved at all. That being said, it was an amazing scary survival story. I didn’t expect the book to turn out the way it did at all, and I loved that about it.
also loved the little woman in cabin 10 easter egg!!
I would absolutely recommend this to anyone but with the warning that it isn’t the type of thriller they might be expecting where you’re on the edge of your seat trying to figure out who the bad guy is. The bad guy is pretty clear from the start, the scary part was who was going to survive them and how!
I would absolutely recommend this to anyone but with the warning that it isn’t the type of thriller they might be expecting where you’re on the edge of your seat trying to figure out who the bad guy is. The bad guy is pretty clear from the start, the scary part was who was going to survive them and how!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Suicide, Blood, and Vomit
cc_shelflove's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The fact One Perfect Couple never made it to screen should have been a sign to me that the show would be boring AF. A group of individuals becomes stranded on an island after a storm hits and must find a way to survive until help arrives (if it ever comes…). I expected suspense, some shock, and a couple of twists or two. Instead I received women searching for coconuts and a man who thought he was king of the island. There was nothing to grip my attention throughout, but the girl power ending was kinda nice. Overall, just okay. I’m not sure I would recommend it to others but at least it wasn’t a complete waste of my time. 🤷🏻♀️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Murder