God this was so unrelentingly terrible. Terrible characters, terrible plot, terrible everything. And just terrible writing, somehow both repetitive and inconsistent, ugly and banal on a sentence level. Predictable, badly written, boring, meaningless. I honestly cannot believe that people can read this and tolerate it and that it got past editors in this state.

I listened to it on 2x speed while driving and doing errands and chores and I STILL wish I could get those 7 hours and 4 and a half minutes back. You could not pay me to read another book by Ruth Ware.

Pros:
- Santana was definitely my favorite, I loved her personality and the way she was written.
- If you’re like me and don’t live on the coast you can forget how devastating and dangerous a storm can be. Ruth Ware does a good job of reminding you. The build up, arrival, and immediate aftermath of the storm were all well written.
- The build up of tension was well done and kept me on the edge of my seat (the payoff is a different story…). Reading Lyla’s thought process as things devolved helped in understanding how things got so bad, especially with the group dynamic.

Cons:
- It took a while for me to get into the groove of the story; it was really hard to believe that Lyla would agree to being in a reality tv show.
- The marketing did this book dirty, it is not a mystery. Publishers need to stop comparing books to And Then There Were None, they’re setting their books up for failure.
- The ending was severely lacking. I can’t say more because I’d like to keep it spoiler free, but it left me wanting more.

 I always look forward to a new Ruth Ware book coming out because I just know that, whatever the premise, I’m going to get a compulsive read. She’s an accomplished and versatile writer whose previous novels have ranged from psychological thrillers such as In a Dark Dark Wood and The Lying Game, Agatha Christie-style mysteries The Woman in Cabin 10, The Death of Mrs Westaway and One by One and, more recently, into tech and dark academia thrillers with Zero Days and The IT Girl.

With her latest novel, One Perfect Couple, Ruth is back in psychological crime thriller territory that, as blurbed by Erin Kelly on the back of my hardback copy, is ‘the Love Island/Lord of the Flies mash-up you didn’t know you needed’.

As the novel opens, postdoctoral virologist Lyla Santiago finds herself at something of a loss. Bouncing from one short-term postdoc to another, Lyla’s dreams of landing a glittering scientific or academic career are rapidly slipping away. So when her latest project doesn’t return the results that she’d hoped for, Lyla is more than tempted by her actor boyfriend Nico’s suggestion that the two of them jet off to an exclusive island resort to film a new reality show. One Perfect Couple has the potential to be Nico’s big break and, Lyla figures, a couple of weeks of sandy beaches and sunny skies might give her some perspective.

Given that this is a Ruth Ware novel, you can probably guess that things do not go to plan for Lyla, Nico, or the rest of the One Perfect Couple cast and crew. From an unexpected ban on technology to rules seemingly designed to separate established couples, One Perfect Couple soon turns into Lyla’s perfect nightmare. And that’s before a tropical storm hits, leaving the group stranded, with increasingly limited supplies and, Lyla suspects, with a killer in their midst.

Before I go any further, I should probably confess to having never seen an episode of Love Island. As a teenager, I followed Big Brother for its first two seasons before bouncing off reality TV and never looking back. So I have absolutely no idea how accurate Ware’s depiction of the setup for One Perfect Couple is. What I can say is that it makes the perfect backdrop for a compelling thriller that explores themes including imposter syndrome, precarity, coercive control, abusive relationships, grooming, influencer and internet culture, and toxic masculinity.

There is quite a bit of setup, with the first 100 pages or so spent establishing Lyla and Nico, getting them to Ever After Island, and then introducing the other couples that they’ll be starring alongside. Although some readers might find this a little bit of a slow start for a thriller, I enjoyed getting to know more about Lyla and her motivations for joining One Perfect Couple before the action really kicked into gear. It meant that, later in the book, I felt that I had a better understanding of why she took some of the decisions that she did. I always enjoy the setup parts of Agatha Christie novels – where we get introduced to all the characters and begin to form our impressions of them – and this first section of the novel very much did that.

After the storm hits, the novel shifts gear, picking up the pace and throwing a succession of challenges – both environmental and psychological – at Lyla and the remaining One Perfect Couple cast members. Ware’s depiction of the tropical storm and its aftermath was pretty scary and I liked the fact that, for much of the book, the challenges faced by the survivors are focused upon basic survival needs. Although it quickly becomes apparent that there is a possible killer amongst their number, the need to expose them comes second to the need to simply find enough food and water to stay alive and, for me, this really ratcheted up the tension.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot – or about individual characters – for fear of spoilers but I did find Lyla to be a relatable and interesting protagonist. I also liked that Lyla’s fellow cast members aren’t just a parade of wannabe influencers and that, as the novel progresses, we get to find out more about their backstories and their reasons for wanting to take part in a reality TV show. Whilst some are more fully drawn then others, I did find myself rooting for the survivors (with the exception, of course, of the villain of the piece who is a truly nasty piece of work).

As mentioned above, Ware weaves some very topical themes through her novel and the book examines participant mental health and wellbeing (or the lack thereof, as the case may be) in the entertainment industry, as well as the intersection between internet/entertainment and fitness culture, toxic masculinity, and violence against women and girls. These topics are handled sensitively but there is occasional violence on the page, as well as references to suicide and descriptions of injuries sustained by various characters, so I’d advise a quick check on the content warnings before heading in.

Overall, One Perfect Couple was One Perfect Summer Read for me. Although the mystery element isn’t the strongest – the bad guy becomes apparent fairly early on – the twists and turns kept me guessing and, as the bodies piled higher, I was fully invested in finding out which characters would survive and the lengths that they would go to in order to ensure that!

Fast-paced and compelling, One Perfect Couple is another edge-of-your-seat read from Ruth Ware and the perfect summer read for anyone seeking a bit of intelligent escapism this summer.

NB: This review appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpre... as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.