One Perfect Couple

Awesome Concept

After mulling over Ruth Ware's latest psychological thriller, "One Perfect Couple," for a day, I've come to appreciate its gripping narrative. As someone who's devoured countless thrillers over the years, I'm thrilled to discover a fresh, intriguing concept within these pages. While I enjoyed Ware's "Zero Days," "One Perfect Couple" truly captured my imagination.

The story centers on Lyla, whose life and relationship with Nico, an aspiring actor, are at a standstill. When Nico proposes they join a reality show called One Perfect Couple, promising fame and fortune, Lyla reluctantly agrees. What follows is a whirlwind journey to a tropical resort where the facade of paradise quickly crumbles.

Lyla, a rational scientist, is wary of the show's unknowns, but her reservations are swept aside as they're whisked off to Ever After Island. Amidst the azure waters and luxurious villas, Lyla senses hidden tensions and secrets among the contestants. When a hurricane strikes, turning their idyllic retreat into a nightmare, Lyla must navigate treacherous waters both literal and metaphorical.

"One Perfect Couple" skillfully blends elements of classic thrillers like Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" with the societal commentary of Orwell's "Animal Farm." As the castaways grapple with survival, Ware exposes the dark underbelly of reality television, blurring the lines between staged drama and genuine danger.

Through Lyla's eyes, readers experience the mounting paranoia and desperation as alliances shift and betrayals unfold. Each twist and turn of the plot propels us deeper into the chaos, mirroring the unpredictability of reality TV.

Ware's storytelling is masterful, keeping readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish. "One Perfect Couple" is a rollercoaster of suspense, urging readers to buckle up for a thrilling ride they won't soon forget.

Layla has a normal life but her actor boyfriend is desperate for a break and begs her to be part of a reality show. She accepts and off to tropical paradise, the first night on the island a storm hits and they are now cut off and needs to survive…

“As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla realises that someone is playing this game for real - and they’ll stop at nothing to win. Ten might have arrived, but who will survive to the end?”

I thought it was going to be a thriller but it’s more a physical drama and doesn’t really connect with the blurb.

It does raise some interesting questions about survival and decisions you might make as a group etc but… I was pretty bored. Maybe not sell it as a thriller full of suspense?

The characters felt paper thin and I didn’t care who lived or died. The MC had an inner dialog, something like, “It must have been horrible to have his young beautiful niece dying”. And yes, the death of ugly young nieces are much easier to deal with. And she also gets surprised that a beautiful woman could be in an abusive relationship. Sure, this were issues that could have been addressed if the MC was vain and all about looks but realizing that survival isn’t skin deep but it doesn’t.

I wanted, “And Then There Were None” in a tropical paradise and I feel cheated. It felt uninspired, thank the Gods I didn’t pay for this books. Libraries are amazing!

This is my second Ruth Ware book and I’m coming to find out I don’t like her writing style.

I will start with the good. The ending to this book was great. I felt it had a good enough twist to find a little bit of satisfaction from this book.

My main problem with this book and the other Ruth Ware book I read (“The It Girl”) is that there is so much descriptive writing that I start to lose interest. It does nothing to propel the story forward. After reading all the play by play writing the pay off is not there. It was not a joy to read over all. She doesn’t write in a way (for me) that makes me want to keep turning the page.

I have a hard time DNFing a book so I push through. This ending was more satisfying than “The It Girl” so I am thankful for that.

I’m not sure I did much blinking in the course of reading this. I couldn’t put it down because I kept wanting to know what happens next. The beginning 15% was a tad dull and I wasn’t sure where we were going with this story. Some bits were predictable. I feel like it was overall believable and frustrating at times. It certainly felt like watching a reality show.

As with most Ruth Ware books, they're a little predictable at times but so hard to stop once you get into them.

This was no different, I think the first 30% was perhaps a little drawn out with the reality show setup but after that it flew by. I really enjoyed the twists and how it ended too.

The narration by Imogen Church was so good so definitely recommend the audio for this one.