Category Archives: Ruth Ware

September 7, 2020 · 11:57 pm

Review: One by One by Ruth Ware

Title: One by One by Ruth Ware
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 383 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Turn of the Key and In a Dark Dark Wood returns with another suspenseful thriller set on a snow-covered mountain.

Getting snowed in at a luxurious, rustic ski chalet high in the French Alps doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world. Especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a full-service chef and housekeeper, a cozy fire to keep you warm, and others to keep you company. Unless that company happens to be eight coworkers…each with something to gain, something to lose, and something to hide.

When the cofounder of Snoop, a trendy London-based tech startup, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other: PowerPoint presentations and strategy sessions broken up by mandatory bonding on the slopes. But as soon as one shareholder upends the agenda by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. The storm brewing inside the chalet is no match for the one outside, however, and a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. Even worse, one Snooper hadn’t made it back from the slopes when the avalanche hit.

As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further…one by one.

Review:

Set in the French Alps, One by One by Ruth Ware is an atmospheric, tension-filled mystery.

Chalet hosts Erin and Danny welcome the latest guests to Chalet Perce-Neige and they are immediately unimpressed with the Snoop app owners and employees. Co-founders Topher and Eva are glamorous  yet entitled and rude.  Coder Elliot spends most of his time working.  Rik and Miranda are clearly more than co-workers. Inigo is Topher’s personal assistant but he is also intimately involved with Eva. Ani, Tiger and Carl round out the rest of Snoop team.  Liz no longer works for Snoop but she is a shareholder. With a lucrative offer for the app on the table,  Topher, Eva, Elliot and Liz are expected to vote on whether or not to sell or find other funding to keep Snoop solvent. They are not in agreement about the future for Snoop and when an afternoon skiing trip turns deadly, is it just an unfortunate accident or something more sinister?

With a storm headed their way, the Snoop team cut their business meetings short to go skiing. Although not everyone is enthusiastic about skiing, they head out to enjoy a few hours on the slopes.  Erin and Danny become a little concerned when they fail to appear for lunch but they try to keep their worries at bay.  The reason for the delay becomes clear when all of the group return except for one person. Before Erin has the chance to begin her search, an avalanche isolates them and cuts off the various avenues for escape.

One person is able to make a call for help before the spotty cell coverage becomes non-existent.  When a power outage means no wifi, they remain hopeful help is on the way.  After another death that is clearly a murder, everyone begins to view one another with suspicion. Danny and Erin strongly suggest everyone pair up and avoid venturing anywhere alone, but they soon learn someone leaves on their own to seek help.  After another night passes, they wake up to the terrible discovery that the killer has struck yet again. How many more  people will die before help arrives?

With chapters alternating between Liz and Erin’s points of view, One by One is a clever mystery that is fast-paced.  The suspense builds as suspicions grow and tempers  flare. The isolation, bad weather, and the inability to contact authorities add another layer of danger to an increasingly fraught situation. With a series of breathtaking twists and turns, Ruth Ware brings this spellbinding mystery to an action-packed conclusion.  An absolutely riveting mystery that I highly recommend to fans of the genre.

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Filed under Contemporary, Gallery/Scout Press, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Ruth Ware, Suspense

May 23, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

Title: The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying Game comes Ruth Ware’s highly anticipated fourth novel.

On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.

Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

Review:

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware is a British mystery with a deliciously Southern gothic atmosphere.

Harriet “Hal” Westaway is a twenty-one year old woman who is struggling financially and is danger of losing not only her home but her livelihood. An unexpected missive from a lawyer detailing a possible inheritance is pretty much a godsend considering her current circumstances. The only catch? Hal knows she has received the letter in error. Despite a bit of mental wrangling, Hal decides to attend Hester Westaway’s funeral and then attempt to bluff her way into inheriting what she assumes will be a paltry but much needed sum of money.  At the gloomy and rundown estate, Trespassen house, Hal is met by Mrs. Warren who is the home’s crotchety and creepy housekeeper and the other heirs, Harding and his family, Abel and his partner Edward Ashby and Ezra, all brothers of her “mother” Maud.  Growing more and more uneasy with her plan, Hal is ready to abandon her “inheritance” but as she learns more about the family’s history and her possible connection to them, she feels duty bound to try to uncover the secrets of Trespassen House and its occupants.

Hal has been eking out a living on the Brighton Pier as a tarot card reader but winter business is somewhat dicey due to the lack of tourists. She also finds herself at the mercy of an unscrupulous money lender whom she owes a great deal of money. Uneasy about her decision to hoodwink the Westaway heirs out of part of their inheritance, she nonetheless feels like they won’t miss the trifling amount she thinks she will inherit. Hal feels a great deal of trepidation upon arriving at the gloomy, rundown estate but it is not until she is shown to her attic bedroom that she truly becomes worried about her scheme.

The reading of the will commences right away and Hal, along with her “uncles” are absolutely stunned over Mrs. Westaway’s bequeaths.  With her fear growing about what will happen once the truth about her scheme is exposed, Hal grows more and more desperate to escape back to her regular life. Her uneasiness continues to grow with each passing hour and Hal plans to extricate herself from the tension-filled household as soon as possible. However, after discovering her mother’s shocking connection to the Westaway family, Hal knows she has to find out the truth about this unexpected information. Her fateful decision could mean learning the truth about her father’s identity but it also puts Hal’s life in jeopardy as she continues digging into the past.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway is an incredibly atmospheric and suspense-laden mystery. Hal’s experiences as a tarot-card reader provide her with an edge as she relies on her intuition and her mother’s advice to ferret out information about the Westaway clan. Ada Warren is a menacing presence in the household and her enigmatic revelations are disquieting and vaguely threatening. Out of the three “uncles” Harding is the best developed while Ezra and Abel are somewhat indistinguishable from one another. This latest release from Ruth Ware features a delightfully moody setting and a clever plot that will keep readers guessing the truth about the Westaway family. Fans of the genre are going to absolutely love this twist-filled tale of murder and intrigue that is rife with family secrets.

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Filed under Contemporary, Gallery/Scout Press, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Ruth Ware, Suspense, The Death of Mrs Westaway

July 24, 2017 · 11:56 pm

Review: The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

Title: The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

From the instant New York Times bestselling author of blockbuster thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 comes Ruth Ware’s chilling new novel, The Lying Game.

On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister…

The next morning, three women in and around London—Fatima, Thea, and Isabel—receive the text they had always hoped would NEVER come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, “I need you.”

The four girls were best friends at Salten, a second rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Each different in their own way, the four became inseparable and were notorious for playing the Lying Game, telling lies at every turn to both fellow boarders and faculty, with varying states of serious and flippant nature that were disturbing enough to ensure that everyone steered clear of them. The myriad and complicated rules of the game are strict: no lying to each other—ever. Bail on the lie when it becomes clear it is about to be found out. But their little game had consequences, and the girls were all expelled in their final year of school under mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the school’s eccentric art teacher, Ambrose (who also happens to be Kate’s father).

Atmospheric, twisty, and with just the right amount of chill that will keep you wrong-footed—which has now become Ruth Ware’s signature style—The Lying Game is sure to be her next big bestseller. Another unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

Review:

In Ruth Ware’s latest mystery, The Lying Game, four friends are reunited after a grisly discovery threatens to expose a secret they have been keeping for the past seventeen years.

Meeting at an isolated boarding school, Isa, Fatima, Thea and Kate quickly formed a close-knit friendship. They were not particularly well-liked by their classmates since their “lying game” made it impossible to trust them. Following a scandal involving Kate’s father, Ambrose, the girls were expelled and Isa, Thea and Fatima have not returned to Salten Reach in the intervening years. However, an urgent text from Kate, who remained in town, brings the other three women running after a shocking discovery on a nearby beach.

Isa is a new mom to a six month old daughter and they are the first to arrive in town. She is a fretful new mom who is constantly worried about her baby. Despite her best efforts to glean the reason for Kate’s summons, her friend refuses to divulge any information until all of the women are together.  They quickly fall back into their close friendship and they while away the hours reminiscing about their many adventures they shared while they were at boarding school.  However, Isa remains very uneasy about why Kate has brought them together.

The four women are shocked when Kate divulges the reason for their impromptu reunion and each of them are quite concerned about the effect this news will have on their lives.  Each of them has a lot to lose if their secret comes out but they all know it is only a matter of time before they will be answering a lot of uncomfortable questions. Equally stunning is their realization that Kate’s stepbrother Luc Rochefort also lives nearby and Isa’s recent encounter with him puts the four women on edge since he too has knowledge about the events that separated them seventeen years earlier.

The Lying Game is a somewhat atmospheric mystery that slowly wends its way to a very action packed conclusion.  Ruth Ware masterfully builds the tension until it reaches a fever pitch as Isa finally begins putting the various pieces of the puzzle into place. There are plenty of unexpected twists and turns in store for the foursome as the truth about the events preceding their expulsion from boarding school are revealed.  A completely enthralling novel that I absolutely love and highly recommend to fans of the genre.

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Filed under Contemporary, Mystery, Rated B, Review, Ruth Ware, Simon & Schuster Inc, Suspense, The Lying Game