One Perfect Couple

Ruth Ware has long been an auto-buy author for me, so of course I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her latest novel, One Perfect Couple. This one is a bit different from her previous thrillers, with more of a survivalist bent and a bit less mystery… and yet this one is no less gripping.

Special thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Reality television is not Lyla’s thing, but for her boyfriend Nico, this could be a shot at finally getting his acting career off the ground. She reluctantly agrees to join him as a contestant on a brand new show called One Perfect Couple, in which five couples will co-exist on a remote island and have to compete against each other—both to survive tough island living and to determine if they’re each paired up with the perfect partner for them. Partner swaps, anyone?! But things are weird right away, and it goes from bad to worse when a storm strands the contestants on the island, leaving them with no way to contact the outside world. Can they band together to survive until help arrives? Or is this actually a case of survival of the fittest?

Review

One Perfect Couple is Ruth Ware’s ninth novel, and it strikes the perfect balance of her trying something a little different yet retaining the action-packed energy that makes all of her books so enthralling. This one is less mysterious than her first eight books, instead focusing on a more survivalist arc. However, it has key elements that still make it feel like a Ruth Ware book: a strong narrator, a locked-room (or in this case, remote island) sense of isolation, a limited number suspects, and a fast pace.

From the beginning of Lyla and Nico joining the new reality show One Perfect Couple, things just feel off. Maybe not everything is completely above-board? This show must be cutting corners in some ways, and they haven’t been totally up-front about certain rules or even how the show works. And what’s up with the guy in charge, Baz? Even between the other eight contestants, there seems to be tension.

The first day on the small, remote island doesn’t go that well, with some little twists and turns that ramp up the suspense surrounding the show. But things quickly go from bad to worse when a storm strikes the island, leaving the contestants stranded with no way to contact the outside world. Suddenly, the whole premise of surviving on an island feels a lot more real! But will Lyla and her fellow contestants band together to sustain themselves until help can arrive? Or will it turn into a fierce competition for resources as the days slowly pass?

One the one hand, One Perfect Couple becomes much more of a survival story than the author’s other books. Sure, characters in those previous novels had to survive difficult circumstances, too, but here’s it’s much more intense. And on the other hand, there’s still an element of someone you can’t trust, someone who isn’t afraid to inflict harm on others. But what can the characters do about this rogue person they’ve been stranded with?

Final Thoughts

One Perfect Couple is a swift read, action-packed, and completely engrossing from start to finish. Ruth Ware fans will love it for its intensity and pacing while also enjoying something a bit different from her other books. It’s most comparable to her second novel, The Woman in Cabin 10 (which, incidentally, is referenced within this book’s narrative), or perhaps One by One or Zero Days, but with a refreshing tone and setting. This book is a win for me, and as always, I can hardly wait for whatever Ruth Ware writes next.

Get the Book

You can buy One Perfect Couple here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
Audience	Adult
Genre	Thriller
Setting	Indian Ocean
Number of Pages	400
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	May 21, 2024
Publisher	Gallery/Scout Press

Official Summary

Harkening to Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None, this high-tension and ingenious thriller follows five couples trapped on a storm-swept island as a killer stalks among them—from Ruth Ware, the New York Times bestselling author who “is turning out to be as ingenious and indefatigable as the Queen of Crime” (The Washington Post).

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.