Review: One Perfect Couple

Title: One Perfect Couple
Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Thriller, Contemporary
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Tandem Collective
Format: Paperback
Release Date: May 21, 2024
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

A high-tension and ingenious thriller following five couples trapped on a storm-swept island as a killer stalks among them.

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, The 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.

Review:

Lyla is a scientist who is struggling with her research. When her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, asks her if she wants to go on a reality show with him, she reluctantly agrees. They travel to an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean to film the new reality show, One Perfect Couple. Lyla expects to be voted off the show first, since she doesn’t like reality shows. After a storm the first night, everything goes wrong. Their communication from the rest of the world is cut off, and they have limited supplies. Now, the couples don’t have to worry about being eliminated from the show. They must worry about surviving.

This is my new favourite Ruth Ware book! It was so creepy and intense. There was a bit of a behind the scenes look at the making of a reality show, but most of the book was about survival. I couldn’t guess what would happen next so I was really kept on the edge of my seat!

One Perfect Couple is an intense summer thriller!

Thank you Tandem Collective and Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book!

Content warnings: death, murder, suicide, blood, drowning, diabetes

Have you read One Perfect Couple? What did you think of it?