I buddy-read this book with a friend, and honestly, I highly recommend doing that with thrillers; it’s fun to theorize and discuss as you read!

In One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware, Lyla is a virologist who lives with her boyfriend Nico, an aspiring actor. They’re rather different people, but that’s okay, because they support one another’s interests; it’s something Lyla prides herself on. So when Nico gets the opportunity to be a contestant on a new reality tv show, he’s delighted. However, there’s a catch: the ten contestants are comprised of five established couples, so Lyla will need to come too. She’s not thrilled, but she agrees for Nico’s sake. And so they’re swept away to “Ever After Island,” a tiny island hours off the coast of Jakarta, where there’s a hastily constructed (and still incomplete) luxury resort waiting for them. The first day of filming goes well, but that night, things start to go wrong. A storm rolls in, taking their ship (on which the crew and director were spending the night) out to sea. Parts of the resort are destroyed, and the next morning, the contestants find themselves totally alone. While they wait for rescue, they scrape together their resources and try to survive. But the longer they’re on their own, the more high stakes the entire experience becomes. Especially when people start dying, and Lyla has to face the reality of there probably being a killer in their midst.

This was very hard to put down! The pacing is fantastic, pulling you immediately into the story, and then refusing to let you go. Nothing feels too slow or too rushed, and the increasing tension makes for a very compelling read.

I also quite liked the premise, Agatha Christie meets reality tv. I loved And Then There Were None when I read it back in school, and the similar format (ten strangers on an island) was really fun to see in a modern context. As for the reality tv aspect, that’s not a genre I typically watch, but it was still entertaining. Lyla also doesn’t watch that short of show, so she was very relatable in that regard. Her being a fish out of water is a great way to make you both root for her and worry for her, especially when everything goes wrong.

I did, however, wonder why she (and a few other characters) were so surprised by certain reality tv expectations, namely that they wouldn’t have their phones and that there would be cameras in the resort bedrooms. Even I know that’s standard practice, so why was it so shocking here? I know Lyla’s never watched Survivor and the like, but she has an actor boyfriend. It was odd.

Aside from that, though, Lyla and the other characters were excellent. Ware is great at giving each person a distinct voice and personality, and the way the characters work together (or don’t, as the case may be) is quite masterful. My favorite characters include Joel, Santana, and Angel, but all of the characters are necessary. That’s what’s so clever here: even with such a large cast, each character influences the plot in some way, and all their interactions matter. I do wish that the way one character’s storyline had ended had been explored more deeply; I feel that it was kind of glossed over and so didn’t have the emotional impact that it should have. But overall, excellent characterization and balancing of different subplots.

In the end, One Perfect Couple was a great thriller. The setting is detailed and captivating, and the characters are well-written and complex. The format of the story is super clever, and the emotions and pacing work together to make for a book that’s really hard to stop reading. There are definitely some intense scenes, and violence, but that’s somewhat to be expected, and nothing is egregious. The audiobook, narrated by Imogen Church, is fantastic. If you want something to read on vacation, this would be a good option!