Title: One by One
Author: Freida McFadden
Publication: April 2, 2024
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 272
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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation.
She thought this would be a break from the stresses of work and raising her young children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubs with two other couple friends. It sounded like heaven.
Then Claire’s minivan breaks down on a lonely dirt road. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to hike the rest of the way to their hotel. But it turns out the woods aren’t as easy to navigate as they thought.
Hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost.
And as they navigate deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously one by one. Has a wild animal been hunting them? Or is the hunter one of them?
But as more time passes, one thing becomes clear:
Only one of them will return home alive.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
Freida McFadden has been some of my favorite books this year so I knew I needed to read another one. One by One was everything I was expecting and more with a shocking amount of twists!
This book follows Claire as she goes on a retreat with her husband and friends to hopefully get refreshed and come back as good as new for kids and life. Unfortunately, there are far more sinister issues at hand. Right away I was suspicious of everyone. This is probably a trauma reaction to reading previous Freida McFadden books because I know that you should trust no one. Claire was kind of annoying as a lead because I didn’t get good vibes from her at the begging. I think we were suppose to be annoyed with her as well and she was suuppose to throw us off from the beginning. What I was expecting from her was not what I got. I really enjoyed the group of friends in this novel because it gave a lot of suspects and a lot of people I wanted to like, but wasn’t sure I should like.
My biggest issue with the book was that the synopsis did not match the book. I was expecting a woman who wanted to fix her marriage, but it was clear from the beginning that was not her intention in any way, shape, or form. I’m not sure if that was to draw us in because we all love a good redemption story, but it was clear that was not the purpose of the trip as early as the first chapter. Aside from that little hiccup, I really enjoyed the story.
McFadden’s writing style is smooth and she has a few flashbacks in this to show the killer’s intentions and how they came to make the decisions they did. I had no idea whose flashbacks I was seeing throughout the story, but I was definitely cautious of all. I loved how I was literally on the edge of my seat and McFadden kept me guessing until the audible gasp moment at the end of the story.
If you have ever read a Freida McFadden book before, you should read One by One and if you haven’t read any before, what on earth are you waiting for? She has quickly become one of my top five favorite mystery authors, as you will never get bored reading one of her books. I have a whole slew of them waiting on my TBR for 2025! Freida McFadden should be a must-read on every reader’s list!
