CANR
WORK TITLE: One Perfect Couple
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://ruthware.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: LRC 2018
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1977, in Sussex, England; married; husband’s name Ian; children: two sons.
EDUCATION:Graduate of Manchester University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist. Previously worked as a waitress, bookseller, teacher of English as a foreign language, and book publicist.
MEMBER:International Thriller Writers.
AWARDS:Spotlight Guest, International Thriller Writers, 2024.
WRITINGS
Contributor to anthologies, including Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2022.
SIDELIGHTS
Suspense novelist Ruth Ware grew up on the south coast of England in Sussex. [open new/revised]When the New York Times asked what sort of reader she was as a child, Ware declared, “Voracious! And omnivorous. I read anything and everything, from hard sci-fi to totally unsuitable bonkbusters.” Following her graduation from Manchester University, Ware spent time living in Paris, France, before moving back to England. For a brief period she lived in a convent. About her literary output, Ware once confided to CrimeReads interviewer Jenny Bartoy, “All my books are about my own fears and phobias. My personal nightmare is being trapped in a stressful situation with people I don’t like and can’t get away from. I am not physically super claustrophobic but I am emotionally claustrophobic. So I think I keep putting my characters through that because it’s the most stressful situation that I can imagine.” Asked why she writes thrillers by Library Journal, Ware responded: “I think they are the perfect combination of head and heart—an intellectual battle of wits between the reader and the writer to solve the mystery, mixed with a personal journey for the characters. To me that is having your cake and eating it.” In CrimeReads Ware has been hailed as “the British queen of suspense.”[suspend new]
Ware’s debut novel for adults, In a Dark, Dark Wood, is a psychological thriller revolving around a group of women friends who meet in a remote English country house to hold a bachelorette party prior to one of the friend’s wedding. In an interview with NPR’s David Greene, Ware said the inspiration for the novel came when a friend pointed out that “she’d never read a thriller set at a hen party.” Ware went on to note that her friend’s observation made her think that she had never read such a thriller either. In addition, Ware pointed out to Greene: “It’s the perfect setting. You know, you have a group of quite disparate people thrown together. Emotions are running high. You’re cooped up in a strange environment that you can’t get away from. It just seemed like the perfect recipe for both a novel and disaster.”
In a Dark, Dark Wood is narrated by Leonora “Nora” Shaw, a twenty-something crime writer who leads a rather mundane and solitary life. Nora tells the story in a series of flashbacks after she wakes up in a hospital unable to remember how she got there and with a severe gash on her forehead. Nora recounts how one day she received an invitation to a bachelorette party. The invitation is from a former friend named Clare Cavendish, who is soon to be married. Nora is surprised by the invitation because she has not seen or talked to Clare for ten years. Nevertheless, Nora accepts the invitation because she is both curious about her old high school friend. Clare also once proved to be a valuable friend during a trying time when Nora’s high-school sweetheart broke up with her.
Nora soon joins the bachelorette group, which consists of six people who are either complete strangers to each or have become relative strangers over the years. In an interview for the Aunt Agatha’s website, Ware noted: “The characters were sort of secondary in that sense—they grew outward from me wanting a disparate group of people shoved together somewhat against their will. They’re also partly each an archetype of women I’ve met at bachelorette parties over the years.” These archetypes, explained Ware, range from the women who wished they were not at the gathering at all to the woman who is clearly out of place because of her complete difference from the other women. As for the party’s hostess, Clare, she reflects the typical bride-to-be who is stressed about the friends’ meeting and her upcoming wedding.
It does not take long for Nora to understand that Clare is an egomaniac. Furthermore, Clare surprises Nora by announcing that the man she is to marry is none other than Nora’s ex-boyfriend, James. Eventually, something goes wrong at the gathering, but Nora cannot remember exactly what until she starts mining her memory to recall the past events. Most troublesome to Nora is that she suspects she may have done something terrible.
“With its clever plot and a room of suspects, In a Dark, Dark Wood reads like an ode to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock,” wrote BookPage Online contributor Anna Lauren Levy, who also noted: “Fast paced chapters are laced with literary allegories.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor remarked that the mystery’s reveal was relatively predictable. Nevertheless, the Kirkus Reviews contributor also wrote: Ware sets “a truly spooky scene” and “creates a unique setting for the psychological scares.”
The Woman in Cabin 10 is also a mystery-thriller. It features travel writer Lo Blackstock, who sets out on a luxury cruise after surviving a devastating home invasion that has caused her severe anxiety. She overhears a commotion in the cabin next to hers—but when she tries to bring it to the attention of the crew, they deny that anyone occupies that cabin. “With few potential suspects and little support from the others on board,” stated Mary Todd Chesnut, writing in Library Journal, “Lo continues digging for answers.” “The isolated setting and social alienation,” opined Christine Tran in Booklist, “… combine with Los deteriorating mental state to generate a dark, desperate tension.”
The Lying Game is “about four women who meet at Salten House, a second-rate boarding school on the south coast of England,” Ware explained in a Powells interview. “The title comes from a game the girls played at school, competing to tell lies to gullible friends, strangers, classmates, and teachers. They were expelled in their final year at school, and since then have scattered, doing their best to forget the events of that year, while still being held together by their pull. When something washes up on a local beach, however, three of the women get a text from the fourth in their clique, Kate.” The discovery of human remains, however, have triggered their old social clique. “Ware masterfully harnesses the millhouse’s decrepit menace,” wrote Booklist reviewer Christine Tran, “to create a slow-rising sense of foreboding, darkening [the protagonist] Isa’s recollections.” “Ware’s third outing is just as full of psychological suspense as her earlier books,” declared a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “but there is a quietness about this one … that elevates it above her others.” The author “builds up a rock-solid cast of intriguing characters,” said a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “and spins a mystery that will keep readers turning pages.”
[resume new]Ware nods toward Henry James’s renowned ghost story The Turn of the Screw with the title and scenario in The Turn of the Key. Attracted by the generous salary offered for a nanny position in the Scottish Highlands, Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House to find likeable parents and affable girls, though Maggie warns her about ghosts—and starts trying to get her fired. But after the husband takes an unpleasant pass at her and both parents set off on a weeklong trip, the house, managed by “Happy App” software with a mind of its own, starts freaking Rowan out, with ultimately lethal consequences. The story is told through letters sent from Rowan to her lawyer while awaiting trial for the murder of one of the children.
In Booklist, Jane Murphy declared that “Ware’s James-like embroidery of the strange and sinister produces a Turn of the Screw with cellphones and Teslas that will enthrall today’s readers.” A Kirkus Reviews writer declared that Ware “excels at taking classic mystery tropes and reinventing them; her novels always feel appealingly anachronistic,” mixing classic gothic vibes with modern-day nuances. The reviewer affirmed that Ware “perfects her ability to craft atmosphere and sustain tension” to make The Turn of the Key “truly terrifying.”
Harkening to Daphne Du Maurier’s classic Rebecca is The Death of Mrs. Westaway, in which Hal Westaway is at loose ends a few years after her mother’s death in a hit-and-run. Making little money as a tarot reader, Hal hopes to evade a loan shark’s brutality when a letter informs her of a bequeathal from an unknown grandmother. Fearing mistaken identity, Hal travels to Trepassen House to find sketchy uncles, a creepy housekeeper, and an ambience weighed down by the fate of a young woman who fell in love and ended up imprisoned there. Hal must untangle that woman’s fate in order to ensure her own survival.
Washington Post reviewer Maureen Corrigan deemed The Death of Mrs. Westaway “superb. In addition to its brooding atmosphere and labyrinthine mistaken-identity plot, the novel also gives us a heroine of real depth.” In Booklist Ilene Cooper remarked that Ware “twists the knife quite expertly” as the plot’s labyrinth proves “much more winding than expected, with reveals even on the final pages.” A Kirkus Reviews writer concurred that Ware “continues to hone her gift for the slow unspooling of unease and mystery, developing a consistent sense of threat that’s pervasive and gripping.”
With its series of murders in an isolated locale, Ware’s One by One earned itself recurring comparisons to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Tech start-up Snoop is on the cusp of a major windfall for its shareholders, if they can agree on the best course of action over a ski getaway in the Alps. The perspective alternates between former employee Liz and chalet co-host Erin as the nine members of the retreat start chafing each other. Then one goes missing, an avalanche traps the rest, and no one is safe. In the Washington Post, Corrigan Corrigan suggested that “the final section, where the last intended victim is locked in a ghastly battle of wits and endurance with the unmasked killer, has to be one of the most ingeniously extended plot climaxes in the suspense canon.” A Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that Ware demonstrates her forte as she “gives us a familiar locked-door mystery setup and lets the tension and suspicion marinate until they reach fever pitch.” The reviewer concluded of One by One, “The solution is maddeningly simple but the construction, simply masterful.”
The narrative unfolds in parallel in the past and present in The It Girl, about the end of April Clarke-Cliveden’s perfect young life via murder at Oxford University. Her possibly jealous roommate Hannah Jones, who was feeling sparks with April’s boyfriend Will, provided testimony that helped convict college porter John Neville. A decade later, Hannah is pregnant by Will, and Neville’s death in prison coincides with the emergence of new evidence suggesting his innocence, spurring Hannah to reconnect with April’s closest friends to determine the truth. Murphy in Booklist observed that Ware “develops both the reader’s doubts about and concern for Hannah as the suspense builds gradually under a masterful barrage of red herrings.” A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that The it Girl lacks the “urgent and imminent threat” of most of Ware’s novels, but a Publishers Weekly reviewer deemed it an “exceptional psychological thriller” that builds “toward a gripping denouement as nicely chosen details bring each character vividly to life.”
Combining security technology with a storyline echoing The Fugitive is Zero Days. Jacintha “Jack” Cross and her husband both work as security-system testers, Jack on the ground and Gabe behind the scenes. When she returns home from a job to discover his body, the police suspect her, so she goes on the run. Learning that Gabe found a “zero-day” backdoor route into a popular app potentially worth a fortune, Jack tries to unmask the killer to prove her innocence. A Kirkus Reviews found in this thriller “lots of adrenaline-driven action, a departure from Ware’s usual wire-taut mysteries.”
One Perfect Couple draws on the world of reality television, which proves all too cutthroat, as scientist Lyla Santiago hopes to revive her relationship with actor Nico Reese by competing on the new show Ever After Island. After giving up their devices and watching the director and crew fly off their Indonesian island, Nico and Lyla and the four other couples are inundated by a storm that leaves one dead. It turns out one contestant is aiming to literally be the show’s only survivor. A Kirkus Reviews writer admired how “the prolific Ware continues to stretch herself, taking on something new in each novel and writing strong—and increasingly kick-ass—female characters.” John Charles of Library Journal found in One Perfect Couple a “cheeky sense of wit …, a propulsive sense of pacing, and a fiendishly clever conclusion.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, July 1, 2015, Joanne Wilkinson, review of In a Dark, Dark Wood, p. 37; July 1, 2016, Christine Tran, review of The Woman in Cabin 10, p. 37; June 1, 2017, Christine Tran, review of The Lying Game, p. 60; May 1, 2018, Ilene Cooper, review of The Death of Mrs. Westaway, p. 24; June 1, 2019, Jane Murphy, review of The Turn of the Key, p. 45; June 1, 2020, Jane Murphy, review of One by One, p. 44; May 1, 2022, Jane Murphy, review of The It Girl, p. 32; May 1, 2023, Jane Murphy, review of Zero Days, p. 35.
BookPage, July, 2023, Linda M. Castellitto, “Ruth Ware Thinks You Need a Password Manager,” author interview, p. 10.
Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2015, review of In a Dark, Dark Wood; May 15, 2016, review of The Woman in Cabin 10; May 15, 2017, review of The Lying Game; April 15, 2018, review of The Death of Mrs. Westaway; May 15, 2019, review of The Turn of the Key; July 1, 2020, review of One by One; May 15, 2022, review of The It Girl; April 15, 2023, review of Zero Days; March 15, 2024, review of One Perfect Couple;
Library Journal, June 15, 2016, Mary Todd Chesnut, review of The Woman in Cabin 10, p. 71; June, 2023, John Charles, review of Zero Days, p. 88; May, 2024, John Charles, review of One Perfect Couple, p. 81.
New York Times Book Review, July 24, 2022, “Ruth Ware,” author interview, p. 6.
Publishers Weekly, May 9, 2016, review of The Woman in Cabin 10, p. 50; May 22, 2017, review of The Lying Game, p. 73; June 10, 2019, Edwin Hill, review of The Turn of the Key, p. 98; May 9, 2022, review of The It Girl, p. 35; March 18, 2024, review of One Perfect Couple, p. 55.
USA Today, September 8, 2020, Mary Cadden, review of One by One, p. 8B.
Variety, March 16, 2017, Dave McNary, “Ruth Ware’s ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ Adaptation in the Works at CBS Films.”
Washington Post, May 24, 2018, Maureen Corrigan, review of The Death of Mrs. Westaway; September 8, 2020, Maureen Corrigan, review of One by One.
ONLINE
Aunt Agatha’s, http://auntagathas.com/ (July 18, 2015), “Author Interview: Ruth Ware.”
BookPage, https://bookpage.com/ (August 4, 2015), Anna Lauren Levy, review of In a Dark, Dark Wood.
CrimeReads, https://crimereads.com/ (June 10, 2024), Jenny Baroty, “Ruth Ware on the Comfort of Thrillers and the Novelist’s Duty to the Truth.”
Entertainment Weekly, http://www.ew.com/ (July 3, 2015), review of In a Dark, Dark Wood.
Irish Times, http://www.irishtimes.com/ (October 24, 2015), Sarah Gilmartin, review of In a Dark, Dark Wood.
Jessica Jones Reads, https://www.jessicajonesreads.com/ (May 21, 2024), “Behind the Pages: An Interview with Ruth Ware.”
KeepItKassual, https://keepitkassual.com/ (July 11, 2018), author interview.
Library Journal, https://www.libraryjournal.com/ (September 1, 2020), “Author Ruth Ware Discusses Her Newest Thriller One by One.”
Mystery People, https://mysterypeople.wordpress.com/ (May 30, 2018), Scott Butki, author interview.
NPR: website, http://www.npr.org/ (August 10, 2015), David Greene, “‘Scream’ Meets Agatha Christie in A Dark, Dark Wood,” author interview.
Powells, http://www.powells.com/ (July 21, 2017), “Powell’s Q&A: Ruth Ware, Author of ‘The Lying Game.’”
Ruth Ware website, https://ruthware.com (July 26, 2024).
SheReads, https://shereads.com/ (June 17, 2024), Christelle Lujan, “Exclusive Interview with Bestselling Thriller Author Ruth Ware.”
Ruth Ware
UK flag (b.1977)
Ruth Ware grew up in Lewes, in East Sussex. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in north London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer. Married, with two small children, In a Dark, Dark Wood is her debut thriller.
Genres: Mystery
New and upcoming books
May 2024
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One Perfect Couple
Novels
In a Dark, Dark Wood (2015)
The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016)
The Lying Game (2017)
The Death of Mrs. Westaway (2018)
The Turn of the Key (2019)
One by One (2020)
The It Girl (2022)
Zero Days (2023)
One Perfect Couple (2024)
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Collections
Marple (2022) (with others)
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Series contributed to
Hush
1. Snowflakes (2020)
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Omnibus editions hide
One by One / The Turn of the Key / The Woman in Cabin 10 (2021)
In a Dark, Dark, Wood / The Lying Game / The Death of Mrs. Westaway (2024)
ABOUT RUTH
So I guess if you’ve clicked on this page, you’re interested in finding out more about me. Here is the paragraph that my publishers put on the back cover of my books:
Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs Westaway, The Turn of the Key, One by One, The It Girl and Zero Days have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times, and have sold more than nine million copies. Her books have been optioned for both film and TV, and she is published in more than 40 languages. Ruth lives near Brighton with her family. Visit ruthware.com to find out more.
If you’re writing a festival programme or presenting to your reading group, perhaps that’s all you need to know. But possibly you’ve already read that paragraph on the back of one of my books, and you’ve come here, as per the last line, to “find out more”.
At this point I should probably admit that by far the most interesting thing about me is my books, which are full of murder, family secrets, toxic friendships and things that go bump in the night, in contrast to my own very mundane, peaceful existence. I’m often asked which of my characters most resembles me, and I’m never quite sure how to feel about this, since my main characters are usually complicated, conflicted, lonely, spiky and sometimes downright criminal. Of course they’re also brave, defiant, dogged and occasionally very selfless – much more so than me, actually. If I was faced with half the set backs my characters encounter, I’m pretty sure I’d pack up and go home. The truth is that barring a few obvious overlaps (Nora in In a Dark, Dark Wood is a writer, Isa in The Lying Game is a parent) the biggest autobiographical element of most of my books is that the main characters are generally intolerant of bad coffee.
But if that doesn’t bother you, let me fill in some of the gaps and tell you a little bit about where I am today, and how I got here.
Right now, I’m a full time writer, and I feel very lucky to be able to type that. I’ve done a whole lot of other jobs, from waitressing to bookselling, and much as I loved them, my dream was always to be an author, and I was so glad when I was finally able to make that happen. I’m writing this at my desk in my office-slash-guestroom, so there is a bed to my right, which is very tempting when work is going badly. My desk faces a blank wall, which is deliberate, because I prefer to make sure the pictures in my head are more interesting than the view in front of me. But if I turn my head I can look out of the window at a beautiful living wall of trees – which I love. I find it very hard to live without trees, which is maybe why there are so many forests, woods and copses in my books. The trees are mostly holly and laurel – which is good, because they are evergreen, so it means I have something cheerful year round. But of course, they are also spiky (holly) and poisonous (laurel). Maybe that helps keep me on track as a crime writer?
How I got here is still kind of a mystery to me – but all I know is that I always wanted to be a writer, right from when I was a little girl. I was always scribbling out little stories, and when I was about 7 or 8 my mum went back to college and took a typing course, so then I began to type them out on her old fashioned type-writer, which somehow felt much more like a “real” book. All through my teens I kept writing, mostly on sheets of lined A4 paper, clipped into a ring binder, and the stories got longer and longer, until they began to resemble full-length books. A “novel” would take about one whole ring binder. But I was always too shy to show them to anyone (apart from my best friend, who read a couple of them), so they spent most of their time under my bed, hidden from prying eyes.
When I was in my twenties I began to work in the book industry. On the one hand, it was a brilliant apprenticeship, and I learned a lot about how publishing works. On the other hand, it gave me a massive attack of stage fright. I was working with some amazing, award-winning writers, and had a first-hand glimpse into the number of brilliant books published every single week, and it became increasingly hard to imagine that there would ever be a place for me on those heaving bookshop shelves. I kept writing, but I kept putting the books under the bed. (Or rather, leaving them on my hard drive, as by this time I had learned to touch type and use a word processor).
Eventually, when I was in my thirties and had two very small children, I realised that my writing was a hobby, and that I didn’t really have time for hobbies any more. I was snatching writing time in 30-minute chunks here and there while my baby napped, time I should more sensibly have spent washing my hair, or catching up on my own sleep. And I realised that unless I did something drastic, I was going to find my writing time whittled down further and further, until it likely disappeared all together.
That “drastic” step turned out to be plucking up my courage, and finally sending out a book to agents. It felt like a leap of faith at the time – like the main character in The Turn of the Key, I don’t deal well with failure, and publishing is full of rejections and heartbreak and set backs. I got my fair share of all three along the way. But I kept going, and I’m so incredibly glad that I did.
I’m often asked what advice I would give to aspiring writers, and although I wish I had a magic formula or something that would work for everyone, I don’t. The truth is that your obstacles are maybe not my obstacles. But I can tell you what I wish someone had told me, all those years ago, which was, have faith, and hang in there. Keep reading, keep writing, and keep sending out your work even when you get knocked back. Oh, and learn to self-edit.
Ruth Ware
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ware in 2018
Ruth Warburton (born 1977), known by the alias Ruth Ware, is a British psychological thriller author. Her novels include In a Dark, Dark Wood (2015), The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016), The Lying Game (2017), The Death of Mrs Westaway (2018), The Turn of the Key (2019), One By One (2020), The It Girl (2022) and Zero Days (2023). Both In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 were on the UK's Sunday Times and The New York Times top ten bestseller lists.[1] She is represented by Eve White of the Eve White Literary Agency.[2] She switched to the pen name Ruth Ware to distinguish her crime novels from the young-adult fantasy novels published under her birth name.[3]
Personal life
Ruth Ware was born in 1977 and grew up in Lewes. She studied English at Manchester University, where she developed a fascination with Old English and Middle English texts.
Before her writing career, Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller and a publicist. She also spent time in Paris, teaching English as a foreign language.
Ware now lives near Brighton.
YA works
Before embarking on her writing career as Ruth Ware, Warburton wrote five young-adult fantasy novels, all of which were published by Hodder's Children Books.
A Witch Alone (2013) 978-1444904710
A Witch in Winter (2013) 978-1444904697
A Witch in Love (2013) 978-1444904703
Witch Finder (2014) 978-1444914467
Witch Hunt (2014) 978-1444914481
Writing style
In her crime books, Ware's writing style is often compared to that of Agatha Christie.[4][5] Ware has said that some aspects of her writing are directly inspired by Christie.[6] Ware's protagonists are usually ordinary women who find themselves in dangerous situations involving a crime. The first two of Ware's novels feature a murder mystery with a group of people trapped, or otherwise restricted from immediately escaping the dangerous environment. Christie was famously known for utilizing this plot device, in novels such as Murder on the Orient Express.[7] Ware and Christie both choose settings and situations that foster the sense of dread that propels their characters to paranoia and often they react violently as a result. These environments create a sense of isolation for the events to unfold in.[8] Ware's settings play a key role in drawing in the reader and are as essential and integral to her story as the characters.
Works
Ware's first two novels, In a Dark, Dark Wood (copyright 2015 Simon & Schuster, jacket design Alan Dingman, jacket art by Shutterstock) and The Woman in Cabin 10 (copyright 2016 Simon & Schuster, jacket design Alan Dingman, jacket photographs by Alamy and Arcangel).
Ware has written eight psychological thrillers, as of 2023:
• In a Dark, Dark Wood (2015) is about a woman who attends a bachelorette party (hen do) of a childhood friend whom she hasn't heard from in years. The party takes place in an isolated glass house in the woods and takes a turn for the worse. By the end of the weekend someone is dead and everyone is a suspect.[9][10][11][12][13]
• The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016) is about Laura "Lo" Blacklock, a travel journalist who goes on the maiden voyage of the Aurora Borealis, a luxury cruise ship, for an assignment in the Norwegian fjords. Lo is on the trip to further her career, but everything changes when she witnesses what she believes to be a woman being thrown overboard, yet all the passengers remain accounted for and no one believes her.[14][15][16][17][18]
• The Lying Game (2017) revolves around four girls named Kate Atagon, Fatima Chaudhry (née Qureshy), Thea West, and Isa Wilde who attend a private boarding school called Salten House. At the school, they form a bond from a game of telling lies. The poor actions of the girls' boarding school days resurface years later when they receive a mysterious text from Kate asking them to return to the mill where they hung out as teenagers.[19][20][21][22][23]
• The Death of Mrs Westaway (2018) is about Hal, a young tarot card reader, who receives a mysterious and large inheritance. When Hal attends the funeral of the deceased it becomes clear that she was not the intended recipient of the inheritance and that she has become involved in a dangerous mystery.[24]
• The Turn of the Key (2019) is about a nanny and four children, written as if updating Henry James's The Turn of the Screw in a 21st-century setting.[25]
• One by One (2020) revolves around the directors and shareholders of a hot new technology company on a corporate retreat at an exclusive ski resort to decide the future of the company. Tensions run high approaching a possible billion-dollar buyout as an avalanche cuts the chalet off from help, and one board member goes missing.[26]
• The IT Girl (2022) is about a woman, Hannah de Chastaigne, whose college roommate was murdered while the two attended Oxford University. Ten years later, Hannah discovers that her testimony in court may have resulted in the wrong person being convicted of the crime.[27]
• Zero Days (2023) is about a husband-and-wife duo who use their combined computer hacking and breaking-and-entering skills to penetration test high-security facilities.[28]
Film and television adaptations
Several of Ware's books have been optioned for screen.
In a Dark, Dark Wood (2015): New Line Cinema has acquired film rights. Reese Witherspoon's Pacific Standard is attached to produce.[29]
The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016): A Netflix adaptation directed by Simon Stone and written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, with Keira Knightley leading the cast was reported in May 2024.[30]
The Lying Game (2017): Entertainment One has acquired television rights to The Lying Game.[31]
Zero Days (2023): Universal International Studios has acquired the rights for series development.[32]
Accolades
Ware's novels have won or been nominated for a number of awards and end-of-year lists:
In a Dark, Dark Wood (2015)
A BEA Buzz Panel selection
An NPR best book of 2015
RT Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Suspense Novel
The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016)
Nominated for the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards Best Mystery & Thriller
2016 Book of the Year Finalist selected by Book of the Month[33][34][35]
One by One (2020)
Shortlisted for the 2021 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award at the Crime Writers Association Awards[36]
Critical reception
Reviews of Ruth Ware's psychological crime thrillers have been generally positive. The Independent named In A Dark, Dark Wood as "this year's hottest crime novel".[37][38] The Guardian praised In A Dark, Dark Wood's "excellent characterisation" and called the book's ending "mesmerising".[39] The Independent described The Lying Game as "gripping enough to be devoured in a single sitting," in a four-star review.[40] In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews' writer said "cancel your plans for the weekend when you sit down with this book, because you won’t want to move until it’s over."[41]
RUTH WARE ON THE COMFORT OF THRILLERS AND THE NOVELIST'S DUTY TO THE TRUTH
Jenny Bartoy interviews the British queen of suspense about her latest twisty tale
JUNE 10, 2024 BY JENNY BARTOY
Best-selling British author Ruth Ware is back with another gripping tale, this time whisking us to a tropical Indonesian paradise that quickly turns nightmare in her latest, One Perfect Couple (Scout Press, 5/21).
Facing the uncertain future of her research career, scientist Lyla agrees to follow her aspiring actor boyfriend Nico to a desert island to participate in a brand-new reality TV show. In One Perfect Couple, five couples will compete, collaborate, and face eliminations, until one winning pair remains, crowned “perfect couple.” The show’s production appears sketchy to Lyla from the get-go, but she knows this opportunity matters to Nico and she could use the break, so off they fly to Jakarta and meet the other contestants. Not long after the competition begins, a massive storm sweeps the desert island where they just got settled, and the contestants become trapped there in the middle of the Indian Ocean, with no certainty of rescue. Worse: it soon becomes clear a killer walks among them.
While One Perfect Couple has been described as harkening to Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None, it leans more toward high-tension thriller than traditional mystery. As the island’s inhabitants get picked off one by one, Lyla and the others race against time, against the elements, and against the killer among their stranded lot. The central question posed by this page-turner becomes not so much “whodunit?” but “who will survive?”
Ware’s suspense and sleight skills are on full display here, along with some psychologically astute character development, making One Perfect Couple a riveting read. If an audiobook is more your cup o’ tea, narrator Imogen Church, who reads all of Ware’s novels, gives a riotous, multi-voiced and -accented performance that will keep you tethered to your headphones.
I had the pleasure of a long Zoom chat with Ruth Ware, stateside for her book tour. We discussed the psychology of truth and manipulation, the mass appeal of the crime genre, and her approach to crafting her trademark thrillers, among other things. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
This book features reality TV contestants stranded on a deserted island. How did the idea come to you?
I was doing an event with British thriller writer, Gillian McAllister, and we started talking about reality TV. I said it was a miracle more people weren’t murdered on reality TV shows because the tensions were so high. And Gillian said, “Sounds like a Ruth Ware book!” I kind of laughed it off but eventually when I sat down to write, I thought actually it would make a really good book.
I was completely addicted to the Big Brother when it first came out in the UK, but I drifted away from reality TV when it became less about ordinary people doing this kind of social experiment and much more about people who were in it as a stepping stone for their career—influencers or models or people who were doing this to become famous. But then, a couple of years ago, Traitors came out in the UK, and it featured exclusively regular people, a cross section of society that I hadn’t found on a reality TV show before. The premise is that twenty people are shut up in a country house together: “faithfuls” who cooperate to build up the prize, which will be split between them if they get to the end, and three “traitors,” and if one of them makes it to the final day, they scoop the lot. There’s an elimination every night and it’s very brutal. One of the fascinating things about Traitors is that it shone a very unforgiving light on how incredibly bad people are at knowing when someone is lying to them. The first people who get eliminated are the most honest. And the traitors are largely picked [to stay] because they’re very emotionally intelligent people, very good at understanding what other people want to hear.
Obviously the show in One Perfect Couple ended up being much closer to Survivors or Love Island. But the Traitors element that survived in the book is that the majority of people are working together for the good of the group, but a few are not and they are telling the other contestants what they want to hear.
Your heroines are often ordinary women thrust into extraordinary situations. Your narrator, Lyla, is a bit like a fish out of water on the island (forgive the pun), the nerdy girl next-door when everyone else is gorgeous and glamorous. Why did you choose to make her an outsider?
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Partly it’s a nice shortcut to have a point-of-view character who is an outsider because it gives me the chance to remark or explain things to the reader. There’s a lot that Lyla notices about the reality TV show industry that [an insider] wouldn’t have found remarkable and therefore wouldn’t have brought to the attention of the reader. Lyla is also a scientist. My husband is a scientist and his career has taken him on a path not dissimilar to hers, working on experiments and post-docs. Scientists came out of the COVID pandemic as rightly celebrated, but also as sort of unsung heroes in that there’s a huge amount of misunderstandings about how science works. It made me want to write something from the point of view of a scientist.
About a third of the way through it, it struck me how similar being a good scientist is to being a good detective. Lyla is someone who’s constantly asking questions, and she doesn’t always like the answer that she gets. But because she is a good scientist, she knows that she has to go with the data, because her primary duty is to the truth. On the island, she continues to ask the difficult questions and try to dispassionately assess the data and give a truthful answer, even when that answer is not the one that she wants. A good detective obviously has theories when they go into a case and they have something that they want to prove, but a good detective should be looking at the evidence, and if it disproves their theory, they have to be true to that.
So much of reality TV production is about creating a story the producer already wants to show and [they] have to take the raw material of footage and shape it, but that is entirely antithetical to what Lyla as a scientist believes. Having her in that role was an interesting way of exploring what duty all of us really have to the truth.
As in any reality TV show, alliances quickly form in One Perfect Couple. At one point, some of the women band together. This novel feels feminist in that women are shown to be self-sufficient in a difficult context often assumed to require male strength. Tell me more about this narrative choice.
Criticism that I sometimes get online about my characters is that they’re a bit incompetent or useless. And I always feel fiercely defensive when people say that because I think my characters are in a pretty horrific situation, often facing life or death, and realistically, I would be an absolute basket case in that situation. But we hold fictional characters to a higher standard and expect them not to make poor choices. So I guess in this book, I wanted to show a bunch of characters making the best of an incredibly shitty situation and doing everything they can to survive, help each other, and overcome.
Quite a few of those people end up being women, but that wasn’t an intentional decision. I didn’t sit down and think “I want to show girl power.” I think partly, I am just more interested in women’s stories. One of the first books I ever wrote growing up was a thinly veiled version of Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy, because I loved it but was quite peeved that the main character throughout is a man. So I wrote my own version that had a young woman at the center of it. I think in some ways that’s what all my books have.
In this novel, you take on problematic or toxic masculinity head-on. One character is an Andrew Tate wannabe with millions of YouTube subscribers. Another one lives off his girlfriend while he tries to make it as an actor. Under pressure, some of the male characters turn violent, vengeful, or cowardly.
The men are flawed, sure, but I think the women are flawed as well. The premise of the reality TV show is about finding one perfect couple. As part of that, I wanted to explore what makes a perfect couple, what turns relationships toxic, how many people look perfect on the outside but when you are a bit closer to their dynamic, you can see very deep-seated problems. I don’t plot my books a whole lot. So I started writing this one with the opening scene of the man and the woman fighting in the sea. And I always knew that was going to be the emotional climax of the book. Eventually I knew who the couple were and why they were [in the water]. But beyond that, I didn’t know who was going to survive, who else was going to be on the island at that point.
Obviously, I’ve never been in a situation as high stakes as that, but often if you are in a difficult situation, even something as minor as pitching a tent in a howling gale, there are interesting gendered differences in how people approach it. Women do tend to be more cooperative and “is everyone happy with this?” whereas men can be very goal-focused and competitive about it. There are scenes early on the island where the men are more interested in butting heads and establishing who’s going to be the boss on the island, whereas the women have completely different priorities.
Fundamentally, I’m not very interested in writing about perfect people. And I think that’s probably reflected in the title: the idea of there being any perfection is a fool’s errand. So, yes, all my characters are flawed and difficult and sometimes quite unlikable, and that’s part of what I love about them.
Claustrophobia and alienation are a recurring theme in your novels. In Zero Days, Jack is on the run, cut off from everyone she knows in order to survive. In The Woman in Cabin 10, Lo is trapped on a boat. Here the characters are stuck on an island with a killer. What draws you to these oppressive contexts?
All my books are about my own fears and phobias. My personal nightmare is being trapped in a stressful situation with people I don’t like and can’t get away from. I am not physically super claustrophobic but I am emotionally claustrophobic. So I think I keep putting my characters through that because it’s the most stressful situation that I can imagine. And yeah, for poor Lyla, being stuck on an island is bad enough, but with a bunch of people that she really has nothing in common with is her worst nightmare.
I love writing novels with a very small cast of characters, because it makes you much more creative. If you set these very strict limits at the beginning — you can’t get out of this environment; you can’t get new characters in; you can’t get any characters out; you can’t parachute in a detective at the 11th hour — you only have the resources that you give yourself at the start, to see this through to its conclusion. When you have a small cast of characters, and you are using them for every aspect of the plot, it enables you to dig much more deeply into those people. So you find out much more about them. You see them under much more stress.
The psychological thriller genre could be considered an odd type of escape in our stressful era of pandemic, ecological, and economic hardships. Why do you think crime novels are so massively popular these days, particularly among women?
Crime and thriller novels are in many ways a very reassuring genre to read. In World War II in the UK, when we had paper rationing, and publishers were limited in what books they were allowed to put out, certain authors were considered national priorities. One of those was Agatha Christie because her books were felt to be very good for morale. When we are in incredibly unsettling, globally terrifying times, it can be comforting to read a book where a terrible thing has happened, but within fairly safe parameters and, 99.9% of the time, there will be some sort of restorative justice. Things will be okay; you will find out the solution to the mystery, there will be some balancing of rights and wrongs at the end. I think that’s an immensely comforting thing to read. It’s why people read romances too, that similar idea of having fixed expectations of where [the genre] is going to go and a sense of comfort when you get to the end. Hopefully you were surprised along the way and wrong-footed and delighted by various aspects. But there is a sense, when you read most crime novels, of being in fairly safe hands.
Women make up by far the biggest audience for true crime podcasts. And that is always cited as extraordinary, that women should want to immerse themselves in this genre that’s all about terrible things happening to other women. But I think if you face those demons, you can cope with them better. You are arming yourself with knowledge of a cautionary tale. Picking your way through the world [as a woman] is inextricably bound up with caution and fear and a knowledge of how things can go wrong. Any woman who has walked home from the pub alone after a late night would agree with that. It’s about making judgment calls, sizing people up, thinking whether to take a risk. It’s about a sense of fear and self preservation and protection. And reading about that in a heightened form in the safe environment of a book can be very cathartic.
Do you have any craft tips for writers working in suspense or mystery?
I think writing is incredibly hard to teach because so much of it is instinctual. But the tip that I often [share] is the idea of giving your readers a reason to turn the page. Usually that is a question that they want answered or a mystery that they want to solve. Crime writers have an inbuilt advantage with this because there’s always a question at the beating heart of our books, usually who did the murder. But one question will not sustain you throughout the whole book. So it becomes a [matter] of giving little teasers of information and then answering some of the questions but withholding others.
There’s a great example of this in the novel Gone Girl, at the end of one of the first chapters, the narrator Nick says in an aside to the reader, “That was my fifth lie to the police.” And you’re like, excuse me? What are the other four lies, and why is he lying? And now you’re going to have to turn the page to find out what is going on. It was so genius and a really good example of how little bits of mystery and misinformation might be absolute catnip to the reader. There’s a few examples of that in One Perfect Couple, mostly to do with the diary entries and the radio calls that are scattered throughout the book and sort of tease you with questions. I think it’s a really good test for any writer to get to the end of a chapter and think, what does the reader want to know? And how much of that am I going to answer in the next chapter?
Author Ruth Ware Discusses her newest thriller One by One
by Simon & Schuster
Sep 01, 2020 | Filed in Reviews+
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Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer. She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10,The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, and The Turn of the Key.
With, One by One, Ruth Ware returns with another heart-pounding suspenseful thriller. 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. As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further…one by one.
In your novel, a group of coworkers are forced to “shelter in place” after an avalanche traps them in their chalet at a French ski resort. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most of us have had to quarantine ourselves for prolonged periods of time. Did you predict that this novel would be so relevant? Do you find yourself relating to your characters more now?
Well my husband is a virologist and flu experts have been saying that the “next big one” was due any time now for a couple of decades, so in some ways I was better placed than most to see this coming. But of course in reality I was as shocked as anyone else to be cancelling my book tours, queuing for flour, and buying masks on etsy.
Do I have more sympathy for my characters now? Hmm... good question. I am naturally quite antisocial and have no problem being alone for extended periods of time, in fact one of my favourite ways to finish a book is to hole up in a hotel room for days, ordering room service, and speaking to no-one at all. So I didn't find lockdown hard from the point of view of social isolation – the thing I probably found most difficult was having my husband and kids around 24/7 (not that I don't love them, but it made working basically impossible!)
Out of everyone in the book I probably relate most to Liz, who comments at one point that it's not the isolation she's finding tough, it's being shut up with her former co-workers. If I knew rescue was coming, then I think I would be fine hunkering down alone at Chalet Perce-Neige for a few weeks. It would be the presence of Topher and the others that would grate on my nerves.
What was your inspiration for this novel? Were you influenced by any real-life murders or incidents?
The inspiration came really from thinking about the important relationships in our lives. I've written often about friends, family and romantic relationships, but when I sat down to write this book I realised that I had never addressed the other important figures in most people's lives – our colleagues. We spend more time with these people than with most of our friends, and yet they can move on at a moment's notice. It's a relationship that can be hugely rewarding, as well as hugely toxic, and it's not often written about in fiction.
Other than that, it's pure fiction. I try not to base my work on real people – it feels somehow disrespectful.
Did you know who would be the killer(s) when you started writing this novel? Or did it change throughout the course of writing it?
I did, and that's almost always the case. I think it's very hard to lay all the clues for the reader if you don't know what you are supposed to be hinting at. I'm not a fan of novels where the solution comes out of the blue on the final page and leaves you thinking “how the hell was I supposed to guess that?” Of course it means that astute readers do sometimes get there before the reveal – but I prefer that to the risk of people feeling cheated.
Your novel centers around the employees of a small tech start up called “Snoop” on a work retreat. “Snoop” is an app that allows you to spy on what another person is listening to, from celebrities, to your friends, to anonymous accounts. If you could “snoop” on anyone’s music, who would it be and why?
Well, the odd thing is that I'm not really a music person. Which sounds strange, having written a book entirely about a music app! I listen to music in the car sometimes, of course, but most of my listening is podcasts or audiobooks – I tend to reserve music for when I'm with other people and I want it more as a background.
I think any kind of social media is fascinating though – it tells you not just about who the person really is, but how they want to be perceived. I think that would be the attraction of snoop – figuring out when a celebrity's carefully curated feed ends, and their real listening begins. One of my favourite quarantine moments was that film of Snoop Dogg sitting alone in his car, just blissfully listening to the Frozen soundtrack. It was not just touching and unexpected, but it also felt totally authentic. Maybe he would be my first snoop.
The “locked room” murder mystery is an incredibly engaging narrative device. Once the first body is found in the house, I found myself on the edge of my seat for the rest of the novel. Was it uniquely challenging to write a murder mystery in which the murderer is always around? Was it harder to hide from the reader who the culprit was?
This is a good question but I honestly never thought of it from that angle! In most of my books the murderer is present for much of the plot, so it wasn't a new problem for me – the murderer is always going to be trying to conceal their role, so that's not a hard thing to plot around. What's harder is presenting the clues in such a way that the solution is not obvious to the narrator (and the reader). In some ways it makes the actual writing easier – the knowledge that the murderer must be present sets up an inherent tension – readers are already a little on edge.
The novel starts with a newspaper article about a few gruesome murders that occurred in a chalet after an avalanche, so that the reader knows a few details of the crimes beforehand. Why did you choose to use this as the opening of the book?
Partly because the first death takes place a little way into the book, so I wanted to signal to the reader that a murder is coming! And partly because so much of the fun in reading detective novels is in solving the puzzles the author sets. In this book you don't have many puzzles in the first few chapters, so setting the reader a big one early on – four people die, but which four? - gets things ticking.
I used to work for a tech start-up, and the dynamic between the employees is spot on. Did you do any research on the start-up world? Did you conduct any interviews with current or former employees of any companies?
I'm so happy to hear that I got it right! No, I didn't speak to any real live employees but I did read a lot of books and listen to a lot of podcasts about the challenges of being a start up CEO (Start Up, by Gimlet, was particularly helpful in that respect, although all the CEOs in that are lovely and very conscious of their responsibilities to their employees – in stark contrast to Topher and Eva).
The setting of this novel, an expensive French ski resort, is simultaneously gorgeous and terrifying. Why did you decide to set this novel at a ski resort? How did you capture the setting of this novel?
Well I love skiing, so it's a setting I knew fairly well and didn't have to research too hard. It also felt like a good place to explore themes of money, excess and over-confidence – there's a lot of conspicuous consumption in ski resorts, and skiing seems to bring out the worst in a certain type of person. Anyone who has been skiing will probably recognise the stereotype of the person swooshing dangerously down the slope at a speed just slightly above their skill level, more interested in showing off than than in keeping other skiers safe.
Mainly though it's because as a writer I have to spend a year in the place I set a novel – in my imagination at least. So it might as well be a place I want to spend time!
In this novel, power is a big theme. The power that someone has in the company, the power of a guest over an employee, the power of secrets, the power of lies. How do you think power influences the choices of the characters in this novel?
I think this is true – it's also about the different kinds of power we have, and the delicate balance of how that plays out. My two narrators are both people in a really ambiguous situation in that sense. Erin works at the chalet so in one sense she's subordinate to the Snoop employees, who are the guests – her job is to keep them comfortable and serve their every whim. But in another sense, she and her co-worker Danny are the hosts, the chalet is their territory, and what they say goes. It's a balance that becomes increasingly precarious as the week wears on and the group is stranded – Erin becomes more and more concerned with maintaining her position of authority because she's aware that if she cedes it, someone more erratic may step in.
Liz is in a different but equally ambiguous position – once the lowest of the low at Snoop (she was Topher and Eva's assistant back before the app even launched) she has ended up with a tiny share-holding which has become the casting vote in a battle for control over the company. Since then she's left the company – but her shares have remained her own property, so now she's in the strange position of being the person everyone used to ignore and boss around, who is now courted and flattered for her vote.
On the other hand Topher, the CEO of snoop, is someone who takes power for granted and he can't believe what's happening when the events of the week take all that away. He's still googling helicopter airlifts, even while the storm rages, unable to accept that he's essentially powerless in the face of a natural disaster.
Someone once described plots as being, at their heart, about original status quo, disruptive event, new status quo. This book certainly fits that pattern. Everyone is grappling with that transition.
Why do you write thrillers? What is it about them that makes you enjoy writing them so much?
I think they are the perfect combination of head and heart – an intellectual battle of wits between the reader and the writer to solve the mystery, mixed with a personal journey for the characters. To me that is having your cake and eating it.
Exclusive Interview with Bestselling Thriller Author Ruth Ware
BY CHRISTELLE LUJAN|JUNE 17, 2024|CATEGORIES: AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
Ruth Ware, the best-selling author renowned for her gripping psychological thrillers and mysteries, continues to captivate readers with her latest novel One Perfect Couple. Known for her ability to create edge-of-your-seat suspense and her masterful storytelling, Ware’s novels have earned her a dedicated following. Now, in an exciting new development for fans, Ware’s entire collection, including her newest release One Perfect Couple, can be found on Spotify, offering readers and listeners alike an immersive audio experience. We got the chance to talk with Ruth about her latest novel, her partnership with Spotify, and what comes next.
One Perfect Couple
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
Lyla’s life takes an unexpected turn when her stalled post-doctoral career and rocky relationship lead her to join her boyfriend Nico on a new reality TV show called One Perfect Couple. After passing the auditions, they are whisked away to Ever After Island to compete against other couples for a cash prize, but soon after arriving things start to spiral out of control. Stranded by a dangerous storm, with no communication to the outside world, and supplies rapidly running out, Lyla and the other contestants must band together for survival as the game show becomes a fight for their lives.
Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
About Spotify Audiobooks:
Spotify recently launched Audiobooks in Premium, meaning Spotify Premium users across the US, U.K., Australia and now Ireland, Canada and New Zealand can experience a new way to listen to audiobooks on Spotify with access to 15 hours of monthly audiobook listening time from a catalog of 250,000+ titles. Since the launch of Audiobooks in Premium in Australia, the U.K., and the US late last year, Spotify has already paid out tens of millions to audiobook publishers, who in turn pay authors in their repertoires, with more than 150,000 titles listened to since its launch.
What was the inspiration for your latest book, One Perfect Couple?
A conversation with another author – we were talking about the fact that it’s a miracle more reality TV shows don’t end in murder, and my friend said “sounds like a Ruth Ware book!” From there the idea was born – though it morphed into something that’s only partly about the constructed unreality of reality TV, and in a way more about the nature of romantic relationships and the toxicity that can hide behind picture perfect facades.
You have written so many unforgettable thrillers at this point, how do you feel your writing has changed over the years?
I’m not sure – in some ways I feel like exactly the same writer who sat down to write In a Dark, Dark Wood. My obsessions with certain themes and my enjoyment of a twisting plot with more questions than answers really hasn’t changed. But I think I’ve become a bit more trusting of myself and my readers. I feel like people trust me to get to the point now, and know that however idyllic the set-up, murder is coming!
Has the rise of audiobook listening impacted your approach to writing? Are you hearing anything from your readers about how your stories captivate them on audio?
I wouldn’t say it’s changed how I write, but I definitely hear a lot from readers about how much they enjoy my audiobooks, and the performance of my long-time narrator Imogen Church. And I do bear the audio in mind when I edit now; I sometimes think about how I want a certain line to be delivered to preserve a reveal, and I add little notes for Imogen in the margin.
It’s been said that this novel is a nod to one of Agatha Christie’s classics, tell us a little about that and how it was to write a novel with that intention.
It’s obviously really hard to write a novel about a group of strangers being picked off one by one on a deserted island without thinking of Christie’s masterpiece And Then There Were None, but I have to say, I don’t think it’s necessarily the closest comp for this book. There are definitely Christie nods in there, and of course her book was in the back of my mind when writing, but if I had to make a direct comparison I would say it’s perhaps more like Lord of the Flies with influencers instead of kids!
What are some of your favorite recent reads? Have you listened to any audiobooks lately that you enjoyed?
I’ve been listening to The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson on audio. He reads his own audiobooks and he has such an interesting, idiosyncratic delivery. I think it really adds to the sense of his personality coming through. I’m not reading it for research particularly. It’s just because I like Ronson’s writing, but it’s surprisingly interesting from a crime writing point of view!
How do you see the crime and thriller genre evolving in the coming years?
Crime is already an incredibly wide-ranging genre that goes from cozies right through to serial killer novels, but I think some of the most exciting thrillers are coming from the more experimental edges of the genre – speculative fiction, for example. I would also love to see more historical crime breaking through; the recent death of Caleb Carr reminded me how much I adored his writing. The Alienist and its sequel The Angel of Darkness are true classics. Perhaps the new Shardlake TV series will remind people what a rich corner of the genre it can be.
Can you give us any hints about what you’re working on next?
Usually I’d be happy to, but this time round it’s a secret. So sorry, no! Watch this space 🙂
We just heard that Keira Knightley will be starring in The Woman in Cabin 10 (congrats!), can you share any details about your involvement or the adaptation project in general?
I KNOW, right? I nearly fell over when I heard the news! I’m not super involved in the project other than cheering from the sidelines, but I’m hoping I will be allowed to swan around the yacht when filming starts. Maybe I can get a cameo as a deck hand?
Where can fans and audiobook listeners find your latest release?
One Perfect Couple is available now to US listeners on Spotify and wherever audiobooks are sold. UK fans can listen to One Perfect Couple on July 18th, 2024.
Plus check out the This is Ruth Ware audiobook playlist to discover my latest novels on audio!
An interview with Ruth Ware
July 11, 2018
An interview with Ruth Ware
Hey, book nerds! I have super exciting news! A few weeks ago, I wrote a post where I ranked Ruth Ware’s novels. For those who don’t know Ruth Ware, she is an incredible British novelist who writes thrilling psychological mysteries. Since I read her first book, The Woman in Cabin 10, I have been hooked! So, I decided to take a risk and reach out and ask for an interview. Why not, right? After a few weeks, I was able to ask her a few questions and learn more about her journey as an author, her characters, and what books she is reading! Check it out!
1) Your books are centered on strong, female protagonists. What made you decide to write about strong, female characters in this specific genre?
I don’t think it’s something I consciously decided to do – and I don’t think my main characters are particularly strong in fact. They are stronger than they know, but they also have all the same fears and anxieties as the rest of us. Like most people, they’re capable of more than they realise when they’re pushed. I think my goal is just to write about realistic people – so far that’s generally been women in the main role, probably because I know more about what it’s like to be a woman.
2) As an aspiring writer, I always ask authors about their writing rituals. Do you have your own “space?” Do you have a prescribed set of practices that you follow?
I have a little study but I’m not particularly precious about where I write – except that I have a bad back, so it has to have a proper, adjustable chair and a desk at the right height. Aside from that, my only routine is to switch the computer on and start typing. I don’t need special music or anything to get me in the right mood.
3) What books are on your nightstand, and why?
A huge stack – everything from Patrick O’Brian, to Diary of a Wimpy Kid, plus a bunch of proofs I’ve been sent in the post. The one on top is What Would Boudicca Do? (Published as What Would Cleopatra Do? in America) which is fun for dipping in and out of as it’s short vignettes about interesting women. I never have less than about ten or twelve books stacked up at any one time. They’re a mix of things I’ve recently read, things I’m in the process of reading, and things I’m intending to get to.
4) What have you learned about being an author after you published your first book? How has that changed your writing style and process?
I suppose the main thing that has changed is that it’s now a job – I have to write whether I want to or not, and I try as far as possible to treat it like a job – I have office hours, and I turn off my writing computer at night and in the evenings. I don’t know if that was something I learned exactly. I had worked around books for years before becoming published so not much about the actual publishing process was a surprise to me.
5) So far, who is your favorite protagonist and why?
I don’t think I can answer this – it’s like being asked which of my kids is my favourite! I love them all for different reasons.
A big thanks to Ruth’s publicists (in the UK and US) for making this happen. And, a big thanks to Ruth for not only her insightful answers but for sharing her talent with the world! Hope you all enjoyed reading!
Behind the Pages: an Interview with Ruth Ware
Thriller/SuspenseFictionAuthor Interview Series
May 21
I am delighted to share my recent Q&A with the brilliant Ruth Ware, one of my all-time favorite authors. My love for Ruth's books is a passion I share with my mom and grandmother, who joined me at the signing event for "Zero Days" at the Curious Iguana Bookstore in Frederick, MD, last June. Meeting Ruth at that sold-out event only solidified her status as an 'auto-buy' author for me. She was incredibly genuine and took her time with each reader, never rushing anyone despite the long line.
Wendy (my mom), Linda (my grandmother), Me, and Ruth at the Curious Iguana - ‘Zero Days’ event in Frederick, MD. June 2023.
This Q&A offers a deeper look into her latest novel, "One Perfect Couple," her creative process, and her journey as a writer. A special thanks to Ruth for her time and participation in my author interview series!
The Influence of Setting in 'One Perfect Couple'
Q: The secluded Ever After Island in 'One Perfect Couple' not only shapes the story's suspense and urgency but also marks a return to the ‘remote setting’ or 'locked room' theme that is prominently featured in your works. Can you discuss your process for bringing this unique setting to life and how it plays into the novel's atmosphere?
A: I should preface this by saying that I’m not sure One Perfect Couple actually is a locked room mystery in strictest terms – a lot of people feel that description should only be used in the case of an “impossible crime” set-up like, for example, The Speckled Band, or The Murders in the Rue Morgue. One Perfect Couple definitely isn’t that, but it’s certainly a remote setting and a closed circle of suspects.
I don’t exactly know why I keep returning to this theme, apart from the fact that most of my novels play off my own fears and phobias in some way, and I think being trapped in a hideous situation with people you don’t like or trust and being unable to get away is probably most people’s idea of hell, so it makes for a really good starting point for a high tension thriller!
I also love a closed cast, not just because it enables you to delve really deeply into each character, but because it forces you, as a writer, to be really creative. You can’t bring on a forensic expert or a hot shot detective in act III to wrap everything up. You have only the toolbox you gave yourself at the start of the adventure to solve this conundrum!
Balancing Thrills and Psychological Depth
Q: The theme of survival is central to 'One Perfect Couple', with the characters facing life-or-death stakes far beyond the game show's premise. How did you balance the elements of a thriller with the psychological exploration of survival under duress?
A: I suppose the thing is, the theme of a thriller is always survival on some level – can I find out who did this before they find me, can I get through this experience with my sanity and integrity intact. So adding in an extra level of physical challenge felt very natural. Lyla is trying to survive not just the island, but her fellow contestants. What I really enjoyed, and what was very different from my previous books, was figuring out how all the standard game show tropes would play out in a much larger arena for much higher stakes. That was really fun – trying to figure out how a familiar type of contestant would react in a totally alien situation.
Crafting Memorable Characters
Q: To me, your works stand out for many reasons; one being that they feature characters with memorable and distinctive names. Can you share the process behind selecting names for your characters in 'One Perfect Couple' and your other works? How do you ensure the names fit the characters' personalities and the story's setting? Would you say you change their names often during the writing or editing process, or does your initial pick usually hit the mark?
A: Oh thank you! I honestly never thought about that, but it’s a great point! I guess I tend to pick names that are not too odd, but equally not too common – I called one of the characters in my earlier books “Kate” and had messages from several of the half dozen Kates I know saying, effectively, “uh, what gives?” I had to apologize and explain I really didn’t base the character on any of them!
I also think names and specifically nicknames can be a fun, subtle way of showing the interaction between people. In the case of Lyla and Nico, it tells you something about them that Nico chooses not to go by his birth name, Nick. And it also tells you something about how he and Lyla are feeling about each other, whether he calls her Lyla or his pet name for her, Lil. Finally, it tells you something about Baz that he can’t be bothered to get Lyla’s name right until they’re actually on the island – and often not even then. I don’t often change a character’s name, but it does sometimes happen, often about halfway through when I realize a name isn’t hitting the spot. In the case of One Perfect Couple, I changed Joel’s name, but it was right at the end, during the editing phase. He was originally Joe, but my editor kept getting him mixed up with Dan – I think partly because I hadn’t done as much work on the characters in my first draft, but also because they’re both very plain, one-syllable names. Adding an L was a way of making Joel’s name a little bit more distinctive along with his character, while still being a similar “feel.” I try not to change names unless strictly necessary because changing names is unfortunately an easy way of screwing up your manuscript. It’s very easy to do a find and replace from “Ben” to “Rick” and end up with people being rickt out of shape or finding a rickefit in a difficult situation. Having been in this situation a few times, the key is to remember to tick “match case,” so you’re only looking for Bens and not bens, and choose “whole words only” (obviously you then have to do Ben’s and Ben’ll separately). The one name that even those hacks won’t solve is Will. That’s my writing tip - never call a character Will unless you’re 100% sure it’s right!
Engaging with the Thriller Writing Community
Q: As a distinguished member of the thriller writing community, could you elaborate on your involvement with the International Thriller Writers organization? How has engaging with both aspiring writers and established authors, among other publishing professionals within ITW enriched your experience in your career?
A: Although I’m a member of ITW and have done a few virtual events with them, I’ve actually never attended Thrillerfest – until this year! This will be my first time. So in many ways I’m a complete newbie. But generally, I’m a big believer in sending the elevator back down as much as possible. Publishing is a confusing business, and I can’t tell you how to become a bestseller – if I knew, believe me, I’d bottle that for myself! - but if I can unravel any mysteries or provide any kind of roadmap, I always want to do that. That’s a big reason why I’m on social media – obviously connecting with readers is a huge part of it, but I also want to try to help aspiring writers wherever I can. There’s a lot of myths swirling around about how to get published and how the business works from the inside, and I certainly don’t know everything, but if I do know something, I want to share it. Engaging with organizations like ITW is just part of that.
Reading Preferences and Influences
Q: In terms of your personal reading habits, do you find yourself exploring within the thriller genre, or do your tastes take you elsewhere? How does your reading influence your writing, if at all?
A: I love reading thrillers, but I find it hard to read anything too close to my own genre when I’m first-drafting. I tend to take refuge in completely different parts of the bookshop when I’m coming up with new ideas and finding my feet with a new project – sci-fi, fantasy, non-fiction, that kind of thing. There’s also always the horror that you might stumble across someone tackling the same subject matter as yourself. This actually happened with One Perfect Couple when I found out that a writer friend, Clare Mackintosh, was also tackling reality TV with her new book, A Game of Lies. Fortunately, they turned out to be very, very different approaches to the same topic, but there was a moment when I was wondering, “Oh God, am I going to have to abandon this book?!”
A Fun Fact About Ruth Ware
Q: What is something about your writing life or personal interests that might surprise your readers? Is there an aspect of your journey to becoming a bestselling author that you think fans would find unexpected or particularly interesting?
A: I’ve talked so extensively about my writing journey that I’m not sure there are many surprises left – but people might be surprised to know that I briefly lived in a convent. Not part of my writing journey, but you never know, it might make it into a novel someday!
Thank you, Ruth, for this enlightening conversation and for giving us a glimpse into your creative world. Your thoughtful answers provided a deeper understanding of your creative process and the fascinating layers behind "One Perfect Couple." I am truly grateful for the time you took to share your insights.
Additionally, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to your publicist, Sydney, for handling all the back-and-forth communication and making this opportunity possible. Your efforts in arranging this interview are greatly appreciated. Thank you both for your time and generosity.
SCOTT BUTKI’S INTERVIEW WITH RUTH WARE
MAY 30, 2018 MPSCOTTBUTKILEAVE A COMMENT
Ruth Ware’s fourth book, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, is another one of her great psychological thrillers.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway Cover ImageWare previously wrote three excellent novels: In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying Game. The latter two were on the top ten bestseller lists of The New York Times and the U.K.’s Sunday Times. All three books have been optioned for screen.
This book is good, similar fare full of twists and suspense. The story revolves around Hal, a young tarot card reader, down on her luck. She attends the funeral of a woman who has left her a mysterious inheritance. But it appears Hal was not truly the intended recipient which leads to many complications, plot twists and difficult situations
Ware was nice enough to let me interview her by email. My sister, Ellen Butki, helped me formulate the questions. Thanks to both of you.
Scott Butki: How did this story about this young woman develop?
Ruth Ware: I always find it hard to unpick all the threads that come together to make a story, but I suppose that having written three books about women who found themselves in a life changing situation mostly through no fault of their own, I wanted to write something about a character who brings the action down on themselves – someone who sets out to commit a crime. But I found it impossible to write Hal as a true anti-hero. She makes some questionable decisions, but I liked her more and more as the book went on.
Image result for ruth wareSB: What do you think of those who compare you to Agatha Christie, as both of you not only are famous for twists but also for putting characters into situations that can lead to paranoia and violence?
RW: I take it as a huge compliment! I’m a big fan of Christie and I think her plots are pretty much second to none – so many of the features we take for granted about the genre today, she more or less developed. I would be very happy if I wrote something even a quarter as twisty and genre-defining as And Then There Were None.
SB: In your writing process, which do you see first: the overview (characters/setting/plot), the ending, or the major twist? Do you add more twists while editing?
RW: It’s really hard to pick apart because they all come together more or less at the time, and different books develop differently. With Cabin 10 I had the ship first of all – the first image that came to me was of a woman waking up in the middle of the night in a locked cabin and hearing a splash. But who that woman was and what happened next developed at the same time, because the one influenced the other.
In a Dark, Dark Wood the physical entity of the glass house only came to me quite late on, about a quarter of the way into the book – but again the motives of the protagonists and their particular characters developed hand in hand. Character is plot, and plot is character. What we do and why is shaped by who we are – and vice versa. The twists are a bit separate – I have to figure those out as I go. Sometimes the pieces don’t fall into place until really quite late.
SB: Identity seems to be a common theme in your books. Is that intentional? Do you want readers to take away something about identity or some other lesson while reading your books?
RW: Do you know, I had never really thought about this before, but you are right! I am not sure why that is – except that I’m endlessly fascinated by people and the versions of themselves that they show to the world versus the people they are inside. I guess it’s that fascination showing. I don’t really write with an intentional lesson or message in mind – I would never presume to dictate to my readers what they should or shouldn’t find in my books, though of course there are always subjects I’m interested in, and I suppose I do often hope to make people think and question some of their assumptions.
SB: Do you believe that deeply buried secrets will/must always be revealed (in books and/or in life)? Where does this belief stem from?
RW: Actually, I am a firm believer in healthy repression 😉 Of course in books secrets usually come out – it’s back to that Chekovian idea of a gun above the mantelpiece. If you reveal that a character has a deep dark secret, there’s no point in putting it in the plot unless it’s going to come out at some point, otherwise you may as well not bring it up at all. In real life, though, we all have secrets – large and small – and bringing things out into the open isn’t always the right course of action. I think my books often show the enormous damage that can be done when secrets surface.
SB: What are you working on next?
RW: Another book of course! It’s a bit too early to talk about it though – I don’t want to jinx myself.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway.
By Ruth Ware.
May 2018. 384p. Simon & Schuster/Scout, $26.99 (9781501156212); e-book, $12.99 (9781501156229).
Hal hasn't had it easy in the three years since her mother died. She's dropped out of school and taken over her mother's tarot booth on Brighton Pier, but there was never much to be made from that. Now interest on the money from a loan shark has grown to an impossible amount, and he's threatening to break her bones. So when a letter arrives on creamy stationery from a lawyer in Penzance saying she's an heir to her grandmother's fortune, Hal goes to claim it, even though she knows he has the wrong person. Yet once at Trepassen House, things take an odd turn; a photograph shows she does have connections to the family. Finding the truth, however, turns into a very dangerous enterprise indeed. Ware, who, with a run of acclaimed thrillers, including The Lying Game (2017), has established herself as one of today's most popular suspense writers, twists the knife quite expertly here. Her clues tease readers, making them think they know what will happen next, and they do--up to a point. The labyrinth Ware has devised here is much more winding than expected, with reveals even on the final pages. The plotting is not completely seamless, but that is more than made up for by a clever heroine and an atmospheric setting, accented by wisps of meaning that drift from the tarot cards. --Ilene Cooper
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Cooper, Ilene. "The Death of Mrs. Westaway." Booklist, vol. 114, no. 17, 1 May 2018, pp. 24+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A539647208/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=18655282. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Ware, Ruth THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY Scout Press/Simon & Schuster (Adult Fiction) $26.99 5, 29 ISBN: 978-1-5011-5621-2
A young woman receives notice of a mysterious bequest. Is it a case of mistaken identity, or will it reveal some truth about her family?
In Ware's (The Lying Game, 2017, etc.) fourth novel in as many years, Harriet "Hal" Westaway is barely making ends meet as a tarot reader on the Brighton Pier. Her mother died in a hit-and-run several years before, and in her grief, Hal has drifted into a solitary and impecunious life. Worse still, she's under threat from a loan shark who's come to collect the interest on an earlier debt. So when she receives a letter saying she's been named in the will of, possibly, an unknown grandmother, she decides to travel to Cornwall, despite fearing that it's probably all a mistake. There she meets several possible uncles and a creepy old housekeeper right out of a Daphne du Maurier novel, all against the backdrop of a run-down mansion. As Hal desperately tries to keep up her charade of belonging to the family, she realizes that the malevolent atmosphere of Trepassen House has strong roots in the past, when a young girl came to live there, fell in love, and was imprisoned in her bedroom. Hal just has to figure out exactly who this girl was...without getting herself killed. Ware continues to hone her gift for the slow unspooling of unease and mystery, developing a consistent sense of threat that's pervasive and gripping. She uses tarot readings to hint at the supernatural, but at its heart, this is a very human mystery. The isolation of Trepassen House, its magpies, and its anachronistic housekeeper cultivate a dull sense of horror. Ware's novels continue to evoke comparison to Agatha Christie; they certainly have that classic flavor despite the contemporary settings.
Expertly paced, expertly crafted.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Ware, Ruth: THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A534375268/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=cd782ebc. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Byline: Maureen Corrigan
The Death of Mrs. Westaway
By Ruth Ware.
Gallery/Scout. 384 pp. $26.99
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A classic never goes out of style. Consider the confident simplicity of the dry martini, the Edison lightbulb and Meghan Markle's wedding dress. Now, add to that list Ruth Ware's new novel, "The Death of Mrs. Westaway." Here's a suspense tale so old-fashioned, I'm hard-pressed to recall an element of it that doesn't derive straight from the "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" playbook.
Among other Gothic delights, there's a crumbling old mansion, a disputed inheritance, an orphaned heroine and a grim housekeeper whose signature supper dish is gristle stew. "The Death of Mrs. Westaway" is a perfectly executed suspense tale very much in the mode of Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca." Somehow, Ware takes all these tarnished suspense tropes, gives them a brisk working over with a polishing cloth and recovers the ageless beauty of the traditional.
The novel opens on, well, a dark and stormy night as a lone young woman scurries her way homeward along a deserted seaside promenade. Harriet "Hal" Westaway is 21 years old. She never knew her father's identity, and ever since the hit-and-run death of her mother three years ago, Hal has been eking out a living reading tarot cards in a seedy resort town on the English Channel.
When she arrives in her chilly flat, Hal tears open her damp meal of takeout fish and chips and surveys the overdue notices that have arrived in that day's mail. Two letters stand out in the pile: One is a threat from a loan shark she naively borrowed money from months ago; the other is a missive on heavy stationery from a solicitor's firm in Cornwall, informing Hal of the death of her maternal grandmother and summoning Hal to a reading of the will. The tantalizing phrase "substantial size of the estate" catches Hal's eye. The only problem is Hal knows that her mother's mother died decades ago; the lawyer must have her confused with another Harriet Westaway.
Hal is a person of integrity, but she's also desperate. That sadistic loan shark has a reputation for merrily cutting deadbeat borrowers to ribbons. Over the next day, Hal mulls over her options and bets on putting to use a skill her mother taught her: the art of being a "cold reader." Like Sherlock Holmes, Hal can simply glance at the clients who turn up at her kiosk in the amusement arcade and suss out key personal details: "Hal could guess their age, their status; she noticed the smart but worn shoes that showed a downward change in fortune or the recently bought designer handbag that indicated the reverse. In the dim light of her booth, she could still see the white line of a recently removed wedding ring, or the shaky hands of someone missing their morning drink."
Equipped only with this talent, Hal decides to board a train for Cornwall (where "Rebecca" was set) and pass herself off as the missing Westaway granddaughter. If she's exposed as a fraud, she'll be packed off to prison, so Hal steels herself to pull off the ultimate con game.
It's pouring buckets when Hal arrives at the church where the funeral is being held outside Penzance. Fans of Ware's most recent bestsellers, "The Woman in Cabin 10" and "The Lying Game," will recognize her predilection for making nature's elements a felt presence in her stories; here, extreme weather - in the form of "lashing rain," fierce gales, ice and a freak blizzard - plays a malevolent role.
Hal bluffs her way through her first graveside encounter with her "uncles" - the Westaway adult children and their partners. Then she's driven to the family manse, Trepassen House, a gloomy pile sans central heating that's encircled by menacing magpies straight out of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." The aforementioned housekeeper, Mrs. Warren, grudgingly shows Hal her bedroom, a bare chamber in the attic with bars on the tiny window and, as she will discover, the words "HELP ME"scratched into the glass. Our reluctant con artist, Hal, slowly begins to suspect that maybe she's the one who's been conned into a fatal trap.
"The Death of Mrs. Westaway" is superb. In addition to its brooding atmosphere and labyrinthine mistaken-identity plot, the novel also gives us a heroine of real depth in Hal. As Ware vividly depicts, Hal is hemmed in by her poverty as much as she is by those iron bars on the attic window. Hal can't flee Trepassen House; she only has enough money for a one-way ticket. (She rashly gambled on the chance that she would get some inheritance money right away.) So Hal resolves to settle in. I predict lovers of first-class suspense will also want to burrow into their version of Hal's darkened chamber, shut out the delights of summer and read until the stunning endgame here is played out.
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Corrigan, the book critic for the NPR program "Fresh Air," teaches literature at Georgetown University.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 The Washington Post
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Corrigan, Maureen. "Book World: Why Ruth Ware's new thriller is a classic." Washington Post, 24 May 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A540123726/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4051ba89. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Ware, Ruth THE TURN OF THE KEY Scout Press/Simon & Schuster (Adult Fiction) $27.99 8, 6 ISBN: 978-1-5011-8877-0
Ware (The Death of Mrs. Westaway, 2018, etc.) channels The Turn of the Screw in her latest creepy mystery when a nanny takes a post at a haunted country house.
Traveling to Heatherbrae House to interview for a nanny position, Rowan Caine finds a gorgeously redone Victorian mansion nestled in the remote Scottish moors. Sandra Elincourt is stylish and smart, and the girls seem sweet enough, though 8-year-old Maddie rings some alarm bells in Rowan's mind. So what if the last four nannies left under mysterious circumstances? Rowan knows she's where she belongs--even when Maddie tries to warn her away, claiming that "the ghosts wouldn't like it" if she stays. On her first day, however, Bill Elincourt makes a pass at her, and then both parents leave on a business trip, planning to be gone for at least a week. Left alone with the three little girls, Rowan can't shake the feeling that there are other forces at work in the house. When strange noises begin to wake them all in the night, it seems like the house may indeed be haunted. What happened to those other nannies? Why is Maddie intent on getting Rowan fired? Why is there a garden of poison plants? And who wrote "We hate you" all over the attic walls? Ware excels at taking classic mystery tropes and reinventing them; her novels always feel appealingly anachronistic because while the technology is 21st century, there is something traditionally gothic about the settings, full of exaggerated luxury and seething dark corners. In this case, she reimagines the Victorian ghost story, with Henry James the most obvious influence not just on the plot, but also on the narrative frame, as the story actually takes the form of a letter written by Rowan to her solicitor as she sits imprisoned for murder. Regrettably, the novel's ending leaves a few too many loose ends while also avoiding the delicious ambiguity of its Victorian predecessors.
Truly terrifying! Ware perfects her ability to craft atmosphere and sustain tension with each novel.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Ware, Ruth: THE TURN OF THE KEY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A585227245/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=60da7abf. Accessed 26 June 2024.
The Turn of the Key.
By Ruth Ware.
Aug. 2019. 352p. Simon & Schuster/Scout, $27.99 (9781982121938); e-book, $12.99 (9781501188794).
Henry James' 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw was successfully reworked as early as 1911 in Burnett's The Secret Garden and has morphed many times over since then into film, music, and many remarkable novels, including this one. Ware cleverly puts a high-tech spin on the tale's gothic foundations of spellbinding menace set in a remote cavernous mansion with mysterious locked doors and a spooky garden. In Ware's version, though, the garden is not just spooky but also poison. Rowan Caine stumbles across an online listing for a live-in nanny position with a seemingly charming family at Heatherbrae House in the magnificent Scottish Highlands. The staggering salary on offer should have warned Rowan that something might be amiss, but she couldn't resist. The house is rumored to be haunted and nightmarishly controlled by software ironically called the Happy App, whose malfunctions have nerve-shattering results. For Rowan, "The sense of intrusion was indescribable," thanks to surveillance cameras and unseen speakers, not to mention the spectral sounds coming from the attic above her room. Her decline into resentment, fatigue, and terror is chronicled in the form of letters she writes while in prison awaiting trial for the murder of one of the children. Ware's James-like embroidery of the strange and sinister produces a Turn of the Screw with cellphones and Teslas that will enthrall today's readers. Much like its predecessor, the novel is occasionally mystifying, but it will not disappoint.--Jane Murphy
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Murphy, Jane. "The Turn of the Key." Booklist, vol. 115, no. 19-20, 1 June 2019, pp. 45+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A593431502/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=778160c5. Accessed 26 June 2024.
The Turn of the Key
Ruth Ware. Scout, $27.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-5011-8877-0
Ware's excellent psychological thriller, as the title suggests, references Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. It includes a nanny alone, a house that appears to be haunted, and children who aren't quite what they seem. But Ware hauls the story into the 21st century by making the technology of today as menacing as the story's isolated location, a Scottish estate.
Rowan Caine, a young woman with secrets, stands accused of murdering one of the four children in her care while serving as a nanny. But which child died under her care, what brought Rowan to Scotland in the first place, and what were the events that led up to that fateful event? The answers to those questions slowly reveal themselves, with each answer resulting in a myriad of new questions.
Unhappy in her job at a London day care center, Rowan answers an advertisement for a live-in nanny, one with a very generous salary, for architects Bill and Sandra Elincourt. Even before traveling north to interview for the job, Rowan immediately discovers the first of many warning signs that maybe the position is too good to be true: four predecessors have all walked off the job in the last year. As a result, that promised salary comes in the form of a lump-sum bonus only after she's completed her term of service. She also learns that the enormous house where the family lives has been wired to be smart in every way, with an Alexa-on-steroids program called Happy that manages the most mundane of daily activities--turning on lights, making lists--while also ensuring that privacy is a thing of the past.
Once Rowan arrives in Scotland, she quickly wins over Sandra, whose claims to be less than enamored of the house's technology prove to be less than genuine. Then Bill and Sandra announce they need to leave her alone with the children while they work on a major project, and those children are not enthralled by the new nanny. Ware does a good job of creating tension through the vastness of the house and grounds, bringing in elements such as a nasty housekeeper, a handsome handyman with an agenda, a walled poison garden, and an attic filled with secrets.
But above all, Ware skillfully lays the bread crumbs to the novel's satisfying conclusion without dropping too many hints or duping the reader. She presents Rowan as a woman making questionable decisions, and, by the end, provides a reason for each of those decisions, if not a justification. The final section not only pulls together the plot's many threads but also leaves readers with one final, haunting question, one that will stay with them long after they turn the last page. Agent: Eve White. Eve White Literary (U.K.). (Aug.)
REVIEWED BY EDWIN HILL
Agatha Award--finalist Edwin Hill is the author of Little Comfort.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
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Hill, Edwin. "The Turn of the Key." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 23, 10 June 2019, p. 98. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A589967687/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=cdbbd65e. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Byline: Maureen Corrigan
By Ruth Ware
Gallery/Scout. 384 pp. $27.99
It's the predictable comparison: Ruth Ware is British and a writer of mysteries that characteristically feature groups of people threatened by mortal danger in closed settings - manor houses or cruise ships or even the classic "locked rooms." Ergo, ever since her debut thriller, "In a Dark, Dark Wood," came out in 2015, Ware has been dubbed "the new Agatha Christie."
Except, in this rare instance, that comparison, tired as it may be, is fitting. Not only do Ware's novels wink at Christie in a saucy way, but Ware herself is turning out to be as ingenious and indefatigable as the Queen of Crime. Over the past five years, Ware has produced five suspense novels, each one markedly different from its predecessor and almost all of them weighing in from really good - "The Woman in Cabin 10" - to spectacular - "The Death of Mrs. Westaway." (The weak link is "The Lying Game." Avoid any mystery whose opening scene involves a dog digging up a human bone.)
Ware's latest is titled "One by One," and it's the most brazenly Christie-ish of all her novels, directly taking inspiration from "Ten Little Indians," which had an even more racially offensive title when it was originally published in England in 1939. A year later, the novel was published in America as "And Then There Were None." In Christie's novel, a group of strangers is lured to an isolated house on an island, where, in short order, a psycho prunes the guest list. Ware's homage also owes something to the feeble 1965 film of Christie's novel (itself a remake of a 1945 film) where, instead of an island, the guests are trapped in a snowbound mountain resort. In Ware's tale, the characters - some workmates, others strangers - are summoned to a private retreat in the French Alps where avalanches tremble atop every surrounding mountain peak and the guests are picked off, one by one.
It's such a simple premise for a suspense tale; the best ones usually are. Christie, however, always said that the plot of "And Then There Were None" gave her the most trouble of any of her novels. Ware's story follows the snow tracks of Dame Agatha's classic but cunningly swerves off-road at crucial moments with the aid of techie updates.
The opening of "One by One" consists of the text of a (fictional) BBC News story about twin tragedies that have just occurred in the exclusive French ski resort of St. Antoine: The first catastrophe is an avalanche that killed six people; the second is the murder of four Britons in a ski chalet that had been cut off from the outside world by the aforementioned avalanche. All of the guests who'd checked in to that chalet five days earlier worked at Snoop, company that makes a music that app that proudly advertises itself as "Voyeurism for your ears." Snoop's appeal is that it offers users the experience of listening to whatever music other subscribers, including celebrities like, say, Jay-Z or Lady Gaga, are listening to in real time. The Snoop workmates who gathered for this work retreat are as hip as their product. For instance, Tiger-Blue Esposito (certainly one of the most inspired names for a character) is identified on the company's website not as the publicist, but as the "head of cool."
As we readers quickly learn, the motivation for this retreat isn't simply employee bonding over winter sports and hot toddies. Snoop has become such a sensation that a stupendous buyout offer is on the table. One of Snoop's co-founders wants to take the money and run; the other is adamantly against the buyout. The votes of other employees who own shares have broken evenly on both sides. The deciding vote turns out to be a former low-level employee who was paid in a couple of shares when the company was a mere startup. Liz is a fade-into-the-woodwork type of gal, and because she abruptly quit the company some time ago, she's deeply uneasy about being summoned back into the Snoop fold during this combative retreat. It turns out she - and everyone else staying at what will be dubbed a "house of horror" - has good reason to feel uneasy.
Liz is one of two first-person narrators of "One by One," alternating chapters with Erin, who works as the host of the chalet. Both young women turn out to be hiding nasty secrets behind their mild exteriors. As in Christie's mysteries, part of the great pleasure of reading "One by One" lies in rereading key passages and realizing how dim one was (as a reader) the first time round. Much of the crucial information is out in the open, right there on the page in dialogue and description, but Ware expertly scatters red herrings galore so that even the most alert reader becomes diverted into false deductions and dead ends.
And, then, there are those dead ends the characters fatally enter: a ski trail that veers off into thin air, a locked room that transforms into mausoleum. As the body count mounts, so too do Ware's multitudinous methods of doing away with the victims. Like Christie, Ware prefers to have her killings transpire "offstage," making "One by One" that increasingly rare literary achievement: a non-grisly thriller. The final section, where the last intended victim is locked in a ghastly battle of wits and endurance with the unmasked killer, has to be one of the most ingeniously extended plot climaxes in the suspense canon. I don't know how Ruth Ware manages to keep up her pace of writing such fine and distinctive suspense novels every year (even Christie needed to take a break every so often); but, on behalf of suspense lovers everywhere, may I say that I'm grateful she has turned out to be a marathoner, rather than a sprinter.
- - -
Corrigan, the book critic for the NPR program "Fresh Air," teaches literature at Georgetown University.
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Corrigan, Maureen. "Book World: Ruth Ware's ingenious 'One by One' pays homage to Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None'." Washington Post, 8 Sept. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A634806576/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1214af2f. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Byline: Mary Cadden, USA TODAY
Ruth Ware has never been boxed in when it comes to the "locked door mysteries" format.
The author has stranded her characters with killers on cruise ships and in vacation cottages.
In her latest, "One by One" (Scout Press, 384 pp.***), Ware manages to make a retreat in a chalet in the wide-open French Alps feel claustrophobic, nerve-wracking and deadly.
Tech startup Snoop, a hip social music app on the verge of an IPO, is having a company retreat in the Alps. Several of the company's leaders, primary shareholders and employees, past and present, arrive expecting a team-building week. They come with hidden agendas and alliances, some fighting for their professional lives and the future of the company.
Two opposing camps form under co-founders Topher St. Clair-Bridges and Eva van den Berg, who each have different visions for the future of the company. Sides are taken and tensions mount.
Enter an avalanche that engulfs the mountain and leaves the chalet guests and staff stranded with no cell phone or internet access. The ski runs and the mountain's funicular provide the only access to the chalet, and they are wiped out. The party finds itself cut off from the outside world.
We all know now how difficult it is to be isolated with friends and family, even in the best of times. Now imagine being trapped with work colleagues. Oh, and a killer. They're not just fighting for their professional lives, but their actual lives, as well.
How well do you really know your colleagues? After all, anyone can keep up a facade during a workday, but putting on and keeping your professional face with no buffer, all day every day, is a different thing entirely. Facades start cracking. Secrets and ulterior motives are de rigueur at work, and with no respite from colleagues, gloves come off.
The author's choice of telling the story in dueling narratives - Liz, a former Snoop employee who was invited to join in the retreat; and Erin, one of the chalet's two staff members - enhances the steadily escalating pace of the book.
With one a member of the group and the other a casual observer, the reader is privy to more than just one character's motives and observations.
But when it comes to whodunits, giving too much away lessens the impact.
As always, Ware is effective at not just manipulating her characters, but also their environment, with a simplicity that belies its effectiveness. There are no outlandish scenarios or truly out-of-the-ordinary circumstances that render the plot unbelievable. Reader can picture themselves in a similar situation, and that adds to the suspense.
"One by One" is another solid thriller from Ware. And with all good thrillers, the crux comes down to the one thing we can never control: another person's motives and intentions. And isn't that the most frightening realization of all?
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 USA Today
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Cadden, Mary. "'One by One' develops suspense in the Alps." USA Today, 8 Sept. 2020, p. 08B. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A634797441/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ed34891c. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Ware, Ruth ONE BY ONE Scout Press/Simon & Schuster (Fiction None) $27.99 9, 8 ISBN: 978-1-5011-8881-7
Our contemporary Agatha Christie offers up her version of And Then There Were None when 11 people are stranded in a ritzy ski chalet and begin dying one by one.
By the numbers, the streaming app Snoop is devastatingly successful, and the company is on the cusp of a major buyout—if the shareholders vote to take this route. The founders, Topher and Eva, are torn, and the other three shareholders are being courted to choose sides. Most of the pressure falls on Liz, an awkward outlier when compared with the glamorous, beautiful people who head up the company. Though she doesn't work directly for Snoop anymore, Liz is included in the leadership retreat: It's her and eight other board members at a lush, remote French ski chalet for a little powder, a little pampering, and a little back-channel business. Erin and Danny, the caretakers of the chalet, notice tension among the members of the Snoop group from the beginning, but overall it seems like just another wealthy, entitled corporate gathering. The weather on top of the mountain grows increasingly dangerous, and when nine people go out to ski and only eight return, fear and suspicion begin to grow. Then there's an avalanche, and the chalet is cut off from contact with the outside world. Soon, another group member dies, apparently poisoned, and then another is murdered because of something she saw. The survivors must split up to search for help before there's no one left. Alternating chapters between Liz's and Erin’s points of view, Ware does what she does best: Gives us a familiar locked-door mystery setup and lets the tension and suspicion marinate until they reach fever pitch. Another win for Ware and her adaptations of classic mystery traditions.
The solution is maddeningly simple but the construction, simply masterful.
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"Ware, Ruth: ONE BY ONE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 July 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A627920300/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=359d6906. Accessed 26 June 2024.
One by One. By Ruth Ware. Sept. 2020. 384p. Simon & Schuster/Scout, $27.99 (9781501188817); e-book, $ 14.99 (9781501188831).
Ware follows her acclaimed The Turn of the Key (2019) with another fine crime novel in the classic tradition. This one is especially timely, given that the terror of isolation is at its heart. The eight shareholding employees of a breakout tech start-up are attending a corporate retreat in a luxurious chalet high up in the French Alps. They are not truly alone, but they are trapped with their coworkers and not sure they can trust one another. Investors are anxious to buy into the start-up, but only half of the employees want to sell. Most significantly, they are cut off from the rest of the world because an avalanche has trapped them inside the chalet, and they have no ability to contact the outside world. The irony is rich. These are people more skilled at online expression than interpersonal communication. How many of them will still be alive by the time the rescue team arrives? Will their two "hosts" manage to feed them and keep them warm--and keep them from killing each other? And then one of them turns out to be not who she says she is. This is And Then There Were None rendered for the twenty-first century, and David Baldacci is spot-on in calling Ware "The Agatha Christie of our generation."--Jane Murphy
[HD] HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Ware is one of the hottest traditional-mystery writers at the moment, and her sure-to-be-heavily-marketed latest will only turn up the heat.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 American Library Association
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Murphy, Jane. "One by One." Booklist, vol. 116, no. 19-20, 1 June 2020, p. 44. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A628068836/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d576a835. Accessed 26 June 2024.
The It Girl. By Ruth Ware. July 2022. 432p. Gallery, $28.99 (9781982155261).
April Clarke-Cliveden was the It Girl. "Whatever it was, she had it." She was dazzlingly beautiful, rich, and irrepressible. Her propensity for playing practical jokes knew no bounds. After her roommate, Hannah, finds April strangled in their shared quarters at Oxford, a university porter is convicted of the murder, thanks in part to Hannah's testimony against him. He dies in prison 10 years later, still asserting his innocence. Hannah is now pregnant and married to April's former boyfriend. The media are after her, making her life miserable once again, and then one of their former classmates tells Hannah something that leads her to doubt what she saw--or thought she saw. The narrative is related in brief alternating chapters, from "before" and "after." Ware develops both the reader's doubts about and concern for Hannah as the suspense builds gradually under a masterful barrage of red herrings. Hannah is certainly vulnerable, but how reliable is she? Seasoned mystery readers will ache for a vintage Inspector Morse to magically appear in the vivid Oxford setting, but Hannah must go it alone, determined to learn the truth, through a harrowing conclusion. Like Ware's earlier novels, this one employs another closed setting, although it eventually opens up to a wider world. Riveting. --Jane Murphy
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Murphy, Jane. "The It Girl." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 17, 1 May 2022, p. 32. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711045741/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=573714e3. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Ruth Ware. Scout, $28.99 (432p) ISBN 978-1-9821-5526-1
This exceptional psychological thriller from Ware (One by One) probes how much one can trust others--and one's self Hannah Jones's Oxford University roommate, April Clarke-Cliveden, is everything Hannah isn't: wealthy, sophisticated, sexually adventurous, and occasionally cruel. The two become best friends despite their differences and the unspoken attraction between Hannah and April's boyfriend, Will. Moments after Hannah sees college porter John Neville leaving their residence building, she finds April strangled. Though Neville is later convicted of the murder, the crime, trial, and subsequent media furo upend Hannah's life. Ten years later, she's living in Edinburgh, married to Will, and pregnant. Days after Neville dies in prison, a journalist emails her with evidence that calls the porter's guilt into doubt. Fearing her testimony helped convict an innocent man, Hannah feels compelled to revisit the murder with the three Oxford friends that knew April best. The memories shared by mild-mannered doctor Hugh, mathematician Emily, and Ryan, who has suffered a stroke since their college years, call most of what she's believed about April and her death into question. Alternating past and present chapters build toward a gripping denouement as nicely chosen details bring each character vividly to life. This showcases Ware's gifts to the fullest. Agent: Eve White, Eve White Literary (U.K.). (July)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 PWxyz, LLC
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"The It Girl." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 20, 9 May 2022, p. 35. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A706390530/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1ae8cf37. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Ware, Ruth THE IT GIRL Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (Fiction None) $26.99 7, 12 ISBN: 978-1-9821-5526-1
Ten years after having discovered her Oxford roommate's dead body in front of the fireplace in their room, a young woman struggles with the realization that she may have helped send the wrong man to prison.
Hannah Jones arrives at Oxford hardly believing that she's been accepted into this haven of learning and wealth. Sharing a picturesque set of rooms with the flamboyant and beautiful April Clarke-Cliveden, she divides her time between rigorous studying and energetic socializing with Emily Lippmana, Ryan Coates, Hugh Bland, and Will de Chastaigne, with whom she shares an attraction even though he's April's boyfriend. It's a good life except for the increasingly creepy interactions she has with John Neville, one of the porters. When Hannah finds April dead one night just after she's seen Neville coming down the stairs from their rooms, it's her testimony that puts him in jail. Ware divides the novel into alternating "before" and "after" chapters, with the narrative of Hannah's college experience unfolding parallel to the events of her life nearly a decade later, when she's married to Will and pregnant with their first child. Then Neville dies in prison and Hannah hears from a reporter who thinks he might actually have been innocent. Hannah begins to wonder herself, and she plunges back into the past to see if she can figure out what really happened that night. As usual with Ware, the novel is well crafted--the setting, characters, and dialogue are all engaging--but it lacks the author's signature sense of urgent and imminent threat. The novel unfolds smoothly, providing a few twists and turns, as the reader might expect, but not really delivering any true suspense. It also lacks the contrast between a luxurious background and the characters' fears that Ware has often played to great effect. She does offer a deeper dive into the trauma of the survivors than she usually does, but this isn't the breathless page-turner one has come to expect from Ware.
Delightfully readable fiction, but the mystery disappoints.
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"Ware, Ruth: THE IT GIRL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A703413907/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=56de3b7e. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Ware, Ruth ZERO DAYS Scout Press/Simon & Schuster (Fiction None) $29.99 6, 20 ISBN: 9781982155292
When a security expert is murdered, his wife will stop at nothing to find the killer--even as she becomes suspect No. 1.
Jacintha "Jack" Cross is a "penetration tester": She's the boots-on-the-ground person for testing out security systems, while her husband, Gabe, does the same for cybersecurity. Leaving a job one night, Jack is picked up by the police--an occupational hazard--and when she returns home, she finds Gabe's body, throat slit. In shock, Jack reports the murder, talks to the police again, and goes to stay with her older sister, Helena Wick, for a day. When she's asked to return to the station for a few more questions, Jack quickly realizes that she's under suspicion--and so she goes on the run. With the help of her sister and Cole Garrick, Gabe's oldest friend, she's able to elude capture and begin her own investigation, determined to find her husband's killer. Apparently, Gabe had found a "zero-day exploit," a backdoor vulnerability, in a popular app, one that could be worth a lot of money to governments and bad actors. Ware has often highlighted technology as a malignant, uncontrollable force in her novels, and it's frequently at odds with her luxurious, somewhat timeless settings. But in this novel, tech is front and center. Despite the contemporary trappings, though, the story is still a familiar one: It's The Fugitive if the main characters were women. There's plenty of excitement--chases, break-ins, shady bitcoin deals, an impending medical emergency--but the pool of characters is too small to leave much suspense about the mystery of Gabe's death. Jack is a strong and fearless heroine, and Ware is always a master of setting and atmosphere, but the great reveal makes one wonder: Was it all worth it? Or more accurately, couldn't Jack have figured this out much faster? Did it all have to come down to the poetic moment when she has nothing left?
Lots of adrenaline-driven action, a departure from Ware's usual wire-taut mysteries.
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"Ware, Ruth: ZERO DAYS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2023, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A745234604/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=42fbbfe2. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Zero Days. By Ruth Ware. June 2023.368p. Scout, $29.99 (9781982155292); e-book (9781982155315).
Ware's latest thriller will not disappoint, different as it is from some of her earlier books. Jack (Jacintha) and her husband Gabe are "pen" (penetration) testers, hired by companies to check their computer security and ensure that they are hack-proof. Jack does the actual breaking and entering of the clients' offices, while Gabe handles the tech end of their "invasions" from their London house. In a failed assignment, she gets caught and arrested. When she eventually returns home, Jack finds that Gabe has been murdered while working at his computer. She becomes the prime suspect for a number of well-plotted reasons, and after being taken into custody, the resourceful Jack escapes from the police station armed only with a Sharpie. On the run and injured in the ensuing pursuit, she tries to put together the pieces of her husband's murder as her cell phone drains and her wound worsens. She's a latter-day Dr. Richard Kimble. A fugitive. The action and tension are relentless from the opening to the conclusion, which will astonish, but certainly not dismay, readers, who will be captivated by this very original and very real protagonist. It has been said that in Ruth Ware's books the pages just turn themselves. She has been heralded as "the new Agatha Christie" for good reason. --Jane Murphy
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 American Library Association
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Murphy, Jane. "Zero Days." Booklist, vol. 119, no. 17, 1 May 2023, p. 35. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A748959227/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4b679d51. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Ware, Ruth. Zero Days. Gallery. Jun. 2023.368p. ISBN 9781982155292. $29.99. THRILLER
When her latest job testing the physical and digital security of a company goes awry, Jacintha "Jack" Cross ends up in police custody. At this point, Jack would normally call her husband Gabe, who directs their operations online from home, and have him get their client to vouch for them. However, for some reason Gabe is not picking up Jack's calls. Hours later, when Jack finally arrives home, she discovers why Gabe is not answering his phone: he has been murdered. As the police question Jack about what she found, she begins to realize that she is shaping up to be their number-one suspect. After putting her own spin on Christie's And Then There Were None with One by One, and then paying homage to the Golden Age of mystery writing with the It Girl, Ware switches things up with a high-stakes, high-tech novel of Hitchcockian suspense (think The 39 Steps) that deftly demonstrates why she is the chameleon of crime fiction. VERDICT From its resourceful, resilient protagonist to its seamlessly constructed, au courant plot, everything about Ware's newest novel is guaranteed to keep her fans up way past their bedtimes.--John Charles
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Charles, John. "Zero Days." Library Journal, vol. 148, no. 6, June 2023, p. 88. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A752767721/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=615c5f2f. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Ware, Ruth ONE PERFECT COUPLE Scout Press/Simon & Schuster (Fiction None) $28.99 5, 21 ISBN: 9781668025598
A reality TV paradise becomes a nightmare for the show's unlucky contestants.
Lyla Santiago and Nico Reese have been dating for more than two years, and she's beginning to feel like their relationship may be hitting a wall; she loves him, but his main focus at 28 is on his acting career, while, at 32, scientist Lyla is starting to dream about settling down. When Nico pleads with her to join him on a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, Lyla views it as an opportunity to see whether their relationship can go the distance--in reality as well as on TV. They arrive on a remote Indonesian island to find blue waters, white sands, romantic huts, and eight other contestants, all beautiful, glamorous, and clearly committed to bolstering their visibility by competing on the show. The director seems a bit shady; he insists (as their contract demands) that they turn in all electronics, plies them with booze, and then leaves with the crew--and the first ousted contestant. That night, a huge storm sweeps across the island. The next morning reveals a fatality among the wreckage: a hut and its inhabitant have been crushed by a tree, and the outbuildings have been destroyed. The remaining contestants are cut off from all communication, with the exception of one radio, and there is a very limited supply of food and water. So Love Island becomes Survivor, and one person in particular is set on being the last person standing. Ware offers another take on the locked-room mystery, but this time, her focus is less on creating a creepy atmosphere of dread, as she did in earlier novels, than on showing the absolute brutality of which some humans are capable. But she still has a good time herself: There's a funny self-referential line to an earlier novel, plus some female characters MacGyver-ing a battery. The prolific Ware continues to stretch herself, taking on something new in each novel and writing strong--and increasingly kick-ass--female characters.
The most cinematic Ruth Ware novel so far.
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"Ware, Ruth: ONE PERFECT COUPLE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A786185709/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b881edde. Accessed 26 June 2024.
One Perfect Couple
Ruth Ware. Scout, $28.99 (400p) ISBN 978-1-6680-2559-8
Bestseller Ware (Zero Days) fumbles a promising premise in this clever but slack closed-circle mystery. Biologist Lyla Santiago's postdoc research on mosquitoborne illnesses hits a wall when inconsistencies in her colleague's work threaten their grant funding. Rudderless, Lyla agrees to join her boyfriend, out-of-work actor Nico Reese, to film a reality TV competition called Ever After Island. On the Survivor-esque show, five couples complete in challenges on a remote island in the Indian Ocean and then vote to send one contestant home each week. Lyla plans to get eliminated quickly so she can return to London and sort out her future, leaving Nico behind to improve his career prospects. Her plan gets complicated, however, when a powerful storm sweeps across the island, isolating the contestants from the show's production crew. When people start turning up dead, Lyla has to decide whom to trust, taking the traditional stakes of reality TV alliances to nerve-shredding new heights. Ware has plenty of fun with her Agatha Christieesque setup, but she fails too whip up sufficient suspense--the plot's resolution is simply too easy to crack. Readers will hope Ware returns to form next time out. Agent: Eve White, Eve White Literary. (May)
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"One Perfect Couple." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 11, 18 Mar. 2024, pp. 55+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A788623056/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=290de049. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Ware, Ruth. One Perfect Couple. Gallery. May 2024. 400p. ISBN 9781668025598. $28.99. SUSPENSE
What harm could it do? That is Lyla Santiago's initial thought when her boyfriend Nico suggests they compete in a new reality TV show called One Perfect Couple. Since Lyla's academic career as a scientist seems stalled, the idea of a few weeks' "vacation" to shoot the show sounds terrific. However, soon after arriving, with four other couples, on an isolated island in the Indian Ocean, Lyla finds her dream vacation turning into a nightmare. Ware puts her own inventive twists and turns on the popular "trapped with a killer in an isolated locale" type of suspense made famous by Agatha Christie in And Then There Were None. Ware then also deftly layers a bit of Lord of the Flies-style tension into her tautly strung storyline as her characters find themselves not only cut off from civilization but struggling to survive the after-effects of a deadly tropical storm. VERDICT Ware (Zero Days) once again delivers the literary goods, with a cheeky sense of wit (including a "blink and you'll miss it" nod to one of her own books), a propulsive sense of pacing, and a fiendishly clever conclusion. --John Charles
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Charles, John. "One Perfect Couple." Library Journal, vol. 149, no. 5, May 2024, p. 81. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A793818837/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2a4c1802. Accessed 26 June 2024.
Have you ever seen a pregnant woman, perhaps with her arms weighed down by shopping bags, digging through her purse in front of a heavy door--and rushed forward to let her in using your own keycard? Or perhaps found a stray USB drive on the floor in your office building--and plugged it into your computer to see if you could figure out who to return it to?
If the answer to either or both questions is yes, you might have done someone a big favor . . . or you might have fallen prey to a penetration tester. Pen testers, as they're often called, are daring and creative sorts hired by companies to identify security vulnerabilities, help repair weaknesses in their systems and recommend practices for avoiding issues in the future. That might involve attempting to access a vitally important database or evading security guards after sneaking into a presumably well-secured building.
A husband-and-wife pen tester team is at the center of Ruth Ware's propulsive and emotionally complex new thriller, Zero Days. Gabe and Jack (short for Jacintha) revel in the complicated challenges and thrills that come with performing legally sanctioned digital and physical break-ins for their clients.
Ware revels in it, too; the internationally bestselling author's deep fascination with the subject is evident in the wealth of intriguing details and scenarios that make Zero Days, her eighth novel, a supremely suspenseful reading experience. In a call with BookPage from her home on the south coast of England, where she lives with her husband and two children, the author says that she got hooked on the idea of writing about pen testers while performing in-depth research for two of her previous books.
"I had been researching apps and startups and tech companies for The Turn of the Key and One by One," she explains. "I started listening to a lot of tech startup podcasts, and then from there I just gravitated toward the crime-y stabby edge. . . . I ended up on the darknet end of the internet, and that was where I first found out about pen testers and the extent of what they do."
She also listened to "hundreds of hours of podcasts, read blogs, memoirs, online articles and interviews and so on," she says. "Usually my process of research is to dredge as widely as I can and absorb as much as I can, and then at the end maybe 5% of that makes it into the book." This immersive process helps her "paint the picture of the person who would do this job, what's their day-to-day life like, what are all the interesting little nuggets of weirdness that are going to make it into the book."
Jack's keen ability to strategize and adapt under pressure is essential to her role--and, tragically, becomes necessary for her very survival. One night, while Jack is completing an assignment, Gabe is brutally murdered in their home. Not only does Jack lose her beloved life partner but the police consider her the prime suspect. Knowing that as long as they're focusing on her they won't search for the real killer, Jack decides to run for it: She'll do her utmost to evade capture while figuring out who the real murderer is, and hopefully exact some vengeance along the way.
It's a decision that makes complete sense for the character, of course, but what about the woman who created her? Ware insists with a laugh that "I wouldn't make that decision in a million years. I would hunker down and hope to god that everything was sorted out. I wouldn't trust myself to think, well, I can investigate this better than the police, whereas I think Jack genuinely does think that. And to an extent, she's going to be right because of her unique skill set."
The author also notes that Jack's preternatural confidence in all manner of sticky situations is not something she possesses. "I am superaware of my own limitations," she says. "I am an incredibly bad liar, which is a strange thing for a writer to say. . . . I'm very law- abiding. If I have the least consciousness of guilt, I go scarlet. That's how I know I could never do that job. I could never walk into somewhere where I didn't belong and act like I did."
Jack, on the other hand, can and does, and when she takes to the streets of London--home to one of the most extensive CCTV surveillance systems in the world--that capability is crucial. But while she does fall on the more-prepared side of things, even in particularly dicey circumstances, she is also fallible, subject to misguided impulses, nagging injuries and uncertainty about what to do next.
"The temptation when you're writing is always to go a little bit more Mission: Impossible, a little bit more Ethan Hunt, sliding down lift shafts and such, and the dramatic part of me would have loved to write some of those things," Ware says. "But it was also really important to me to root it in the reality of what these jobs are, which is that, yes, it does take a certain type of personality, but actually you don't have to be at the pinnacle of fitness or have a genius IQ. . . . You need to be very confident and very charming and able to push the envelope a little bit more than someone else might."
Jack also struggles under the weight of immense shock and grief. Her deep sadness over the incomprehensible loss of Gabe comes in waves throughout Zero Days. It's something she isn't able to fully process, what with the police, and possibly the people who killed Gabe, close on her tail.
That sorrowful refrain was crucial, Ware says, when it came to imbuing her time-is-running-out tale with a mournful yet determined heart. "Probably the biggest critique I have of Golden Age crime [fiction], and modern crime as well, is that sometimes the death of the person whose murder forms the mystery at the heart of the book can be treated like it's just there to provide the puzzle or the impetus for the main character," she says.
"Thank god I've never really lost anyone in my life in the way that Jack loses Gabe, but I have been bereaved," Ware adds, "and it is a seismic life event that you do not get over quickly; you're not out there merrily detecting two weeks later. I wanted to be really careful to show the effects that grief has on a life and the ripples of consequence. . . . That's true to how I think we are as people, we carry on putting one foot in front of the other because we have to and the world does go on . . . but every now and again you get hit by the reality of what happened."
In terms of achieving practical verisimilitude in her story, Ware turned to a British reality TV show. "When I was researching, I spoke to a number of police officers," she says, "and they all said the same thing: You should watch 'Hunted.'" The action-packed goings-on in the show, which follows 14 people as they try to remain hidden for 28 days while a team of experts attempts to track them down, vividly illustrate the speed at which paranoia can build and how easily one can be found via elements of modern life such as online banking.
Another aspect of the show resonated with Ware on a deeper level. "The ones who win are usually successful because they're likable people and they persuade people to do nice things for them," she says. "And it just constantly amazes me how willing people are to go the extra mile for total strangers."
That revelation was, happily, in keeping with her own convictions. "I wanted to show both sides of that in the book. Jack's a suspicious person; she has to be because of her job, and being on the run is only exacerbating that, " Ware says. "But at the same time, I think human beings are much lovelier and kinder than we give them credit for."
Even as we celebrate the good in humanity, though, Ware warns that we should not be cavalier about protecting ourselves online. After all, as Jack muses in Zero Days, there are most definitely bad actors lurking around the internet: "slippery, shadowy, forcing their way through the cracks in our online security and the doors we left open for them in our digital lives." When I tell Ware that this poetically stated line is quite the chilling sentiment, she replies with a cheery "Thank you!" and adds, "I think once it comes out, if anyone takes any moral or lesson from this book, it should be to use a password manager." That's because, she explains, "reusing passwords is the equivalent of chaining all your door keys and car keys in the same bunch and then putting your address on it," while a password manager generates and stores unique passwords for the myriad accounts we all juggle every day. "Literally every single person I interviewed said this," the author says. And by the way, she laughs, "I was already using a password manager, so I felt very smug."
While she's justifiably pleased with herself when it comes to online savvy, Ware is far from smug about her career thus far. Since her first book, In a Dark, Dark Wood, was published in 2015, her books (more than 6 million in print, and counting) have been published in more than 40 languages worldwide. "I never expected to have this level of success. . . . There are moments when it's brought home to me very forcibly; when I walk into a place full of readers who are there for me, it's wonderful and terrifying." But, she says, "when I'm actually at my desk writing, it's something I try not to think about too much. . . . For me, every book is really a process of tricking myself into believing that nobody apart from me is going to read it."
Of course, that's extremely unlikely to happen with Zero Days, which Ware says is a bit of a departure from her typical fare. "I don't want to sit down and think, what would be the next Agatha Christie-ish Ruth Ware book that I could write?" she says. "It's much more about finding something I want to say, and then hopefully at the end of that people will like it and my publishers will be able to market it. Which is exactly how this book came about, with me becoming mildly obsessed with the subject and my imagination running away with me, and then at the end of it thinking, oh gosh, I think I've written a thriller!" Indeed she has, one that will have readers rooting for Jack as they strategize survival and try to ferret out the truth right along with her. Presumably, they'll also gather up tips that will come in handy should they one day become embroiled in a similar pickle--or even be inspired to become pen testers themselves. And all the while, Ware hopes, "I would like us to be a little bit less suspicious of each other as individuals, because I think the world has mostly good people, but a little bit more careful with our online security overall." In other words: Get thee a password manager!
--Linda M. Castellitto
Visit BookPage.com to read our starred review of Zero Days.
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"RUTH WARE THINKS YOU NEED A PASSWORD MANAGER: In Zero Days, the mega-popular thriller writer finds the human heart within the high-stakes security industry." BookPage, July 2023, pp. 10+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A752436301/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3e1d3def. Accessed 26 June 2024.
What books are on your night stand?
Too many to list. I mean, literally about 20 or 30 titles. Some are old favorites that I like to dip back into after a hard day -- ''Howl's Moving Castle,'' by Diana Wynne Jones, would fall into that category. Some are books I finished a while ago and just haven't moved to the shelves in my office -- Sarah Pinborough's ''Insomnia'' or Dorothy Koomson's ''The Ice Cream Girls,'' for example. Some are books I'm in the middle of or have yet to get to -- Lisa Jewell's ''The Family Remains'' is one of those. I'm halfway through and got distracted by something I had to read for an event, but it's waiting for me!
Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?
I only recently read ''The Shining,'' by Stephen King. I had always considered myself too much of a scaredy-cat for King's work, having been traumatized by ''Christine'' aged about 13, but actually ''The Shining'' wasn't as horrifying as I had feared. Or maybe I've just toughened up with age! Regardless, I'm sorry I waited so long. I also took a long time to get into Dickens. I had to read him at school and university and found him by turns boring, twee and irritating. The only one I really liked was ''Great Expectations,'' but I think now I'm old enough to see the humanity in his work. I'm saving ''Bleak House'' for my retirement. There's a temptation to rush through the canon as young as possible, but you can only ever read a book for the first time once, and I like the idea of having that to look forward to.
Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).
Pre-smartphones, I would have said something like a cozy sofa with a cat on my feet, or a long hot bath with a glass of wine. But now, I actually think my ideal reading experience is a longish flight (not unpleasantly long, say five or six hours) with a comfortably reclined seat -- ideally against the bulkhead so I don't have to feel guilty about inconveniencing the person behind me. Some nice steward would bring me charming little portions of delicious food and drink at regular intervals (look, this is ideal, not realistic) and most importantly there would be absolutely no cellphone reception and no Wi-Fi. I love social media as much as the next person, but there's something particularly blissful about a totally uninterrupted reading experience these days, with no possibility of getting distracted by Twitter or pinged on WhatsApp. Kind of like the cinema, but for books?
What's your favorite book no one else has heard of?
It used to be ''The Blessing,'' by Nancy Mitford, but the Mitfords have become much better known in recent years; although that's one of her less famous titles, I think a lot of people probably do know it now. Maybe a rather obscure memoir called ''A London Child of the 1870s,'' which details the author's very ordinary upbringing in Victorian London. Absolutely nothing remarkable happens, but there's something so charming and real about the characters that you feel they're your personal friends by the end of the book. Molly Hughes wrote it, in part, to debunk the idea that the typical Victorian childhood was strict and gloomy and suffused with punishment -- certainly the one in the book comes across as one you'd want for your own kids, full of friendship, laughter and scrapes.
Which books got you hooked on psychological suspense and crime?
The two authors that made me fall in love with the genre were probably Daphne du Maurier and Agatha Christie. But my entry drug, one of the first real ''crime'' stories I encountered, was Arthur Conan Doyle's ''The Adventure of the Speckled Band.'' My mum read it to me and my sister as a bedtime story when I would have been about 8 or 9, and I had nightmares for weeks. It definitely showed me the power of the imagination!
Who's your favorite fictional detective? And the best villain?
This is a very hard one to answer because there are so many excellent possibilities. Sherlock Holmes has to be up there for setting so many of the tropes of the genre. Lord Peter Wimsey was one of my first literary crushes. Agatha Christie's two brilliant outsiders -- the war refugee Hercule Poirot and the ''superfluous spinster'' Miss Marple -- both showed that you didn't need to be part of the establishment to make a difference. Chester Himes's Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones did the same in a powerful way. I honestly don't think I could pick just one. Best villain is probably easier -- I think for me it would have to be Tom Ripley. I'm not so interested in shadowy Moriartys or psychopathic serial killers. I love antiheroes who let you see through their eyes, ones that you can both hate and cheer on at the same time. Ripley fits that bill.
What kinds of stories are you drawn to? And what do you steer clear of?
As a reader, I can read almost anything as long as I feel invested in the characters. I don't have to admire them; some of my favorite books have deeply unlikable main characters. But I have to care about them. There are some subjects that do put me off in a blurb -- violence or abuse, mainly, particularly involving children. As a writer, I suppose what pulls me into a story is a conundrum or ''what if'' that resonates with me, and that I want to explore. Some fear or phobia or personal terror of my own is seeded through the pages of most of my books -- some obviously, some perhaps not so much. The French writer Colette said, I think in reference to what makes for a good writer, ''Look long at what gives you pleasure, and longer at what pains you.'' I think that's good advice, although in my case it's probably more: Look longer at what scares you.
What kind of reader were you as a child?
Voracious! And omnivorous. I read anything and everything, from hard sci-fi to totally unsuitable bonkbusters.
What book would you recommend for the current political moment?
I think empathy is in short supply at the moment, so probably anything that encourages that. Perhaps ''Razorblade Tears,'' by S.A. Cosby, which shows two very different men connected by their unbearable grief over the loss of their sons, or the memoir ''Lowborn,'' by Kerry Hudson, which lays painfully bare the reality of the harsh choices facing many families.
What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn't? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
I abandon books all the time. I won't name them because that feels like tacitly implying it's the fault of the book, and 99 times out of 100 it's not -- it's just not the right book for me in that moment. I sometimes get tweeted by people who are not enjoying my books but are forcing themselves on, and I always want to say, don't! I give you permission to stop! It's very strange; we don't feel bad about turning off the TV if we're not enjoying a show, but books are too often still treated like medicine. You've got to finish the course, even if you're not enjoying it. I don't think books should be anything other than enriching. That doesn't always mean fun, or easy reads -- sometimes a book is upsetting or challenging or difficult to read. But if you're not getting anything out of a book, I think you should absolutely feel free to drop it and walk away.
Whom would you choose to write your life story?
Me. I would be deeply affronted if anyone else tried. I think you probably can't write a clause into your will forbidding biographies, otherwise I would probably try.
You're organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
The temptation here is to say ''Chaucer, Shakespeare and Emily Brontë'' to show how well read you are, and there would certainly be something quite fascinating about the chance to solve some of the mysteries of Shakespeare's life, like why did he leave his wife nothing but his second-best bed? However, honestly, I think it would be too much pressure for me to enjoy my food. So, in reality, I think I would have a better time with just a load of crime writer mates. It's very hard to pick just three because what I would really like to do is have a huge potluck with about 40 writers all crowded around sharing serving spoons and gossip -- but I think I would have a very good time with Clare Mackintosh, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and Abir Mukherjee, and I know they are all foodies so they would appreciate my cooking.
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"Ruth Ware." The New York Times Book Review, 24 July 2022, p. 6(L). Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A711239736/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=797930a6. Accessed 26 June 2024.