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PR Isfeld

Reading: One Perfect Couple
Reading: One Perfect Couple

“If you’re going through Hell, keep going.”

–Winston Churchill

 

In Ruth Ware’s latest closed-circle mystery, One Perfect Couple (Simon and Schuster, 2024), Lyla is a struggling post-doc virologist whose hot younger boyfriend signs them up to compete in a reality show set at a remote luxury island resort. He begs her to go along with his plan to advance his acting career and she realizes the cash prize would allow them to get out of their tiny apartment and start thinking about a family. She gives in, joining four other couples in a Survivor-meets-Temptation Island situation somewhere off the coast of Indonesia. Of course, paradise is not what it seems and soon the lovely island is littered with bodies. In no time at all, relationships and prize money are secondary to survival as Lyla realizes she’ll be lucky to get away with her life.

UK crime writer Ruth Ware specializes in updating and adapting Agatha Christie’s classic mysteries. In this one, she shows that she’s not afraid to draw on other writers for inspiration, adding a dash of The Lord of the Flies to the famous And Then There Were none.

Ware is masterful in setting a fast pace while building character and tension, even in the early set-up scenes that establish the basis for Nico and Lyla’s relationship and show how out of place she is among a group of Instagram influencers. Ware also manages to keep things going after it’s clear that the group is stranded on the island, and days drift into weeks with few external elements to liven things up. As a nerdy scientist who doesn’t really watch reality TV, Lyla’s observations and investigations made a lot of sense to me.

This novel is more straightforward and cinematic than Ware’s other works, and focuses less on mystery than on character development and human responses to danger. She makes important points about gender violence, toxic masculinity, and the ways we are taught to suppress our own fear responses.

In short, a great summer read for those who love a cracking good story that is familiar but different, or who have ever wondered why the contestants on reality shows don’t just start killing each other. Ruth Ware has created a compelling story with interesting characters, probably destined for a screen near you soon.

Captives
A psychological mystery that explores the aftermath of a brutal abduction and the secrets that haunt the survivors.

Three years ago, Samantha Gilchrist and her friends Amanda, Kaylee and Maria forged an unbreakable bond when they survived a brutal kidnapping in Kandahar. Sam wrote a best-selling memoir about their ordeal and moved on to a great new career as a journalist and a happy relationship with Dave, a handsome intelligence officer she met in Afghanistan. Still, she can’t help wondering about the reasons behind their capture.

On their way to Maria’s remote Gatineau cottage to commemorate the anniversary of their escape and rescue, Sam and Kaylee hear news reports about a missing Afghan diplomat. Then, they think they see Ali, their former interpreter and the mastermind behind the hostage-taking, who was supposed to have died during their rescue. When Amanda’s lifeless body is found the next morning, the friends’ suspicions lead them down a dangerous path that uncovers dark secrets and hidden motives.

The narrative alternates between the present day and the version of events presented in Sam’s memoir, as she and her friends struggle with their grief over the loss of Amanda and lingering trauma and jealousy over their differing fortunes in the aftermath of the kidnapping. As tensions rise and secrets are revealed, Sam starts to question everything she thought she knew about her friends, her lover, and herself, not just in the past, but in the here and now. 

Full of suspense, complex characters, and unexpected twists, Captives will cause fans of mystery and psychological thrillers to make irresponsible decisions about their sleep. 

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