‘Truly original’ #BookReview THE ONE, John Marrs @johnmarrs1 @PenguinRHUK

‘The One is one of a kind – and singularly good’

THEY SAY

How far would you go to find THE ONE?
One simple mouth swab is all it takes. A quick DNA test to find your perfect partner – the one you’re genetically made for.
A decade after scientists discover everyone has a gene they share with just one other person, millions have taken the test, desperate to find true love. Now, five more people meet their Match. But even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking – and deadlier – than others…

I SAY

I love it when an author comes up with a truly original idea, and this is one of them. Living in a world where it’s easy to find your soul mate sounds pretty ideal, but what if, once you’ve found The One, you discover things about them that make you question yourself? What if your other half completes you in a way you hadn’t expected?

This novel consists of five main characters who, through alternating chapters, reveal their stories sparked by the same set of circumstances, ie finding their perfect match. Each have totally unexpected and unforeseen consequences. Each is clever, absorbing, and will have you reading on, eager to see what has happened.

Rather than the stories interweaving in the end, though, they stay separate. They are essentially five short stories; not that that detracts at all from the book, but instead underlines how unique it is. There is love, heartbreak, tragedy, cunning, double-crossing, intrigue and murder contained in its pages. But what genre is it? It’s hard to tell. A little bit science fiction, a little bit crime, a little bit contemporary literature. It really doesn’t matter. The One is one of a kind – and singularly good.