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One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware

Thriller

One Perfect Couple

by Ruth Ware

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Quick take

In a bid to get out of a relationship funk, a couple enrolls on a reality dating show but then bodies start piling up.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, International

    International

  • Illustrated icon, Rugged

    Rugged

  • Illustrated icon, Buzzy

    Buzzy

  • Illustrated icon, Island

    Island

Synopsis

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

Content warning

This book contains scenes that depict domestic abuse.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of One Perfect Couple.

One Perfect Couple

PROLOGUE

He is fighting. He is fighting for his life—but so is she. She is neck-deep in the water; there is salt in her eyes, water in her lungs, and she is gasping, choking, unable to breathe.

His body is hard and muscled and stronger than she had ever imagined possible, thrashing like a pinned beast beneath the water.

And as she struggles against him, she knows two things, knows them to be piercingly, desperately true—one: it is him or her, and if she lets go, she will be the one drowning under the waves.

And two: to kill someone this way, you have to want them to die with every ounce of your being.

The question is: Does she? Does she want him to die?

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Why I love it

The premise of One Perfect Couple may sound familiar: a group of strangers becomes stranded on a deserted island and everyone begins to panic when they realize help is not on the way—but as you read on you’ll soon realize that One Perfect Couple is so much more than a survival story. It’s a story brimming with psychological suspense and heart-pounding moments that make it an unforgettable read.

Our story begins with Lyla, a scientist who’s hit a rut in her research project. When her actor boyfriend suggests she join him on a couples reality TV show, the idea is too enticing to pass up. Soon enough, she finds herself on a remote tropical island with other contestants … but paradise isn’t quite how she imagined. The night after the first couples’ challenge, a terrible storm hits and the contestants lose communication with the outside world. What begins as an innocent game quickly morphs into a true tale of survival as water runs low and tensions run high. The only way the contestants will make it out is if they work together, but not everyone is on the same team.

There’s a reason that Ruth Ware has become a standout in her genre. She always pushes the envelope and puts her own unique thrilling twist on iconic genre tropes. One Perfect Couple is Ware at her best and should not be missed!

Other books by Ruth Ware

Member ratings (4,834)

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The Boyfriend
The Last One at the Wedding
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First Lie Wins
House of Glass
Middle of the Night
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A Talent for Murder
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One Perfect Couple
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Only if You’re Lucky
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She Started It
The Only One Left
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Blacktop Wasteland
All the Dangerous Things
The Only Survivors
The Broken Girls
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The Push
We Were Never Here
Things We Do in the Dark
The Golden Couple
The Collective
The Stranger Upstairs
Gone Tonight
Too Good to Be True
The Last Word
You Are Not Alone
Rock Paper Scissors
Not a Happy Family
A Flicker in the Dark
The Last Flight
Reckless Girls
The House Across the Lake
The Wife Upstairs
The Last Thing He Told Me
The Maidens
Everything We Didn't Say
Invisible Girl
The Paris Apartment
You're Invited
The Last Party
Dark Places
Pieces of Her
The Wife Between Us
Sharp Objects
None of This Is True
The Silent Patient
The Winter Sister
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Necessary People
The Family Upstairs
The Night Swim
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The Hunting Wives
Just Another Missing Person
First Born
The Lies I Tell
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Thriller
View all
The Boyfriend
The Last One at the Wedding
Sleep Tight
First Lie Wins
House of Glass
Middle of the Night
Listen for the Lie
A Talent for Murder
Someone in the Attic
One Perfect Couple
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Darling Girls
Kill for Me, Kill for You
Bad Tourists
Murder Road
Daughter of Mine
The Fury
Only if You’re Lucky
The Other Mothers
When I’m Dead
The Soulmate
What Lies in the Woods
She Started It
The Only One Left
Dark Corners
Blacktop Wasteland
All the Dangerous Things
The Only Survivors
The Broken Girls
The Family Game
The Push
We Were Never Here
Things We Do in the Dark
The Golden Couple
The Collective
The Stranger Upstairs
Gone Tonight
Too Good to Be True
The Last Word
You Are Not Alone
Rock Paper Scissors
Not a Happy Family
A Flicker in the Dark
The Last Flight
Reckless Girls
The House Across the Lake
The Wife Upstairs
The Last Thing He Told Me
The Maidens
Everything We Didn't Say
Invisible Girl
The Paris Apartment
You're Invited
The Last Party
Dark Places
Pieces of Her
The Wife Between Us
Sharp Objects
None of This Is True
The Silent Patient
The Winter Sister
The Other Woman
Necessary People
The Family Upstairs
The Night Swim
Girl A
The Hunting Wives
Just Another Missing Person
First Born
The Lies I Tell
Breathless