One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware

In Ruth Ware’s latest psychological thriller, One Perfect Couple (Scout Press) Lyla’s life and career are at a crossroads. Her postdoctoral contract in virology at a London University is expiring and her relationship with Nico, an aspiring actor, is stagnating. When Nico is offered the chance to participate in a new reality show, One Perfect Couple, he convinces Lyla to join the cast with him. This opportunity could provide the “big break,” and the cash, he’s been waiting for. He’s told her it is a couples’ elimination format, which could last ten weeks and is set at a brand new tropical resort. Considering it is the middle of a gray winter in London, Lyla is intrigued by the all-expense paid vacation ending with a cash prize. Besides, haven’t they earned the treat?

As a fact-driven, sensible scientist, Lyla is also hesitant about the unknowns of the show. However, to placate Nico, she agrees to attend the initial interview. The whirlwind audition process has found Lyla saying “yes” while meaning to say “no way,” and the next thing she knows, she and Nico are Jakarta-bound. Upon their arrival in Indonesia, they join four other couples and the production team preparing for the series. The lucky entourage is then whisked across the Indian Ocean on a yacht to Ever After Island, a deserted island where the games will begin.

Reality Comes Crashing Down

Lyla and Nico arrive at a paradise of azure waters and pristine villas, and Lyla’s trepidations are quelled, but not for long. She senses that the production has hidden problems, and that the other contestants possess secrets. The show’s producer is a bully with a sharp tongue. The other photogenic and athletic couples are influencer stereotypes ripped from YouTube and TikTok, and even her boyfriend, Nico, is a hunk. Plain, girl-next-door Lyla is the odd woman out.

After one day of shooting, life on the island goes awry. When a hurricane batters the island, the contestants are cut off from society. Most of the villas have been destroyed, the food stores and potable water are dwindling, and the contestants must band together to survive amidst the growing tensions in the group. Having been stripped of their cellphones, their only means of communicating with the outside world is a ship-to-shore radio, but its battery is fading fast.

Lyla and her fellow castaways are left wondering when will the producers return to collect them? Has anyone heard the distress calls? Will anyone notice they are missing? Will anyone arrive to save them before it is too late?

Without revealing any spoilers in this page-turning thriller, soon the paradise of Ever After Island becomes a living hell. Filled with an array of back-stabbing, volatile and unreliable characters, One Perfect Couple is part Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, Golding’s Lord of the Lies and Orwell’s Animal Farm. It is a story about the breakdown of a society transitioning from a democracy to an autocracy, and how Lyla struggles and creates alliances to survive the disaster.

How Much Is Real?

Pulling back the curtain on reality television, Ware makes the reader question whether those shows are staged and how much is “reality”. In One Perfect Couple, the lines become as blurred as a mirage on the horizon. Each post-hurricane day mirrors the life on a reality program, presenting another survival challenge to the castaways. Out of her element, Lyla, discovers whom she can trust and that each decision could mean life and death. Not only for her, but also for everyone on Ever After Island.

Ware’s One Perfect Couple takes the reader on the breathtaking flips, peaks and valleys of an endless rollercoaster ride. So, jump on, strap on your seat belt and enjoy the thrill ride.