Is this a thriller? Is it speculative fiction? Or is it a good old fashioned romance disguised within an interesting premise? Well, The One turned out to be all of those and more.
When it comes to love, the world is a changed place. Now you can take a simple mouth swab and find your genetic soulmate. No more awkward first dates and uncertainty. No more wondering if the person you're with is the one. And for five people, receiving news of their match is only just the beginning. What follows is surely a lifetime of love and happiness, so what can possibly go wrong?
When I went into this, I didn't know anything more than what's in the little blurb above. And because of that, I can safely say this story surprised me at just about every turn. What started out as a fairly standard tale, albeit one with an unusual premise, soon turned into a wild ride.
Often with speculative fiction, I'm a little wary. When a premise is really good, sometimes it feels like the story has nowhere left to go, and what's in my head is so much more exciting than what I actually end up reading. But no such fears here, folks. This book really takes its premise and wrings every last ounce of possibility from within it.
I don't want to give anything away here, so I'll just say this is such an unusual story. Where it goes isn't at all where I thought it would go. And embedded in it all is what feels like a warning of sorts, like hey world, don't get too reliant on technology to the exclusion of good ol' common sense. Or perhaps, if it's too good to be true, then it probably is.
Maybe the only quibble I have with this is that it follows five separate characters, and they remain separate for the entirety of this story. Usually with multiple points of view, even if they start out on different narrative threads, they do eventually come together, so I was a bit surprised that they didn't here. It means the whole thing felt a little less cohesive than I would've preferred, and I didn't quite get that satisfying narrative unity at the end. But it's really a small quibble.
I just love stories that can surprise me, and this one certainly did. It's fun, intriguing, at times even a bit horrifying, and it thoroughly kept my attention. I'm a little late to the John Marrs party, and this is my first book by him, but it for sure won't be my last.
Readaroo Rating: 4 stars
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