‘Then There Was One:' A Book Review
Who wouldn't want to read a mash-up of The Hunger Games and Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None? As the title suggests, Then There Was One leans heavily on one while borrowing a little from the other. The result? An entertaining mystery and a compulsive Young Adult thriller.
The book is set in the future. Humankind has spread into Space. Earth has been left behind but not forgotten. Planets have been terraformed, and humans are colonising deep space.
'The Pinnacle' is a reality TV game show that draws millions of viewers. It has a huge cash prize and will change the winner's life forever. It is also supposed to be non-lethal. Contestants are eliminated, but not eliminated .
The story is told from the viewpoint of three contestants, starting before they are taken to the game's secret location. Each of them has a burning desire to win the money, and a hinted-at secret. Two of the three are wealthy, with parents high up in the echelons of political power. The third, Raya, is a street kid on a mining planet, where the miners are exploited by their rich overlords.
The three join the other seven contestants and are taken to a beautiful desert island. Before filming starts the next morning, they're told to make themselves comfortable at a table laden with food. It's at that point that things start to go wrong.
This is a fun survival, cat-and-mouse thriller. One of the entrants to the Pinnacle dies from eating poisoned food at the banquet. Who was responsible? Was it one of the contestants or a sinister move by the TV production company? The teenagers in the show assume that people will arrive in the morning and help them out. Except they don't.
Instead, the bodies pile up. What is going on? Who is behind the killings, and what secrets are lying behind the eyes of the wannabe winners of The Pinnacle?
Discovering the answers to these questions makes Then There Was One a fun journey. There are some great tense set pieces, and as the field narrows, it is genuinely perplexing who the perpetrator is. If I had a criticism, I'd say that the novel lacks the depth of similar offerings. There's no burning social commentary here, much beyond 'rich people often aren't always very nice,' but not every book has to be deep. A compelling story is enough to make an entertaining read.
While the book doesn't have the visceral thrill of The Hunger Games , Wendy Cross has created a world with greater logical consistency. The dystopian regions of The Hunger Games always bugged me, but there is no such irritation here.
The denouement, when it comes, is a clever piece of misdirection, though the clues are there as we read through. And There Was One is a solid addition to a burgeoning genre. It's not going to redefine our expectations of what dystopian fiction can do, but it does deliver an intriguing mystery with an interesting conclusion.
If you would like to pick up a copy of Then There Was One, you can do so here in the US and here, in the UK. (Affiliate Links)
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here.
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
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