The One

By: John Marrs

Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Vicki Hall, Simon Bubb, Jot Davies, Sophie Aldred

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

How far would you go to find The One?

A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab, and soon, you'll be matched with your perfect partner - the one you're genetically made for.

That's the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: Test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance, and love.

Now, five very different people have received the notification that they've been "Matched". They're each about to meet their one true love. But "happily ever after" isn't guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others....

A word-of-mouth hit in the United Kingdom, The One is a fascinating novel that shows how even the simplest discoveries can have complicated consequences.

©2018 John Marrs (P)2018 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Loved this book!

If you are a reader like me who is bored easily by slow-moving stories, craves action and plot twists, loves cliff-hangers and short chapters, AND is tired of the same domestic thrillers, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU! It is so different than many of the books I’ve been reading—it held my attention at the expense of getting work done or sleeping or eating—and had me gasping out loud with certain reveals. This is my first time reading this author and now I’ll be diving into many more!

Extremely entertaining

This book feels like a long episode of Black Mirror. It's a great mix of science fiction and romance. I flew through it in just a few days. All the narrators are great, and I loved the ending.

Unputdownable

Rating: 8.5/10

Thanks to Audible for a listening copy of The One for review consideration. Receiving this listening copy did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novel.

The One is an unputdownable, multi-layered love story turned psychological thriller that will give you second thoughts about finding the love of your life. Marrs creates characters you will genuinely care about and want to see succeed in finding their true soulmates. This is going to make an excellent Netflix Original Series.

When asked “What are you looking for out of life?”, a vast majority of people would say that they are looking for someone to spend the rest of it with; a soulmate that completes them. A partner who will stick with them through thick and thin, ups and downs, until death do them part. Well, what if that could be given to you? A simple mouth swab and away you go to endless happiness.

Too bad the road to happiness isn’t paved in gumdrops and butterflies. That would actually be pretty messed up if you think about it. Those poor butterflies. But you get the point. Anyone who has ever been in love / is currently in love knows that it isn’t always perfect. You try your best and hope everything works out.

The five (5) different story-lines we follow along do not intertwine, but they do all have one thing in common: secrets. Secrets that are slowly revealed as you progress along, leading to a rip-roaring climax that I am still wrapping my head around. We aren’t talking about your everyday white lies. These are secrets with consequences; some that will completely change the protagonists forever. My only gripe would be that I could never leave my pregnant wife of five (5) years for someone else simply because of a DNA swab. I find that a bit outrageous, but hey, people are crazy and do more inane things than that on a daily basis.

Normally, this type of type of read wouldn’t be my cuppa, but I have become absolutely enamored with Marrs’s novels. He has a penchant for writing engrossing plots with believable characters; slow burns that hit at just the right moments to have you reading into the night. Though I have only read two (2) of his novels, I believe he has a new reader for life.

Meh, Cliché Characters & a Bit of a Soap Opera

NO SPOILERS! This book has a great premise and I wanted to love it like other John Marrs stories. I did not enjoy the layout of the story, it took too much concentration to keep up with all of the plot lines- I believe there were four separate plots. I enjoyed some stories more than others, which almost tempted me to skip chapters and just listen to the characters I liked.

The story started off with a smart storyline, but the characters became more and more cliché. It seemed like he created conflict just for the sake of creating it.

I recommend this if you like soap operas and medical mysteries. As for me, just not enough thrills.

103 chapters of nonsense (*potential spoilers)

Before I voice my disappointment with this book, I will say that I generally enjoyed most of Marrs books (with the exception of Her Last Move, equally bad), that's why I keep reading them, but this book is mind numbing. First of all, I don't understand why he had to use so many completely unrelated characters to tell this ridiculous story of DNA matching. Other than their use of the matching site, they are just a string of random events. I think three characters would have been plenty for this story. It was impossible to follow, they were all just thrown in there for extra chapters, fully underdeveloped, unlikable, and for a lack of better word, just idiotic. Seriously, if you can believe (even for a fictional moment) that absolutely everyone could be so stupid and absentminded with thoughts of "DNA match soulmate " that they would consider doing just about anything (like getting impregnated with a dead man's sperm) then this is your book. Otherwise spare yourself of 103 chapters of ridiculous nonsense.
It's page after page of babbling desperate women (try the audio version for a full effect) and men in midlife crisis searching for their soulmate only to learn that all of their soulmates are either serial killers. psychos, cheaters, disabled, or dead people. I just can't name a single thing in this book that would make it a good one. I think that today's prevalence of DNA testing and people's willingness to share their genetic material for any type of amusement is becoming a reality so it won't be too long before we see these types of dating sites in reality, I don't really find this DNA matching topic shocking at all, if that was the author's intent with this book. It doesn't help that the audible version was equally bad, read by multiple people with various accents and very different styles of narration, just hard to listen.

Pretty good, not phenomenal

I’m American, so the various shrill accents and dialects threw me at first, but once you get past that, the book is pretty good. It’s an interesting concept and each life is uniquely captivating. Chapters are often left with cliffhangers, tempting you to continue listening. Some of the foreshadowing is a little bit more “here is exactly what is going to happen next” as opposed to subtle hints as possibilities. It also seemed very long to me. It’s not a mind blowing incredible read by any stretch, but it’s definitely good and worth killing time with.

Excellent Book.

Phenomenal book. Highly addictive! I couldn't put this book down. It was a 3 day book for me. Very satisfying read. Covers almost every genre.

Not bad ...For a bunch of Brits (Joking)

I can't say I loved this book because I don't think female characters were portrayed very well - shallow & empty-headed. The most fleshed out character(s) was Christopher & Tim/Matthew, both psychopaths. Performances by the various narrators were outstanding. Overall, the story moved right along & kept my interest.

Intriguing Story, Good, but not Great Book Overall

This was a very intriguing story, the different storylines were well done with very interesting twists. However the last couple of chapters were disappointing. There didn’t seem to be any type of true tying up the loose ends. Seem to simply end with a lot of unknowns.

Brilliant read

Really did not expect to love this this much or for it to carry such a punch! Honestly, there’s so much explored with many characters in one book and instead of feeling like too much, it’s perfect. 5/5 absolutely loved this, and can’t wait for the adaptation!