The Book:
The One by John Marrs, 2016
The Characters:
Mandy and her match Richard
Christopher, the serial killer, and Amy, the cop
Ellie and her match Tim
Sally and Nick, and Nick’s match Alex
Jade and her match Kevin
The Plot (from Goodreads):
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 are 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…
Mandy’s match Richard died a few weeks before she received her match email. She befriends his family to feel closer to him. Richard’s mother offers Mandy his frozen sperm so that she can have his baby, and Mandy agrees.
Christopher is a serial killer, stalking new victims while dating Amy. Amy isn’t a homicide detective, but she is involved in canvassing to find Christopher.
Jade flies to Australia to meet Kevin, but finds out that he has cancer and is close to death. She also realizes she doesn’t love him.
Nick is matched with a man, but has never considered himself to be gay (neither has Alex). They feel an undeniable attraction to each other, though.
Ellie is the founder of Match Your DNA, but she doesn’t admit this to Tim at first. She finally tells him once she is attacked by someone in public.
The Twist:
Mandy meets up with Richard’s ex girlfriend and finds out that he is still alive. Richard’s family had also asked the ex to carry his baby.
Christopher is just about to make his 30th kill when Amy catches him.
Jade marries Kevin just before he dies. She then finds out that Kevin’s brother had switched their results and that he was actually Jade’s match. This relieves some of her guilt at not loving him, but makes her even more frustrated and confused about what to do.
Nick leaves Sally to be with Alex, but then Sally finds out she is pregnant.
Ellie finds out that Tim is the child of one of her first test subjects when she was developing the Match Your DNA method.
The Ending:
Mandy gives birth but Richard’s mom steals the baby. She tries to kill herself and the baby, but Mandy gets the police to them in time. The police commit Richard’s mother to a psychiatric hospital.
Amy kills Christopher so that no one will find out that her boyfriend was the notorious murderer.
Sally dies in childbirth, and the baby was not Nick’s. It belonged to their friend Deepak, who was Sally’s match, but Deepak did not want the child. Nick brought the baby to New Zealand so he could be with Alex.
Tim confronts Ellie and tells her that he hacked into her system and made himself her match. He had also scrambled the data of hundreds of other people and told Ellie he would tell the public. No one would know if they were truly matched with the right person, and this would ruin Ellie. He was also going to release proof that Ellie had employed some unethical testing procedures when starting the business. To prevent this information from getting out, Ellie killed Tim. However, Tim had been live-streaming the confrontation, and the whole world watched his murder.
The Review:
The One is one of those classically popular thrillers, and it certainly did not disappoint. Told in alternating POVs from each of the newly matched individuals, the novel reveals that finding your perfect match might not be so perfect after all. You might think from the blurb that this is a romance novel, but it definitely is not. The suspense is slow-burning, but the pages turn fast. I loved every storyline, and couldn’t wait to find out what happened to each character and what they all had to do with each other.
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