View source for The One by John Marrs

{{infobox1
|title=The One
|sort=One  
|author= John Marrs
|reviewer= Zoe Morris
|genre= Thrillers
|summary=A fascinating, if somewhat worrying, alternative world in which science dictates who and what we fall in love with.
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=368
|publisher=Del Rey 
|date=January 2017
|isbn=978-1785035623
|cover=B01K3V42AO
|aznuk=B01K3V42AO
|aznus=B01K3V42AO
}}

Everyone needs someone to love and to love them. But how great would it be if that someone was actually ''The One'', tried, tested, scientifically guaranteed?

In a different world, a simple DNA swab is all that stands between you and true love. It may not be immediate – and your future better half has to be in the market too, and signed up to the site – but when stars align, BAM!, that thunderbolt. Gone are the days of judging someone on their looks, or hoping the personality they present to you is their true self. When science takes over, you know for sure, so why not save yourself the hassle?

This book is the story of a number of people searching for their One. Will the course of true love run smooth? Surely not. From odd pairings (a criminal and a law enforcer) to people finding their partners too late, there are secrets and lies a plenty bubbling under the surface here. With some dates destined to be no more than mates, is it possible the algorithm is a little… off?

This is a true soap opera of a book, with affairs, murder, accidents, misunderstandings and heartbreak. Unusually, the stories do not all converge into one at the end, and there's no big reveal where all the individual couples meet each other. But that's not to say it doesn't all hang together, as the different couples are in many ways all experiencing the same things.

I adored this book. It was so unusual that the concept had me hooked from the start, but at the same time the writing was silky smooth and bled seamlessly from one couple's story into another. If you wanted, you could read an individual couple from start to finish by skipping to their designated chapters, but I preferred to read it as it was given to me, with suspense building to mini cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter as the focus shifted onto someone else.

I really enjoyed this read and am already recommending it far and wide. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending us a copy to review.  We also have a review of [[The Passengers by John Marrs]].

If you like thrillers, then we would also recommend [[Before I Let You In by Jenny Blackhurst]] or [[Everything You Told Me by Lucy Dawson]] which look at the truth behind other kinds of relationships.

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