THE ONE by JOHN MARRS

“…it sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? That there’s only one person in the world who’s like really, completely linked to you through your DNA and who you’re supposed to fall head over heels in love with…”

Every so often you read a book that completely throws you off your usual reading experience and has you literally unable to part with it for even one second. You want to pause life. You want to stop the world from spinning because your mind is doing enough of that. John Marrs is a new to us Author and he has singlehandedly blown all other psychological thrillers we’ve read out the water with The One. There are no words to adequately describe how tense, how riveted, how shocked and how involved we were in this thought provoking, thrilling story. The writing was sublime and John Marrs achieved in mere short chapters what sometimes takes an entire book to do- we connected instantaneously with all the characters, with their stories and with the concept as a whole. It was a magnificent, intriguing and a somewhat very relevant story.

“So you don’t think that true love can exist between couples who aren’t pre-destined?’
“No, no, of course it can…..But those who have been matched often feel something deeper and more complete. The other person is literally their other half.”

With all the dating websites currently out there, what would you do if there was a scientifically based company that could match your DNA with another person, ultimately finding your soul mate, the one person who is your perfect match? No matter the age, gender, race, religion or nationality. Would you do it? What if you were married? Would you be tempted to submit a swab to know your true match? Would it make you question your life and love for your current partner if you weren’t a match? We were inundated with situations, thought processes and actions of character lives which made us really sit back and think on; what would we do? Not only is this a highly entertaining compulsive read, it also raises quite a few questions and throws a few warnings out there on the dangers of accepting what you’re told without questioning. Of meddling with what shouldn’t be touched. The concept is so fascinating and has been a fabulous topic of debate whilst we’ve been reading. The stories of Christopher, Ellie, Jade, Mandy and Nick had us riveted. Hearing and experiencing their thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, love and ultimately lives as each was ultimately marked from the day they sent away a swab to find their match was an – edge of your seat – experience.

‘And in that moment , as they felt each other’s hearts racing, yet beating at exactly the same speed, they felt as if they were two halves of a whole.’

The amount of twists, eerie surprises and bang on situational double-crossings was phenomenal, it’s not often we are left open mouthed and applauding whilst reading. When you read as much as we do, we often find a case of knowing where a story is probably going to go. Well this was not the case with The One. We were shocked along the way in a continuously moving story that delved into the lives of five characters each with a common thread, each had a personal story where we felt as if we were voyeurs living their lives alongside them.

If ever there was a case for a book made into a film/TV serial then The One by John Marrs should be first in line. Without question this is one of our favourite reads and we highly urge you to go pick it up and go on a menacing thrilling journey which deals with what could essentially be real life, real people and a theme that in many ways reads to be quite topical of today’s evolving dating websites and experiences. You will not be able to look away, we promise! When we reached the last page we wanted to give John Marrs a standing ovation- what an incredible writer he is and what a unique and fascinatingly chilling story this was.

“You my love, are fucked.”