The One by John Marrs is not my usual space opera or sci-fi romance read. I picked up this outlier because the premise reminded me of one of my favourite movies: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Just like in Eternal Sunshine, the contemporary dating scene in The One has been altered by a shocking scientific discovery. Instead of the newfound ability to erase memories of failed relationships, in this world science can match you with your genetically predetermined soulmate.
And when you’re with your fated mate, your relationship can’t fail, right?
This novel follows the romantic journeys of five characters who assume just that until they meet their match:
Mandy, a divorcee longing for children, discovers her match has died.
Jade, a recent univercity grad who can’t afford to travel, is assigned a match who lives on the other side of the world.
Ellie, a posh CEO, is matched with an average Joe who spills soup on his clothes and jokes about farts.
Nick, a straight guy engaged to marry a woman he adores, finds out he’s partnered with a man.
Christopher, a serial killer, is matched to a police officer who could discover his crimes.
All these stories sound intriguing, but since I usually don’t enjoy contemporary settings, I taste-tested the free sample pages of this book before committing. Surprisingly, what really sucked me in and soon had me forking out the purchase price wasn’t the premise. It was the pacing. Marrs’s short chapters (mostly two to three pages each) were snappy and engaging and each ended in a surprise.
I had to keep reading to find out what would happen next, and it always seemed reasonable to read “just one more chapter” when the next chapter was only two pages long.
Some reviews categorize this book science fiction, (it was a Wall Street Journal Best Science Fiction Book of 2018.) Others call it a cross between romance and thriller. But The One didn’t feel like a thriller to me, and it’s definitely not a romance either.
That being said, several of the story lines do contain romances that end in HEA’s that will satisfy lovers of both contemporary and sci-fi romance.
The book contains no graphic sex scenes, but I still wouldn’t necessarily recommend The One to readers of “clean” romance without first listing a few potential triggers that readers looking for something fluffy might want to avoid.
First off, it’s known from the get-go that one of the characters is a serial killer, but since his first few POV scenes are not at all gruesome, I wasn’t expecting it when I hit a chapter that describes the killer following a woman to her house, strangling her as she struggles, and then brutalizing her dead body (nothing sexual). The time I was reading this novel coincided with my husband being out of town, and I found it kind of creepy laying in bed at night reading about a killer who breaks into the homes of women who live alone. If you have an overactive imagination like me, this may not be your book.
There are also a few pregnancy-related potential triggers that I can’t describe without some small spoilers. I’ll leave a space so you can bail if you want to, or skip to /end spoiler to read my conclusion.
/begin spoiler
Okay, so there are several pregnant characters in this book, and to avoid completely ruining the suspense for you, I won’t tell you what happens to whom, but if you’ve experienced miscarriage, childbirth trauma, or similar, you may want to know the following before you dive into this read:
- A character dies in childbirth.
- A newborn baby is stolen from the hospital and there is a moment when it appears the kidnapper has committed infanticide.
- A murder victim’s decomposing body expels a fetus after death.
/end spoiler
Despite being a tiny bit creeped out by the serial killer bits, The One kept me engaged and entertained from start to finish. I’d definitely read another John Marrs novel, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who prefers contemporary sci fi. I also think The One might intrigue sci-fi romance readers who enjoy fated mates pairings. This book is not a romance, but it is fascinating to imagine what would happen to our world if the fated mates trope were real!
