ONE PERFECT COUPLE is already the third book I’ve reviewed this year that revolves around reality television, which shows how truly ingrained this programming is in our culture. In the hands of a thriller writer like Ruth Ware, we get answers to those “what if” questions that might nag at us while we are watching these shows, such as, “What if the contestants began killing each other?”

It is no surprise that Ware, who is a huge aficionado of Dame Agatha Christie, would set her novel on a remote island in the middle of the Indian Ocean where contestants are eliminated by both Mother Nature and each other. Shades of Soldier Island from AND THEN THERE WERE NONE looms over this entire story.

"ONE PERFECT COUPLE is Ruth Ware at her most cunning, and she does it all within the framework of an immensely popular form of entertainment that is wide open to this kind of speculation."

Nico is a struggling actor who believes he finally has found his meal ticket. His agent has told him about “One Perfect Couple,” a new reality show featuring couples competing to be the last ones standing. He just has to convince his live-in girlfriend, Lyla, to join him. Lyla is a doctor of virology with a very good career, but she knuckles under to Nico’s badgering in an effort to play the supportive girlfriend. After they meet with one of the show’s producers, Lyla recognizes that the cash prize could be just what they need to move out of their tiny apartment and really begin their lives together.

On the boat ride to a small island in Jakarta, somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the competing couples all get acquainted. In addition to Nico and Lyla, we have Conor and Zana, Bayer and Angel, Joel and Romi, and Dan and Santana.

Upon arrival, the couples each claim a hut and are given a tour of the place. Everyone is forced to relinquish their electronic items, including smartwatches, and they all gather in the common area for the series introduction and their first challenge. The couples are asked intimate questions, similar to “The Newlywed Game,” after which the hosts tally up the results. Lyla ends up with the best score and Nico the lowest, which means he is eliminated and has to leave the island. Nico throws a fit and tells everyone off, including his girlfriend.

Lyla is now moved to an upscale villa that she must share with the runner-up, Joel. You see, the winners of this game have to be a couple but not necessarily the original couple who arrived together. While everyone is digesting the intentions of the show and Nico’s abrupt departure, word spreads about a huge typhoon heading their way. None of the contestants seem worried as the housing appears to be sturdy and must have gone through bad weather conditions before. Soon, though, we will learn that this is a storm like no other. The producers and crew members depart on the same boat with Nico, leaving the remaining contestants to get by on their own.

Interspersed throughout the book are scenes of communication attempts via the only radio on the island from the frantic group left to fend for themselves. The storm is so much worse than anyone initially imagined, and not everyone survives the first blast. As the contestants band together to try to figure out what to do, they realize that the radio does not work and they have no idea if the boat that had left with the others ever made it to land. There is also a vicious and extremely disturbing rumor going around that “One Perfect Couple” had not been picked up by any network and was just being filmed in an effort to market it.

Readers will be confounded as they try to figure out if any larger plan might be at play here --- a nearly impossible task as you are too busy being consumed by the deadly action of this very real game of “Survivor.” ONE PERFECT COUPLE is Ruth Ware at her most cunning, and she does it all within the framework of an immensely popular form of entertainment that is wide open to this kind of speculation.