One Perfect Couple, the brand-new high-tension destination thriller by New York Times-bestselling author Ruth Ware, has received praise in a review by BookBrunch.

In the review, which you can read in full here, Lucy Nathan writes:

“Here is my problem with Ruth Ware’s novels: I love them so much that I read them too quickly, meaning that the annual event of a New Ruth Ware Book is over too soon… Ware is so, so good at pacing, and at creating characters you really care about. This book is painfully atmospheric, you really feel the scorching heat and parching thirst as fear levels rise and characters start dying, and I was entirely hooked.”

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, One Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.

One Perfect Couple is available now in the US and will be released in the UK on 18th July. Grab your US copy here or pre-order your UK copy here.

Follow Ruth on Instagram @ruthwarewriter and Twitter @RuthWareWriter.