I’m not gonna lie, this type of book is usually not my cup of tea. The whole reason I read The One is because Netflix has a series coming out based on this book (I always like to read the book before I dive into a movie or series). It seemed interesting, so I went in headfirst regardless of the thriller genre that John Marrs typically writes in. News flash: I wasn’t disappointed.

The absolute morality, ethics, and questions that John Marrs brought to light in his novel absolutely thrilled me (no pun intended). I love when books raise difficult questions about life, love, and the way we all achieve those aspects in our own lives. There was no shortage of these difficult questions in this novel. It was well written, fast paced, and the characters were all engaging and fun to read about. My personal favorite storylines were those of Ellie (CEO of Match Your DNA, and the scientist who discovered the gene), Mandy (divorcee of a man who left her for his match), and Christopher (psychopathic killer who gets matched). These, to me anyway, were the most engaging, thought-provoking, and developed of all the storylines. The others were good, just not as memorable.

Spoilers ahead.

Man was I surprised when I found out that Richard was alive. I know Mandy had to be just as surprised as I was, and with all of the other things that happened to her after this, this had to be the least surprising moment of them all. I still gasped, though….

I really love how John Marrs reiterated so much about how you can’t fight genetics. I think the point he was trying to make in the end—at least, this is how I see it—is that it’s the exact opposite. Your genetics don’t define you. They may signal if you’re predisposed for a disease, or what you’ll look like, but in the end, you make the decisions. No one else makes them for you. Which is why I was so bewildered that Tim/Matthew thought it was okay to mess up the Match Your DNA gene pool. I mean, he just screwed up millions of peoples’ lives just like what happened to his mother. Completely hypocritical in my opinion.

In the end, I absolutely love the line that John Marrs toed with ethical dilemmas and questions about morality in this novel. I don’t think I would believe in a business that claims you can only love one person because it’s simply not true. The person who you choose, who you decide to cultivate a relationship with, who you choose to work with on that relationship is the person who you’ll love. Relationships take time, energy, and most of all, patience. They don’t just work out because you’re supposedly “made for each other.” If you don’t put effort into a relationship, it simply just won’t work.

Source: Audiobook from Audible