This is most definitely the shortest amount of time in between any of my book reviews on this blog. This is because I fell behind in reading, heavily procrastinated on one of my book club novels, and only had a few days to finish it before the discussion. Luckily, The One by John Marrs is a very fast read anyway so breezing through it within two days was no problem whatsoever. Rather, the problem instead is The One has an interesting sci-fi genetic-related premise, and interesting plot and discussion points to follow, but doesn’t have a full story that’s memorable.
Book Review: The One by John Marrs
This is technically the third sci-fi genre book I’d read so far this year; the first two being In the Lives of Puppets and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I don’t typically go right to sci-fi, but I will always return to Jurassic Park for some good thrills, scientific going too far, and dinosaurs eating people. In that same realm, The One by John Marrs I think it trying to present an argument or an overall theme that’s along the lines of “science going wrong and fucking everything up.” That we can tell from the synopsis:
How far would you go to find The One?
A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner—the one you’re genetically made for.
That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.
Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.” They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others…
The One. John Marrs. https://www.amazon.com/One-John-Marrs/dp/1335998853
I’ll be frank — I wrote a lot of notes on my iPhone Notes app while reading this book; both to keep track of the ongoing storylines and to write down my own thoughts. This novel follows the (mis)adventures of five different people (as you read above) so it can be difficult to transition from one to another, but I personally didn’t have a problem with it. Marrs’ writing style is very twisty and is very reminiscent of more traditional murder thrillers — at the end of each episode/chapter is usually a little twist, a little interesting tid-bit, or a piece of drama so you have to hold on until it moves past the alternating POV’s and back around again. That I appreciate because it can be a lot of characters to juggle all at once and this style of writing helped — plus it’s what makes reading it go by very fast.
The very short chapters in this book (there are about 100 total) make the entire novel very easy to go through, much like eating popcorn of a Freida McFadden book. The characters are pretty likeable to start with and the story is written in a way where you want to keep reading about their quests and experiences with love and how it affects them; it’s very easy to connect with all of them either through humanity or thriller-style intrigue.
Walking away from The One though, there were two main themes or ideas I kept thinking about and started making my own discussion arguments about:
The Placebo Effect and personal responsibility.
To understand at all what I mean, you need to know two things:
1) The main argument from an antagonist of the book (the main antagonist I should say) against Match Your DNA stems from it causing people or “making” people have terrible lives and make terrible decisions.
2) The book’s end heavily implies that due to the events within the story, Match Your DNA’s data got messed up and millions of people were incorrectly matched.
Ruminating on all of that — outside of the varying perspectives, sharp writing style, and very poignant delivery of all the plotlines — The One takes a very Monkey’s Paw-style approach to the story (along the lines of feeling compelled to find out things you may not want to, but still going for it). But what you have to remember is that the entire story is a placebo; or at least a very unique take on the placebo concept. The love and spark and closeness that these charters feel toward their “The Ones” is only as much as they believe it to be.
Since Match Your DNA’s user results are skewed and ultimately mismatched, the only way to know if someone is in that contaminated pool of users is to be retested and rematched. This means nobody knows for certain if the person they are pursuing is indeed their “biological match” or someone they believe to be that way even in the most extreme of circumstances — because remember, the gene the company discovered still exists. I put together my own little chart of which of the five storylines could likely be or not likely be a placebo, and only one could be a “true” couple/match with all things considered (even taking into account possible false positives). Manipulation does muddy the waters a little, but my conclusions are based on all the information The One gives us.
This brings me to my second discussion argument: personal responsibility. What’s important to remember is that nobody is forcing people to engage with Match Your DNA; this is not some dystopian world where it is forced. It’s up to the individual. It’s also up to the individual user if they choose to stay with their current partner/spouse or leave to be with their Match. The main antagonist’s argument for causing Match Your DNA’s results to be screwed up is frankly very misguided, as it is not the fault of the company what people do with the scientific data (Matches) presented to them.
Everything is because of a character’s own free will to submit a DNA sample and pay a small fee to find their match. This applies to the main antagonists backstory as well — everyone is free to make their own choices. It’s just a system that can be manipulated and people can be manipulated by other people. That’s not the fault of Match Your DNA, though. The individual has to make the choice of who to love and why; nobody has to love their Match and it’s possible to love someone who is not.
In fact, the final word of the CEO is to not send out mass retesting messages and to instead let people make their own decisions and take action.
My final thoughts? Match DNA is not necessarily evil or an evil entity, and the book mainly showcases all these different perspectives and the different ways something like finding “The One” can affect people. It makes it a bit deeper than your typical sci-fi/thriller/Black Mirror style book. I appreciate that it sharpened my argument building skills but if the goal is to make us hate Match Your DNA — the author failed miserably.
If you want a very fast, very twisty read and are just bored, take a weekend and read The One. However, despite my major points of discussion, this is not a standalone book that’s special or one that you’d just pick up.
My Hot Takes (Spoiler Warning)
- I do enjoy the book ends of the novel, with the first chapter introducing Match Your DNA as if the reader is a user, and then the last chapter following the same outline.
- I love Chris’ introductory chapter and how calmly we’re introduced to his rather extreme storyline. His is my favorite storyline.
- I do appreciate and see how this book can bring about the Nature Nurture Debate (with regards to the matches)
- If the author’s goal is to make an argument about technology, CEO’s, or big companies, it does not work. Match Your DNA is not evil, the antagonist is just disgruntled and has misplaced anger. Do not blame the company because you’re resentful over your parents terrible personal decision.
- Did get some r/menwritingwomen vibes at times from this book at times.
- Absolutely adore and am in love with what happens to the main antagonist in the end. Very Amy Dunn-esque and amazing.
My Rating: 3/5 Stars
