One by One

A heart pounding, twisting thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Housemaid and The Coworker!

One by one, they will get what they deserve...

Claire Matchett needs this trip. It will be a break from work and raising children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubbing with friends at a luxurious hotel in the woods, disconnected from the pressures of real life.

Then, on a lonely dirt road, Claire's minivan breaks down. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to walk the rest of the way to their remote accommodation. But the forest is dark and difficult to navigate and, hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost.

As they venture deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously, one by one. Are they being hunted? And by what―or who? As Claire's dream vacation descends into a nightmare, something becomes clear: only one of them will return home alive.

A taut story of betrayal and survival from New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden that will leave you wondering if there's any way out of the woods…

#1 New York Times, Amazon Charts, USA Today, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times, and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author Freida McFadden is a physician who has penned multiple bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. Freida is the winner of the International Thriller Writer Award for Best Paperback Original, the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Thriller, and was honored as one of TIME 100’s most influential people in the world for 2026. Her novels have been translated into more than 45 languages.

​ Freida lives with her family and cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

To hear Freida talk about herself more in the third person, check out her website freidamcfadden dot com.

The story kicks off with a seemingly innocent premise: an annual getaway for a tight-knit group of six friends. The protagonist, Claire, is the primary narrator, a woman who often feels inadequate and deeply insecure, especially when compared to her stunning and endlessly confident best friend, Lindsay. Claire is married to Noah, a man who appears to the outside world as the perfect, devoted husband, though behind closed doors, his controlling nature casts a long shadow over their marriage. Rounding out the group are Jack and his consistently complaining wife, Michelle, along with the quirky, single wildcard of the group, Warner. They all pile into a minivan for a highly anticipated vacation, but the trip takes a disastrous turn when Noah decides to take a remote, unpaved shortcut. Deep in a dense, sprawling forest with no cell service and miles from civilization, the van suddenly breaks down. With no other options, the group makes the fateful decision to leave the vehicle and hike into the woods in search of help.

What begins as an inconvenient trek quickly spirals into a terrifying fight for survival. The woods are vast, disorienting, and unforgiving, and the group almost immediately loses their way. As the hours bleed into days, the lack of food, water, and shelter begins to strip away their civilized veneers. The psychological tension ratchets up as exhaustion and panic set in, leading to bitter arguments and fractured loyalties. The true nightmare begins when Warner mysteriously disappears from their makeshift campsite. Shortly after, the horrifying realization sets in that he hasn't just wandered off—he is dead. The group is forced to accept the chilling truth that they are not alone in the woods, or worse, that the danger is coming from someone within their own circle.

As the body count slowly begins to rise, the narrative brilliantly unravels the complex, toxic history binding these friends together. The isolation acts as a pressure cooker, bringing years of buried resentments, hidden jealousies, and dark secrets to the surface. Jack and Michelle’s already strained marriage completely implodes under the stress, leading to further isolation and vulnerability. Meanwhile, Claire's internal monologue provides a harrowing look into her psyche. She has spent years feeling like a passive observer in her own life, letting Noah dictate her choices and allowing Lindsay to outshine her. However, as her friends are picked off one by one, the narrative begins to peel back the layers of Claire's perceived fragility, hinting that there is much more to her than the timid wife she portrays.

The turning point of the novel hinges on a devastating betrayal. The supposed string of tragic accidents and random attacks is revealed to be a carefully orchestrated conspiracy. Claire uncovers the crushing truth that her perfect husband, Noah, and her glamorous best friend, Lindsay, have been carrying on a passionate, secret affair. The broken-down van, the fateful shortcut, and the perilous hike into the woods were never accidents at all. They were the key components of a cold-blooded plot hatched by Noah and Lindsay to murder Claire in the wilderness. By making her death look like a tragic hiking accident or the work of a random killer, they intended to inherit her assets and start a new life together without suspicion. The other friends—Warner, Michelle, and Jack—were never meant to be part of the final equation, but as they became liabilities or suspected the truth, they were ruthlessly eliminated to protect the core plan.

However, Freida McFadden delivers her signature, jaw-dropping twist by flipping the classic victim narrative entirely on its head. As Noah and Lindsay finally corner Claire in the depths of the forest, ready to deliver the final blow, the true nature of the story is revealed. Claire is not the oblivious, weak-willed prey they believed her to be. She had discovered their affair and their murderous intentions long before they even packed their bags for the trip. Instead of confronting them or running away, Claire made a chilling, calculated decision to play along. She willingly walked directly into their trap, knowing that their sheer arrogance and consistent underestimation of her intelligence would be their ultimate undoing.

The climax is a brilliant subversion of the thriller formula. Claire drops her helpless facade and systematically turns the tables on her would-be killers. Using the brutal environment of the woods and her own hidden resilience, she outmaneuvers Noah and Lindsay, ensuring that their treacherous plan collapses in on itself. In the end, the very trap they built becomes their grave. Claire emerges from the tree line alone, bruised and bloodied, presenting herself to the authorities as the sole, traumatized survivor of a horrific tragedy. She plays the role of the grieving widow to absolute perfection, masking the fact that she has successfully executed her own master plan—ridding herself of a toxic husband and a backstabbing friend, and walking away completely free.