Book Review: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
Genre: Adult Fiction (Mystery / Thriller / Suspense)
Date Published: July 19, 2016
Publisher: Scout Press

Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo's stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo's desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware left me disappointed. There was a snippet of a review by Star Tribune that I read that stated: " “Cabin 10” just may do to cruise vacations what “Jaws” did to ocean swimming. You’ll be afraid to go out on the water.” " And, I thought "Hey, this is something I need to read."  So, I went into it with some pretty high expectations. Unfortunately, it reminded me way too much of Girl on a Train. The big difference for me was the main character. Lo was a smidge more likable than Rachel. The writing style flowed nicely, and the author told the story well. I just felt like I'd read it before from a train rather than a cruise ship.

In my dream, the girl was drifting, far, far below the crashing waves and the cries of the gulls, in the cold, sun-less depths of the North Sea. Her laughing eyes were white and bloated with salt water, her pale skin was wrinkled, her clothes ripped by jagged rocks and disintegrating into rags. Only her long, black hair remained, floating through the water like fronds of dark seaweed, tangling in shells and fishing nets, washing up on the shore in hanks like frayed rope, where it lay, limp, the roar of the crashing waves against the shingle filling my ears. I woke, heavy with dread. It took me a while to remember where I was, and still longer to realise that the roar in my ears was not part of the dream, but real. The room was dark, with the same damp mist I’d felt in my dream, and as I pulled myself to sitting I felt a cool breeze on my cheek. It sounded like the noise was coming from the bathroom. I climbed off the bed, shivering slightly. The door was shut, but as I walked across to it I could hear the roar building, the pitch of my heart rising alongside. Taking my courage in both hands, I flung open the door. The noise of the shower filled the small room as I groped for the switch. Light flooded the bathroom – and that’s when I saw it. Written across the steamy mirror, in letters maybe six inches high, were the words ‘STOP DIGGING’.

Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer. She is married with two small children, and In a Dark, Dark Wood is her début thriller.

To learn more about Ruth Ware and her books, visit her website. You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

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