The Woman in Cabin 10

Ruth Ware is a new author for me, I'd heard really good things about her first novel ‘In A Dark Dark Wood' but haven't as yet got around to that because when I heard the title of her newest novel ‘The Woman In Cabin 10' I have to be honest and say I really couldn't wait to dive into this one first.

Ware is joining the raft of female writers who are all turning their attentions to the thriller genre following the success of novels such as Gone Girl and The Girl on The Train. Having spent the last week getting through a sizeable novel I wanted a quick read that would grab my attention and have enough suspense to keep me hooked and pull me through the slump you often get after you finish a really great book. I had high hopes for The Woman In Cabin 10.

This book is the story of Lo, a magazine journalist for a travel publication who is set to join an exclusive set of guests on the maiden voyage of the boat the Aurora Borealis. The boat is owned by millionaire Richard Bullmer and Lo is attending so she can publicise the boat and hopefully gain Bullmer's advertising input towards her magazine. Things begin to go wrong though before Lo even leaves home after her flat is broken into a few days before her departure for the cruise, this shakes her confidence and leaves her fearful and tense.

The first thing I found about this book was the exclusiveness of the boat that Lo was sent on. Only containing around 20 passengers it means we have a small cast of people to get to know. It also is described really well by Ware as she seeks to outline the luxury of the vessel and the lengths to which the staff and owners will go to please their guests. Lo, however, is woken one night by the sound of a woman's scream from the cabin next to hers, Cabin 10, and things get more mysterious when she hears what sounds like someone being thrown overboard. She immediately informs security only to be told that everyone onboard is accounted for and the cabin next to hers is completely unoccupied and has been since the boat left port after a guest cancelled at the last minute. Lo is suddenly doubting what she heard and everyone is questioning her reliability and sanity.

Firstly with this book I have to be honest and say that I found Lo a really difficult main character to read. Whether this was a conscious decision by Ware having now read the whole book I am a little unsure. I found Lo to be quite unstable, she is often reliant upon alcohol and says early on in the book she is on medication which means that you doubt her versions of events as a reader. Also, she is meant to be on the boat as part of her job as a journalist yet she came across as enormously uninterested to me and like she wasn't very good at her job. I wanted to give her a shake and tell her to pull herself together. I struggled with the early chapters of the book purely because she was grating on my nerves. I almost at one point was debating whether I could read a whole book from her perspective.

Secondly, I have to reflect upon the hints of similarity to Agatha Christie, the set up of this book reminded me a little of the Queen of Murder. The small exclusive set of guests, many wealthy and them all being stranded offshore on a floating luxury hotel whilst someone witnesses a murder really did initially have tones of Christies writing about them. Whilst this wasn't fully explored and only lasted through the first chapters of the book it did make me think that Ware was possibly more skilled than I gave her credit for and was one of the reasons I began to wonder if instead of writing an annoying main character on purpose she did so to add to the suspense of the novel.

The second half of this novel is much more engaging than the first, the tension ramps up quite quickly and I read pretty solidly the last 100 pages in a few hours without wanting to tear myself away. There are snippets of emails and communications from Lo's family and friends at home between sections of the book which add to the questions surrounding the mystery onboard and help to raise the tension. I also worried as we neared the end that the conclusion was going to be a little uninspiring but the last few pages of the book manage to redeem it and add an additional twist that you aren't quite expecting and give a sense of fulfillment and conclusion to the story.

I liked the book, I wouldn't say it's the best thriller I've read and I found it a good enough read to now try another of the authors novels but I'm still to be convinced as to her calibre of writing in comparisson to others in this genre at the moment hence my rating of only 3 stars.

A fun and quick-paced thriller. Makes good use of the setting to evoke claustrophobic dread and paranoia. The mystery is actually pretty simple to figure out, but a couple elements made this stand out in my mind.

First, the story winds up discussing mental illness in an effective and sympathetic way. It's significant to the plot but avoids being overly simplistic or tropey.

Second, I found the climax took a refreshing turn. I literally thought to myself, “oh, in these last few pages we'll see the obligatory XYZ happen,” and the author subverts that expectation.

In some ways this was clunky and obvious, but it had enough originality and skillful storytelling, along with a sympathetic and relatable hero, so that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I loved this book! It grabbed me from the first page and wouldn't let go until the last page. I am a sucker for books that pull at me and make me want to forget my responsibilities and see what happens next. The twists and turns kept coming, and I found myself anxious on behalf of the main character many times. Good book - I would definitely recommend!

I received this ARC from my job and that in no way sways my review.
Lo Blacklock is coming off a stressful break-in and a big fight with her boyfriend and she can't let that stop her from her possible big break. She works for a travel magazine and she has finally been given the assignment that could prove to her boss she had what it takes: a week on a small luxury cruise. Everything seems perfect, until one night when Lo thinks she sees a woman tossed overboard but when she reports what she sees, all passengers are accounted for. Lo knows what she saw and starts digging but with the more she find will she be able to stay afloat?
It's hard to find locations in modern times where no cellphones/internet access is a thing except in the middle of the sea. It creates a great setting for an Agatha Christie type mystery and adds some realistic scenes. The writing is strong allowing the suspense to build well. In the time period of psychological thrillers with unreliable narrators the author allowed Lo's story to feel easy to believe and hang on to. Lo has her personal issues but the self doubt and strength she builds played better through the book.
Although I like the reveal moment the pace slows down and goes for on for a bit too long after that. I haven't read this authors first book but with the strong writing I would add it to my to-read list.

The fact that it took me 3 months to finish this says something. I really dislike the new trend to make a female unreliable narrator with alcohol. Lo got it under control and ended up being a decent person, but I wondered which is why I set the book aside. I was all prepared to give it a 2 star review, but I ended up liking it more than that.
The setting is good. The suspects abound. The how was it done is clever. The escape is exciting. And the ending you think happened didn't. And neither did plan B. So the author keeps you guessing.

All my reviews can be found at The Tiny Reader's Reference! Come on over and say hello!Short & Sweet: Despite a compelling premise, [b:The Woman in Cabin 10 28187230 The Woman in Cabin 10 Ruth Ware http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465878007s/28187230.jpg 48209164] falls short with lackluster stakes and a frustrating, immature protagonist. Combined with a lethargic start, bulky middle, and linear plot, it makes for a dull novel with a lukewarm conclusion.I absolutely love stories with high, almost paranormal mysteries, and [b:The Woman in Cabin 10 28187230 The Woman in Cabin 10 Ruth Ware http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465878007s/28187230.jpg 48209164] checked all those boxes, and more, with its premise. A murder on a highest class cruise, rubbing shoulders with some of the most powerful people in the world, trying to maintain normalcy while skimming the alibis of every person. A disappearance out of thin air. Such promise!However, based on other reviews, it seems as if you???ll fall into one of two camps ??? you???ll absolutely love this novel, or you???ll hate it. Unfortunately, I am in the latter. The novel opens to our protagonist, Lo Blacklock, a journalist for the travel magazine Velocity. She wakes up with a start, and looks out her bedroom doorway to see a burglar in her flat. Her and the burglar have a staredown, he slams the door ??? not touching Lo at all, but the door hits her too-close face ??? and locks her in. She manages to get out, calls the police, rekeys her flat, and spends the night somewhere else. Quite a violating experience, to be sure, and a hell of an opening. The first problem is then introduced: the privilege of listening to her wax on about this experience in a myriad of ways, jamming it into nearly every single moment, both where appropriate and not. Lo even dares compare her robbery to what she suspects the murdered woman felt. I quote:???I know what it???s like,??? I said, as he opened the door, ???Don???t you see? I know what she must have felt like, when someone came for her in the middle of the night.???Comparing a robbery, in which the robber not only leaves you alone, but locks you in a room to flee, to a full-blown suspected murder, left me with an entitled and immature vibe that pulled me directly out of the story to roll my eyes.Similarly, the kickoff (found at a late 85 pages in) starts as Lo wakes from a deep and drunken slumber. She futzes around in her room until she hears the sound of a splash.I held my breath, straining to hear.And then there was a splash.Not a small splash.No, this was a big splash.The kind of splash made by a body hitting water.Why jump to the conclusion that it???s a body?She jumps to her own veranda to see ???a smear of something dark and oily??? on the safety glass. Because we are both simultaneously on a high class yacht and in the stone age, she runs to call security and not take a picture or video. As a result, the smear is gone when she returns.Within the same vein, Lo tends to have illogical reactions to situations. It seems to cross the line from adult frustration to childlike anger control. In one notable example: she brings her concerns to the head of security Johann Nilsson, (literally, ???I think I???ve witnessed a murder!???) who takes her seriously by exhausting all possible options, given they???re in a ship in the middle of the flippin??? North Sea, and the crime scene is completely pristine. He listens to her account, hears her description of the missing woman, and proceeds to take Lo to meet every single person who fits the description on the ship, from Richard Bullmer, owner and billionaire, all the way down to the lowliest server. Quite literally. This takes up ten pages, where we travel down to the living quarters, and get to listen to Lo shake her head and Johann patiently guide her from one employee to the next.When Johann suggests that maybe ??? just maybe ??? her level of intoxication that night, combined with other factors, may have caused a hallucination or some type of suggestion, she flips the hell out in a reaction that truly had me taken aback. Slams the door, screaming, borderline panic attack, then throws herself dramatically on the bed to ???sob her heart out???. Later on, she claims that Johann ???hadn???t taken her seriously???. This dramatic and frankly audacious cognitive dissonance caused all sympathy I had for Lo to dissipate. The second problem is that really, not much else happens, aside from the first ten pages and last thirty pages. Everything in between is filled with Lo either having a borderline panic attack, falling asleep, nauseous, drinking, musing on who was a murderer, or talking to the staff.I believe my main problem with this novel, overall, were the lack of stakes and believability. Not for one moment did Lo genuinely sit down and say to herself, ???Yes, I was extremely intoxicated and half-asleep, this looks bad on the outside.??? She repeatedly, and stubbornly to the point of ridiculousness, doubles down, exaggerates the situation, and makes poor choices afterward, all the way up to the conclusion. This review, and myself, sounds very callous toward those who suffer from anxiety. I would like to assure you, dear reader, that I am not ??? I subscribe to a similar medication regime as Lo does. However, it was very difficult for me to sympathize and root for Lo when she was screaming at Johann for making a reasonable conclusion based on her inebriation and sleep deprivation that night. A frustrating one? Yes. A wrong one? Absolutely. But not an illogical one. The reveal, and conclusion, were satisfying to a degree. When [a:Ruth Ware 9013543 Ruth Ware http://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1434533707p2/9013543.jpg] writes action, it kept me turning the page to find out what happens next, written at an even and clipped pace. The very end closed the book on a positive note, and while it was great, I felt the answers I received were not necessarily worth the effort of slogging through the delayed beginning and bloated middle. If Ware had sprinkled a few subplots, reeled Lo back a couple notches, and rose the stakes much higher ??? perhaps Lo had indeed seen a murder, rather than allude or suspect one ??? [b:The Woman in Cabin 10 28187230 The Woman in Cabin 10 Ruth Ware http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465878007s/28187230.jpg 48209164] would jump by leaps and bounds. Otherwise, I would pass on this one.

Slow at first but gains steam in the second half. I didn’t like the MC Lo and felt her to just be a not nice person. Her attitude about how she treats people just never changes even when her circumstances do. The plot was enough to keep me wanting to know more and that’s what got me through. A fast, summer read that was overall not too bad.

3.5 stars. This book could be titled “The Girl on the Train, on a Boat.” The stories aren't exactly the same, but you have a similar unreliable female protagonist who thinks that she sees a murder. Can she trust what she saw? Are people plotting against her? What really happened? The story is the unraveling of all these questions.

The plot was fast moving, which was a plus. I also thought the use of news reports and online chat forums was effective in heightening the suspense. Overall, however, I found the characters to be shallow and the mystery pretty straight forward.

Would recommend to someone who wants a quick mystery that is not overly complex and doesn't mind the lack of character development.

Thanks to Net Galley for a complimentary digital copy of The Woman in Cabin 10.

This book definitely took the breath right out of me and had me grasping the edge of my seat the entire time, so there was no shortage of excitement in this novel. Fast paced, with twists and turns at every corner, I was sucked into its plot until the very end and my head is still spinning even though I am officially done with it. This has been my first Ruth Ware novel and it was definitely a terrific one, I will be picking up more novels by her without a doubt.

The thing I liked the most about this novel was the outstanding plot, not many books can give me high blood pressure like this one did, I literally had to catch my breath a few times. From the very beginning, it captivated my attention and I couldn't put the book down because the pacing of the plot was flawless and there was not a moment where I felt bored or like I couldn't keep reading any further. On the contrary, I felt like I had to keep going, had to keep finding out more and getting more answers to all the questions I had. The plot was unlike any I've ever encountered before and that is saying a lot.

The writing style was also very well done and it was quite an effortless read, the story flowing easily and coming alive right before my eyes. The sentences themselves weren't overly simplistic and yet not redundantly stretched out either, just how I like them to be. It was easy to imagine what was going on to the point that I was able to see the story as it unraveled from the heroines eyes.

Since my previous books were mostly from different characters' perspectives, this book was different in that regard and yet I was totally okay with that. The heroine was someone that I felt I could definitely relate to in many ways and she had many flaws as well, which made her even more real and concrete in my eyes. Many times I felt as though I was feeling what she was feeling, her pain and dread and whatever other emotions she was feeling, were my own. Hence, why I am pretty sure this book gave me high blood pressure a few times. In a good, exhilarating way of course.

In conclusion, this book is a terrific mystery thriller and I would recommend it to anyone who loves that genre. I would advise that you clear up some time to read it in a few sittings at the most though, because it will swallow you up from the very first page and not let you relax until you have finished it to the very end. The only thing is, I wish the ending was a little longer and a bit more extended but overall it was an exhilarating and very fast paced read!

⭐⭐⭐
This book is good and worth reading. I enjoyed it but it felt a little lacking. I may recommend it to a certain audience. It gave me mixed feelings, possibly with potential it didn't quite live up to. It's a good experience, not amazing, but not bad.

This was the first Ruth Ware book I've read and I wasn't thrilled with it. It was one of those books that I didn't love but didn't hate. I just...liked if. It was an enjoyable enough read but I felt the real “WOW” moment never came and the ending was a bit rushed. If it's in your TBR pile by all means read it. Just don't expect too much.

4.5/5 i LOVED this book a lot the first 80 precent was a 5 star and the media at the end of every part was my favorite i did knock a half star off just because there was one little part in the end that was a bit far fetched but overall i really was obsessed with this book and at the atmosphere that surronds it
update: i think this is overall a 5 star reading experience considering how much I think about this book and it was just a tiny scene that bothered me but literally still a 10/10 book

Okay, this book was a disappointment for me. I didn’t like the main character the whole way through but the mystery was keeping me interested, until the “twists” came in the most lazy fashion ever. The ending felt rushed and thoughtless. I was bored in so many parts I felt like was supposed to be thrilling. I’m sorry but this really made me upset because a lot could have been done with this story and it just really disappointed me. It’s not like it was super easy to find out the twists, the way they mapped it out for us made it feel like we were dumb. The beginning of the mystery was good though, I enjoyed any other character.

This is a mystery. It features the most helpless and stupid protagonist I've ever come across. Lo Blacklock suffers from anxiety and panic attacks. Also, she's a bit of a drunk. She works for a travel magazine. When her boss becomes too ill, Lo gets a break and joins a little over a dozen others for the maiden voyage of a smallish luxury cruiseship that has ten guest cabins. Then something sinister happens, Lo is stirred from her drunken stupor, eventually tells people what she thinks. They don't believe her. She sucks at her job too. She doesn't really have much going for her. I stuck around to see how the central mystery wraps up. I had guessed right a little past the halfway mark. I might've muttered “Just die already” to the main character at one point. No luck.

I didn't really think that this book was very good, and now I understand the mixed reviews from everyone that have been floating around since this hit the shelves. Ruth, my girllllll, what happened here. I hated this girl from the beginning. And the book was pretty predictable. The last couple chapters did take me by surprise, but not enough to offset the disappointment from the rest of the book. I feel sad that it had to end this way, but once you find out the ending you find the characters thinking back to certain things that happened and trying to pass them off as “clues”. Nah, half baked. Shallow who-dun-its are actually the worst.