Review: THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 by Ruth Ware

Title: The Woman in Cabin 10

Author: Ruth Ware

Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada
Publication Date: June 30, 2016
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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 sparking, 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.  

 

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"There's a reason why we keep thoughts inside our heads 

for the most part—they're not safe to be let out in public."

This book triggered all my wannabe Detective Conan skills! Just ask my cousin who I religiously kept updated on my reactions and critical deductions (whether or not she was a willing participant of these impromptu book club messages is unknown). Some of my guesses were not too far off from the truth either. When the book first released, the hype was all over my social media and had caught my interest as a new fan of thriller novels. I was curious if I would like the story because, I was more interested in procedural crime type mysteries/thrillers at the time. It was fun getting my brain working and trying to figure out the what happened though. Hopefully there will be a book-to-movie adaptation of The Woman in Cabin 10, I would watch it!

I was almost led to believe we had one of those unreliable narrator scenarios with the book synopsis and the slip of certain details about our heroine, Lo, from time to time. You learn about her quite early on and the events leading up to the cruise. Every new character that was introduced had me pointing fingers and yelling ARE YOU THE KILLER?! Unfortunately, none of the characters left a strong impression on me and they all felt more like props than characters. An aspect of The Woman in Cabin 10 that I did enjoy was how the book was broken up into sections. The use of media news, forums and emails at the end of eat part was clever. I often found myself questioning whether the news feeds were concurrent to the events happening on the cruise. They certainly played a big part in foreshadowing plot points and I found myself speculating what was going to happen next. I flip flopped from "She's dead?" to "She's not dead?" to "Who's dead?". My mind of a jumble.

The Woman in Cabin 10 was my first ever Ruth ware book. Although my interest in cruises has gone down tremendously, I would recommend this book to thriller/mystery fans! I will say that I have a small crush on Judah. My romantic heart appreciated the little bit of romance that was shown at the beginning and end of the story.