Ruth Ware | The Woman in Cabin 10

I am totally kicking myself in the ass for having this book on my shelf for so long before reading it! I am going to preface this with the fact that I LOVE Ruth Ware. Although this is only her second novel, I think "In a Dark, Dark Wood" is AMAZING and everyone should read it. Enough fangirling over Ruth Ware...and onto my review of "The Woman in Cabin 10"!

Plot:

In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, 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…

Review:

What I loved about this one was how it started off with a BANG (literally) and had an opening that I was not expecting given the plot of this one. It was effectively creepy and grabbed me the minute I began.

This was a claustrophobic, tightly-wound, and uncomfortable mystery. There are very few places for Lo to run when things get even spookier as she questions her sanity on a cruise ship. With a limited amount to hide characters, I did love the Agatha Christie/CLUE vibe that I was getting from this one. Introducing these different characters was also effective because as we don’t get a feel or an idea whatsoever of the woman in cabin 10, we cannot pinpoint who killed her, why they killed her, or even if they are all innocent and this is all in Lo’s mind. After all, no one else has seen this mystery woman, and if she does exist she certainly isn’t supposed to be there.

I loved the clear and precise steps that Lo took in investigating what she thinks she knows. I love how this questions her sanity as well as this woman’s existence and possible murder. The investigating that Lo did was very suspenseful and each chapter ended with me begging for more.

While I will always have a special place in my heart for “In a Dark, Dark Wood” by Ruth Ware and I did enjoy her debut more, there aren’t enough good things for me to say about this book. I am so eager to read her third novel (due this summer), that it’s making the waiting near impossible.

Rating: 5/5