Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 is a mystery-thriller about journalist Lo Blacklock who claims to have seen a murder while embarking on a journey across Europe.
The book takes us through Lo’s journey, as she tries to unravel who it is she thinks she saw. Her perspectives are thoroughly laid out, as readers are aware of Lo’s thought processes.
Ware does a great job illustrating the world of the novel, with diction uncommon to the modern author. She takes the novel slow, not reaching the plot until mid-way through the book.
But, while reading, it was disappointing. She uses too many fillers to hijack the purpose of Lo’s journey, and overall it did take away from the book’s potential.
Nevertheless, the story picks up and we are introduced to some characters, some of which are real, and some of which are in Lo’s imagination. Or are they?
We first meet the girl in cabin 10 after Lo runs out of mascara while on a cruise. She knocks on the door of the cabin room beside hers, and is confronted with a timid, fragile girl who looks disrupted.
Upon first glance, the encounter was weird and felt very uncomfortable to read. I was expecting a confident character, one who hides behind their alternative traits, but this threw me for a loop.
The characters in the book only connected with Lo to help with her murder investigation. One was Ben, Lo’s ex, who is important in keeping her sanity through the cruise.
Progressing through many events that only diminished Lo’s courage, she shuts down and tries to solve the mystery herself, resulting in unfavourable consequences.
Ware, despite the beautiful imagery, fails to keep the integrity of the book. I found that the plot was too common within mystery-thriller novels, unraveling too slowly and boring readers.
The endings of the book’s chapters were predictable, therefore lacking suspense. Even nearing the end of the novel, I caught myself skimming through the text, jumping a few paragraphs until I reached a break.
A part of my harsh criticism comes from previously reading a similar themed book, one which I loved. Perhaps I would’ve liked this book a bit more if I didn’t read a mystery-thriller previously. With that being said, this genre is very popular among readers worldwide, and should have a variety of plot and character involvement to keep readers interested.
Going back to the ending, I didn’t fall in love with it. It was clichéd, with that picture-perfect storybook ending. Although some of the main characters die, I was still longing for a better finale.
I think Ware could have sharpened this story just a little. Despite this, I believe that readers would crave this book if it were their first read of the mystery-thriller genre or first read in general. I recommend not reading back-to-back books dealing with the same genre. But that’s just me.
