Ruth WarePsychological Thriller · Mystery·b. 1977
Woman in Cabin 10
Synopsis
Travel journalist Lo Blacklock has landed the assignment of a lifetime: covering the maiden voyage of the Aurora Borealis, an exclusive luxury cruise liner sailing the Norwegian fjords to see the northern lights. It's the perfect escape, coming just after a terrifying break-in left her rattled, sleepless, and drinking too much.
Then, in the dead of night, Lo is woken by a scream and a splash. She's certain she saw a woman on the veranda of the neighbouring cabin — cabin 10 — and a smear of blood on the glass. But when she raises the alarm, every passenger and crew member is accounted for.
Cabin 10, the crew insists, was never occupied. Trapped on a ship she cannot leave, doubted by everyone and increasingly unsure of her own mind, Lo has to decide whether she is unravelling or whether there's a killer on board.
The Woman in Cabin 10 is Ruth Ware's bestselling, claustrophobic psychological thriller and the first book to feature Lo Blacklock, whose story continues in The Woman in Suite 11.
How it reads
- Writing3.0
- Impact2.0
- Characters2.0
- Plot3.0
- Atmosphere2.0
Prose complexity 4/10
Content warnings (1)
Substance Abuse
- I’m not sure why everyone said this book had a big plot twist. To me, a plot twist is when the story completely changes. Here, it was just a whodunit and once we knew who it was nothing changed. Yes, that last page maybe left a whisp of intrigue but not enough for me. It was a quick read, but I felt like Lo was a bit of a nutcase to begin with and her pursuit of this made seem a little crazy. She didn’t see what happened. Why is she so darn stuck on this story? And how does her lack of reliability as a narrator NOT play a part in the end? It didn’t all add up to me.
- I quite liked this book, although, I'm not sure if I would necessarily recommend how I read it. Let me tell you, reading this book while lacking sleep from insomnia will really mess with your head. I almost feel like my rating was biased by that experience as it put me so much in the head space of the main character and the journey she went through. Well written and really cool concept.

