The Woman in Cabin 10

By Ruth Ware

This is the first book by Ruth Ware that I've read, and while I did really enjoy it, I don't think it was amazing.  I got major The Girl on the Train vibes, and the book seems to copy a lot of aspects of that book.  

The Woman in Cabin 10 is about a young woman named Lo Blacklock, who is a travel journalist.  She accepts an assignment on the maiden voyage of a small cruise ship, which she believes will help her open doors and possibly get her promoted.  All starts of well onboard, with just a handful of luxury cabins, but when Lo think she witnesses a woman being thrown overboard, the cruise takes a downward turn.  With all the passengers on the ship accounted for, who was the woman in cabin 10?

First off, I really liked the setting.  Set on a small cruise ship with only a handful of accessible rooms, it helped you realise the feeling of unease.  There really was no escape for Lo, who has no idea about who the potential murderer could be and if they will strike again.  The more she digs to try and get information, the more this seems possible.  I did get a sense of cabin fever reading this though, as it was set in the same small area constantly.  If the cruise ship had been a bit bigger, this might have been avoided, but then it may have caused the book to have a completely different tone and atmosphere.

On to the characters, as another reviewer mentioned on Goodreads, I absolutely hated Lo.  She reminded me so much of the main character in The Girl on the Train, Rachel.  Both are heavily dependent on alcohol and are really dislikable.  All Lo does is moan and make stupid decisions, which again she moans about later - countless times she asks herself "how could I have been so stupid?".  You'd think with all that was going on she'd be a bit more cautious and take more time to think about things.  She is also horrible to the people around her - her ex, Ben, and her current partner, Judah.  Whilst she was dislikable, I sometimes think that it is good for the main characters in books to be like this.  It shows that they are flawed and makes them seem more human, I think.  I also liked the fact that a lot of emphases was put on her mental health as I think that this is hugely important; there is also a lot of stigma shown to this by the other characters that I think is present in everyday life.  Mental health is something that shouldn't be shied away from in order to make characters more likable.

At times I often found it too difficult to keep up with the other characters - there were just so many.  Throughout the book, I constantly had to flick back to see who was who.  I did like that they all seemed like they could be villains and I had no idea who was behind throwing the woman overboard.

The final reveal occurred somewhat earlier than I expected, and I didn't see it coming at all.  I would say that the book was a bit unrealistic overall, however.  

As I said, this is the first book I've read by Ruth Ware, and because I really enjoyed it, I will definitely be picking up her debut and her next book which is due out soon.

Rating: 7.5/10

Date read: April 2017.