Review: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

 

It occurred to me today that often when I read a mystery, I have an "epiphany" about halfway through when I know exactly what's going on.

While reading The Woman In Cabin 10, I was convinced that the story would turn out to be a form of Murder On The Orient Express.  The narrator would be the actual victim, killed essentially by everyone on the yacht because she was so incredibly annoying.

Laura Blacklock is a travel journalist who has the opportunity to be on the maiden voyage of the Aurora.  It's a large yacht with some grand features, that is going on a luxury cruise along the coast of Norway.

Just before the trip, Lo (as she prefers to be called) has a terrible experience with an intruder in her home in the middle of the night.  He's a burglar, but when she's roused from sleep she finds him in the hall outside her bedroom, dressed in a hoodie, mask, and latex gloves.  She's injured when he slams the door shut on her.

Beginning her journey having had no sleep for several days, then drinking large amounts of alcohol when she gets on board leave her in a bad state psychologically.  

Even so, in the middle of the night, she is awakened by a scream and the sound of a splash. Running to her cabin's balcony, she sees a body in the water, she thinks, and blood on the glass between her room and cabin 10 next door.

She's assured by staff that no one is staying in that room at all, number one, and number two, there's no sign of a disturbance.  Lo had borrowed a tube of mascara from the woman next door hours before, so she knows the room was occupied.

Within the tight confines of the ship, Lo tries to get to the truth. She uses no journalistic technique of any kind during the trip.  There are no travel notes taken by her, though she sees that her fellow travel writers on board are doing all of the mixing and mingling and interviewing you'd expect.

She becomes increasingly paranoid and obsessed with her theories.  Angry at everyone on board, she's rude and hard to take seriously.  You can't tell if she really did see or hear anything.  Then there are a couple of incidents that make you wonder.  What if she's right. What could possibly be going on?

I suppose it's the classic case of an unreliable narrator.  Unless it's not!

Nice twists, very suspenseful till the end.  

The hardcover cover has a nice texture to it like rain on the cabin window.