The Woman in Cabin 10: The unputdownable thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The IT Girl

Published in 2016, The Woman in Cabin 10 was Ruth Ware‘s second novel. One reviewer said it was “brilliantly claustrophobic” and another described it as “Agatha Christie meets The Girl on the Train“.

The story
Laura, a young female travel-writer, is given an assignment which involves sailing around Scandinavia on a luxury yacht owned by a Swedish billionaire. Laura is in a bad place having been burgled before the trip as well as breaking up with her boyfriend. She is also heavily reliant on alcohol and anti-depressants.

On the first evening Laura borrows some mascara from the woman in the next-door cabin (Number 10). But later that night, having drunk quite a lot of alcohol, she is woken by what she believes to be the sound of a body being pushed overboard from Cabin 10. She raises the alarm, only to discover that all the passengers and crew are accounted for – and more surprisingly, that nobody had been staying in Cabin 10.

This is a satisfying psychological thriller with interesting characters. It is well-written and there is a claustrophobic atmosphere throughout, in keeping with the ‘trapped on a boat with a killer’ theme. There’s also a good twist to the plot but I have to say I did spot it quite early on. It didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story, because I read the rest of the book wondering how it had been done.

One negative
I did think the author wasn’t entirely fair with the reader. When Laura first looks inside Cabin 10 at the beginning of the book we are told what she sees inside, and there’s nothing to raise any suspicions. However, in the denouement of the story it transpires that Laura actually saw some other things in Cabin 10. Had this information been included earlier I think it would have given the game away to the reader.

Despite this, I enjoyed this book and give it 4-Stars.
Review by: Snapdragon