Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

I decided to read Ruth Ware’s earlier psychological thrillers so I started with her second one over the holidays, The Woman in Cabin 10 (Gallery/Scout Press, 2016). It is everything the reviews claim it to be. Laura Blacklock awakens in the night to realize someone is in her apartment. The invader locks her in the bedroom. Her phone is in another room and she has no way to call someone. It takes hours to pry the lock loose. Dealing with the police and the damage to her apartment is so consuming that she forgets she is due to leave on a primo job assignment in two days, filling in for another journalist on a luxury ship cruise.

She manages to pack and meet the boarding deadline but she’s exhausted from little sleep and distraught over the break-in and has not prepared for the trip as she should have. She interacts briefly with the woman in the cabin across from her while scrambling to put herself together to rush to the main deck, where she is supposed to be reporting on the new opulent liner and its fabulously wealthy owners. Champagne flows freely as the yacht gets under way and Laura is more than a little drunk when she returns to her cabin.

When she’s awakened in the night by a scream and a loud splash, she realizes the noise came from next door and she reports it, fearing a passenger has fallen overboard. The security chief assures her no one is staying in that cabin but Laura knows better. Laura is steadfast in her conviction of what she saw and heard while the yacht personnel do their best to undermine her confidence and her credibility with the other passengers.   

The suspense builds slowly in this book until the last third when it is positively nail-biting. Ware has a gift for creating tense and anxiety-provoking situations. Some scenes will trigger anyone with the slightest tendency to claustrophobia. Don’t try to read this at night when you are alone.

Starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal.

·         Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press; First Edition (July 19, 2016)

·         Language: English

·         Hardcover: 352 pages

·         ISBN-10: 1501132938

·         ISBN-13: 978-150113293

 

Aubrey Hamilton ©2021

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.