The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

I enjoyed the first psychological thriller from Ruth Ware, In a Dark, Dark Wood, but this novel was oh so much better – with a luxury cruise liner as the setting and an abundance of possibilities among the guests as to who could be the killer(s).

Laura (Lo) Blacklock, a travel journalist from London, has just landed a dream assignment – to spend a week on-board a private luxury cruise liner with a limited amount of cabins on its maiden voyage in the North Sea. On board are rich and famous people, including the owners Lord Richard & his wife, Anne. Also along for the trip are other travel journalists, including Lo’s ex, Ben. Determined to make her boss proud, no-nonsense Lo decides to enjoy her time getting to know the other passengers a bit, even though she would probably rather be a recluse in her cabin.

After being woken up in the middle of the night by a loud splashing sound, Lo thinks she sees a woman being thrown overboard from cabin 10, the cabin adjacent to hers. Cabin 10 was to be empty for this trip, but earlier in the week Lo borrowed a mascara from a young girl who appeared to be staying in Cabin 10. Now the girl is nowhere to be found, and none of the passengers or crew have seen her. Did Lo imagine it all? Is she being ultra paranoid after the recent break-in at her own flat? When she seeks help from security and then the ship’s owner, they turn it into her problem, claiming she drank too much and the medication she is on caused her to imagine the whole thing. But Lo knows she saw the girl, and she vividly remembers the blood smeared on the veranda window and the splash of a body into the frigid North Sea. So who was the girl in Cabin 10? Was she thrown overboard? By who? And now the killer knows Lo has seen something. If Lo can just keep it together until they reach a port, she thinks she’ll be able to find someone to believe her. But soon the stakes get higher and she is in way over her head. Will she be able to get away before the killer silences her for good?

This is a very fast-paced novel with an Agatha Christie-like plot. A strong-willed woman with a skeptical past thinks she has witnessed a murder, but no one believes her, causing her to become more and more paranoid of everyone around. Lo is on her own, unsure of who she can trust, while trying to solve a mystery and steer clear of a killer in very cramped quarters out on the open seas. I couldn’t put this book down, and it was suspenseful up through the final pages. Fans of psychological thrillers and authors like Paula Hawkins, Gillian Flynn, and Mary Kubica will truly enjoy the works of Ruth Ware.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the advanced review copy.