The Woman in Cabin 10 By Ruth Ware

A review of The Woman in Cabin 10

The Woman in Cabin 10 is written by Ruth Ware.

The Woman in Cabin 10 is reviewed by Zachary Balgeman.

Lo Blacklock has not been sleeping well, after her apartment has been broken into. Always on edge, sleep does not come easy for her and it is rarely restful. So when she goes on a luxury cruise liner as a travel journalist, she is hoping to get some well needed rest and relaxation. However when a passenger goes overboard in Cabin 10 but all the passengers are accounted for Lo knows something strange is going on and she has to get to the bottom of it.

First and foremost I want to say that I really enjoyed the book. Ruth Ware used foreshadowing in a way to create suspense for me wondering what was going to happen to Lo at the end of the book. She balanced the feelings of anxiety and stress well with times of ease. The plot was well written and believable to a point. On the first read through, I found it exciting though looking back I should have been able to figure it out before I did when reading it. I also appreciated how Lo was not a private detective or someone qualified to solve this case but rather someone that just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

This book was not prefect though. The books does drag some during the third act. The mystery is solved about 3/4 of the way through the book. After that it is a 100 pages of wrapping everything up. It was well written but it takes awhile to be done when nothing of importance happens. I believe everything could have been tied up just as well with 20 or 30 less pages. As for Lo I liked her for the most part. However, there hit a point where the author continued to add problems to her character where I began to wonder how she was able to get up in the morning, let alone solve a mystery. I think the point that made me get annoyed was after the author already established that Lo had depression, anxiety, trouble sleeping, and then said she was claustrophobic. The last complaint I have is that the other characters were not fleshed out well. Lo and a couple of other characters have some personality but they make a big deal about each one when Lo meets them all. Then they appear in all of one other scene the entire book.

In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an old time mystery in a modern setting.