The Woman in Cabin 10

Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer, and is the internationally bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying Game. She is married with two small children.


Blurb:

Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…

Review:

I have read Ruth Ware's previous novel, In a Dark, Dark Wood. One of the aspects I loved was the characters. An aspect I did not like was the obvious ending. I knew who the murderer was pretty early on. Now, for this novel, The Woman in Cabin 10, I still could predict the ending. It didn't bother me as much in this one. But the characters?

First, let me go over what I enjoyed. The intro was super strong. A woman who lives alone wakes up to realize there is a burglar in her house. Yikes. And her mobile is out of reach inside the purse that the burglar has. Double yikes. That was a good opening. From there on, Lo starts on this neurotic journey where her anxiety keeps inching her toward making matters worse for others and herself. I really liked her boyfriend. He was great. Then, Lo goes on a cruise for work. She is a travel journalist. And here is where I have the character problems.

Too many. Ben, the ex, was fine. Tina, the work-hungry woman, was fine as well. And the owners of the boat, Bulma and his wife. Fine, too. Everyone else? I forgot who they all were by the end of the book. Why? They didn't matter or added much to the overall story. Too many chapters were spent getting to know people who at the end of the book, meant so little. They might as well not have been introduced in the first place. Some of the crew members were fine. However, overall, the second half of the story was spent mostly on going over too many character backgrounds and how they ended up on the cabin. This almost made me give up on the book for a while, but I kept reminding myself that the start was great and maybe the pay off would be as well.

The last act returned to the excitement of the first. I was nervous for Lo. I didn't know what would happen to her or if she would make it. A lot of bad things happen, which I won't spoil, but even though she makes a few dumb mistakes, they were understandable given the dire circumstances she was in and the fact that her anxiety sometimes made it hard for her to think rationally. I liked Lo. And I liked the ending. Although, I already suspected what would happen. My suspicions were correct.

There were times where I wasn't sure if Lo was a reliable narrator. This made the novel more intricate. I also liked the headlines on certain chapters about the bodies found. That was great, too. Learning about the cruise and being in a different part of the world was awesome as well. Like I said above, what has swayed me to give this novel the same star rating as the last one, is for an aspect that I loved in the last novel but not this one: the many meaningless characters that halted the middle of the book. I just didn't care for them and at the end, they didn't matter if only to help Lo realize what her real wants in life should be. One character could have done that. We didn't need a whole ship of them with names and backgrounds. Mostly, the problem was that I was trying to keep up with them, thinking knowing all this stuff about them would pay off, it didn't. The only ones that mattered were the ones you will actually remember by the end of the book. The rest served only to give us more suspects.

One last note, I know some readers might not like the fact that Lo didn't have a big struggle with the 'bad guy' at the end, but I loved that. Her biggest foe was herself. The person who she, for me, was fighting with all novel  and the person who she needed to escape from, was that voice in her head. I loved this part the most.

Behind Closed Doors

B.A. Paris first book, Behind Closed Doors, is a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 36 languages. It has also been optioned for a film. Her second novel, The Breakdown, is available now.


Blurb:

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance.
He’s a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister. Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all. You might not want to like them, but you do. You’re hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. You’d like to get to know Grace better.

But it’s difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are inseparable.

Some might call this true love. Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone. Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. Or why she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen. Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows.

Some might wonder what’s really going on once the dinner party is over, and the front door has closed.


Review: 

Behind Closed Doors tells the story of a perfect couple that is not so perfect after all. To others, Jack and Grace had the perfect house and perfect life. Jack, a lawyer and defender of battered women, and Grace a loving dutiful wife. Perfect. Not! The man Grace married is not at all what he seemed. And a hellish journey full of fear and disbelief awaits Grace in her 'perfect' home. This novel's premise alone sold me. I was sure the delivery would be just as awesome. And sometimes, it was. Millie, Grace's sister with Down syndrome, was great. Esther was perceptive. The way it was told was spot on. Great stuff here. Now, for the not so great stuff...spoiler alert...

I was not going to give this novel four stars. Mid-way, I decided three was good enough. Why? Grace frustrated me to no end. I felt that in order to make the psycho husband smarter, she was dumbed down. It drove me insane. She had plenty of opportunities to escape. And I kept thinking of every single scenario or instance where she could've escaped. Her husband took her out to dinner dates and to friend houses. They traveled. She wasn't locked in a room all the time. So, it was incredibly frustrating when she kept trying and failing or she'd give up quickly. My levels of annoyance kept rising all novel long until the end.

That very clever ending. Not knowing, but kinda knowing. Awaiting to be told if I was right or wrong. Edge of my seat stuff. Also, Behind Closed Doors didn't keep too much from us for very long. Whenever I wondered about something, it was revealed soon after, not leaving me hanging for chapter after agonizing chapter. The suspense was what kept me turning the page. I finished the last half in one day. Hence, four stars.

Overall, this novel was quite fun,and I found myself needing to know what would happen next, which is the great mark of storytelling.