The Woman in Cabin 10 Paperback – April 11, 2017

Finally, a thriller worthy of the name! Well written, with a tight plot, vivid characters, and a narrator who kept me reading long past my bedtime. I cannot wait to read more from Ruth Ware.

Lo is a 32 year old Londoner who is kind of staggering her way through life. She's a writer for a travel magazine, not exactly a bad job, but she hasn't really progressed in her 10 years with the company. She is dating Judah, a transplanted New Yorker, they seem happy enough but she cannot seem to commit to him. The only thing she can really commit to is drinking. She tends to drink to over come shyness, anxiety and social awkwardness., all of which she apparently suffers from often.Lo lucks into a dream assignment, to take and then write about a super luxe cruise, in place of her boss. Unfortunately, the week before the cruise, she is burglarized in the middle of the night while she is home alone. Although she is completely traumatized, she still takes the assignment and goes through with the cruise. After all, what can go wrong on a small, luxury cruise ship catering to the uber wealthy...Initially, I found it hard to really like or route for Lo. She comes off as incompetent, slow, socially awkward and really not all that smart. Her boyfriend, Judah, seems to really love her, but I can't figure exactly what he sees in her. She seems to be pretty inept at her job. For example, she doesn't think to request the passenger list for the cruise and research her fellow passengers beforehand (like all the other journalists did). She always seems to trust the wrong person, say the wrong thing, be the most drunk person in the room, be the last person to catch on to anything that's not 100% spelled out for her and rub people wrong. Not to mention, she actually borrows a strangers mascara- that's just begging for pink eye. She basically needs to learn to do the exact opposite of what her instincts tell her to do.I kept wanting to tell her to wake up and think. There was only one time in the entire book where she actually figured out what was happening in a clever way and only one part where I thought she handled a person very well.Given my paragraph long tirade on why I didn't warm to Lo at first, it probably makes one wonder why I gave the book four stars. About 2/3 through the book, I felt like Lo started to grow up a little, grow a set and try to take some control of her situation. She still made some questionable choices, but was at least trying. I also saw that she's really a good person, she went to a lot of trouble to help another woman she barely knew, that says a lot about her character.The book was an excellent psychological thriller. It literally took me until the book finally explained what had happened until I figured out what exactly happened. I really had not figured out who was responsible up until the end, in fact I had no idea at all. Everyone looked pretty guilty to me.I loved Ruth Ward's last book. ' In a dark dark word's and could barely wait this one. Luckily, I preordered the book and it popped up on my kindle while I was on vacation just as I finished my previous book. It was a great book to read while travelling or any other time.

The concept of this book was interesting. Sign me up for a mystery on a cruise ship any day. This was a fun book to read, but it did fall short of being spectacular. 3 stars, because I could not connect at all with the main character.Disclaimer - Not exactly spoilers, but a bit more information than some readers may want as far as plot line integration...The beginning of the book starts off dramatic, but lends little to the overall story line. I would have loved to see a plot twist intertwined with this, especially because it mentioned so darn much thought the book.The character's internal dialog became annoying. We get it, anxiety, trama, drinking, no sleep... but it became hard to feel sorry for her with all the moaning. It actually was quite hard to actually like the character. Her choices were questionable at best. She gives people actively managing anxiety a horrible reputation.The actual "gasp" moment of the book finale was dull. A bunch of lead up, and not much OMG substance. Lost me at the very end as well, as it just seemed a bit erratic.

Oh, my, goodness. Other than the language, I absolutely loved this book!It was definitely not my normal mystery. The characters were portrayed in a way that I know I would not be a part of their group.Thank you Ruth Ware for writing such a great story!

I have to say, I am a tough sell for what makes a "great" book. I wish there was something between good and great. Or something above "great," as this book was better than good - but not deserving of the best ranking possible in this review process.I read it in just a few hours. I really, really wanted to know how the author was going to explain things - though I wasn't expecting to be blown away by some ridiculous twist. I found the author trustworthy, and worth following through with - despite some long winded unnecessary, repetetive passages. (They are relatively short, easy to identify and skim, but annoying nonetheless.) I haven't read the first one, but I am here to order a copy because I liked this book, I just didn't LOVE it.The story itself doesn't follow the traditional formula, and for that I was grateful (that I hadn't been suckered into falling for a similar plot to other books or movies... just because I had my hopes up.) I find many authors start off with a great idea, but don't seem to know how to end a story on a similarly high, interesting note. Many writers are great at writing suspenseful starts, but don't seem to have the gift of follow through for a rewarding ending.This author has the potential to be my ideal writer (crafty story teller, gifted, descriptive writer - though as I mentioned, repetitive which occasionally comes off as whiny and boring.) I hope she embraces her talent for moving a story forward and drops the unnecessary filler. I hope she continues to imagine and write, write, write!! Don't feel you need to remind us of what just happened. Just keep going! I assure you the folks following your story don't need to be reminded what just happened.