My Review of the Woman in Cabin 10 will include a quick rundown of the book, including its main tropes and elements, my overall thoughts, and SPOILERS for the ending of the book!
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
- Published on June 30 2016 by Gallery/Scout.
- I read this book in June 2016. Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance review copy.
- Goodreads Choice and BOTM nominee for Best Mystery and Thriller of 2016
Jen’s Quick Take on The Woman in Cabin 10
- A (somewhat) unreliable narrator
- A fun variation of a locked room mystery
- On my list of Travel Thrillers on Airplanes Boats Trains and Cars
- Had some eye-rolling stuff, but Lo was a great character
- Epistolary elements, which I really enjoyed!
My Review of The Woman in Cabin 10
Travel journalist Laura “Lo” Blackstock is thrilled to get an assignment that involves a week at sea. After a mysterious break-in at her flat, she’s a bit frazzled and needs to relax.
But as the cruise ship Aurora sets off into the North Sea, Lo is terrified when she hears a scuffle outside her balcony and what sounds like a body being tossed overboard. But the crew insists that not one passenger is missing.
Lo disagrees: she met the woman in the cabin next door. But no one knows who she is.
Is Lo just suffering from stress, or is something terribly wrong on the Aurora?
I love psychological thrillers and really enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10!
The Woman in Cabin 10 has a lot of the elements that I like in a good psychological suspense story:
- Claustrophobic setting
- Slightly off-balance heroine
- Gaslighting
Claustrophobia? Check! The Women in Cabin 10 has a locked room feel! The Aurora isn’t a giant Princess cruise ship, but a small vessel with only a dozen cabins total. There’s a limited cast of characters, all trapped together on their voyage of DOOM…..
Unreliable narrator? Check! Lo had a break-in at her flat right before she set sail and her nerves are a little jangled. So when she thinks she sees something horrible, maybe she’s just imagining it!
Gaslighting? Check! As Lo’s a bit rattled about the break-in, she begins to doubt herself.
There were a few things about The Woman in Cabin 10 that weren’t perfect.
When Lo finds a very important clue to the missing woman (and knows it!) she doesn’t hang onto this item. Instead, she leaves it sitting around in her cabin … where it promptly disappears.
Also, the killer writes threatening messages to Lo in fogged bathroom mirrors, which seems like something that belongs in a Lifetime TV movie.
But overall there was a lot to like about The Woman in Cabin 10
I found Lo an appealing and sympathetic protagonist
I thought the epistolary elements improved the story! While I don’t always like the inclusion of epistolary elements like emails and texts in a story, I loved the way that this book intensified the suspense by including the increasingly worried texts and social media postings of Lo’s friends and significant other, who are back in the UK wondering why she isn’t answering their messages.
The story does a good job of setting up clues – I was close to figuring out what was going on…
Even though this takes place in the frigid waters of the North Sea, I recommend this as a great summer beach read – I got the chills a few times!
Spoilers for The Woman in Cabin 10
- Carrie thinks she loves Lord Richard Bullmer, the married man she’s having an affair with. The plan was for her to impersonate Anne (a cancer patient) so that they could have a trip together.
- This is a little confusing but the real Anne WAS on the Aurora for the first night, but was planning to leave after one day to go back home to Norway.
- But by coincidence, Anne discovers her husband’s affair. She and Richard fight, and he pushes her and she dies. (This is all by hearsay from Richard to Carrie to Lo. Toward the end, the news article suggests that Anne drowned, so it’s possible she fell but I suspect he was lying about her being dead. )
- Carrie says the plan was to have Anne die at home in bed so I guess he planned to murder her in Norway?
- Then Richard puts Anne’s body in a suitcase and gets Carrie to throw it overboard.
- But Lo sees Carrie in the room next door and then hears a body fall (being dumped) overboard, which messes up the plan. Plus Lo just won’t let it go!
- Carrie is the one trying to warn Lo to stop meddling.
- Finally Bullmer realizes he needs Lo out of the picture.
- He has Carrie help hold Lo prisoner in an empty cabin. My question: why didn’t he just eliminate Lo at this point? She was coming off as a mentally unstable wreck and he could have staged it to look like she took her own life.
- Lo’s family is told that she is dead. Meanwhile, Anne’s body turns up and the authorities wonder if it’s Lo’s body. (Because Lo’s clothes are found nearby.)
- Finally, Carrie’s guilt overwhelms her and she realizes that Bullmer is evil. Carrie and and Lo switch clothes. Carrie asks Lo to rough her up a bit and Lo overdoes it. Carrie tells Lo to sneak off the boat dressed as Anne Bullmer and go for help.
- Lo jumps off the boat, swims to shore, and (after a mishap where she nearly gets caught) is finally rescued by a friendly Norwegian.
- When Lord Bullmer’s body and his wife’s body are found, everyone assumes he killed her and then himself.
- But actually, Carrie shot Richard, tossed him overboard, and escaped. We know Carrie is alive because she wired Lo the money with the code “Tiggers bounce,” as Carrie told Lo that her mother used to call her Tigger.
Your Qeustions From the Comments About The Woman in Cabin 10
Who went overboard in The Woman in Cabin 10, Carrie or Anne?
It was Anne. Lo notices that the real Anne had gray eyes and Carrie, who was impersonating her, had dark brown eyes.
Were Anne’s remains ever identified in The Woman in Cabin 10?
Yes, toward the end, there is a newspaper article that says that two bodies were discovered. Anne, who drowned, and Richard, who was shot.
Why would Richard get Anne’s money if she disappeared?
I agree. At least in the US you can’t be declared dead right away. Anne was an heiress with trusts and family lawyers. I’m sure Richard would get something, but maybe not as much as he hoped.
How could Carrie access Anne’s money to get funds to send to Lo?
She used Anne’s passport and her disguise to get a small amount of money, some of which she wired to Lo.
Why throw Lo’s clothes overboard in a bundle with Richard?
I’m not sure. Maybe so no one would look for her onboard?
I found Richard’s plan unreasonable. Surely he wasn’t really so enamored with Carrie.
The book actually mentions that he picked Carrie because she resembled his wife and he needed her to carry out his plan to murder Anne.
Is Delilah (Lo’s cat) okay?
YES she appears in the sequel, so she is fine!
What did you think of The Woman in Cabin 10? Tell me in comments!
I was starting to think it was Carrie that went overboard and Anne was posing as Carrie to Lo while she was locked up. Whomever was Lo’s captor would have know about the Tigger comment and would have been rich enough to send Lo money. But her eyes were brown so that wasn’t it.
And were Anne’s remains ever identified in the story or assumed by the reader? I thought the drowned woman was not yet identified in the story.
Carrie should have figured out that if Anne’s death couldn’t be proved, Richard was not going to get her money. Surely he never believed he’d inherit for any reason. Makes no sense at all.
Carrie couldn’t possibly access Anne’s money, so how did she have the funds to send to Lo? Even If Carrie walked off the boat as Anne, she couldn’t have assumed Anne’s identity afterwards. Anne was bound to be identified – especially as she would be missing.
And why throw Lo’s clothes overboard in a bundle with Richard? All Lo’s belongings must have been left on the ship anyway. I guess she thought the clothes would have been thought to have belonged to the dead woman and they were but only until Lo turned up alive.
I found Richard’s plan unreasonable. He didn’t need his wife to be missing…how had he been planning to have her die to benefit him?
Surely he wasn’t really so enamored with Carrie.
And who else knew? The security man couldn’t face such a tragedy onboard and needed to cover anything up he could.
These things were bothering me after the book was over. I was listening to it and unlike a printed book, I could not look back and re-read anything.
Sorry, I just needed to ruminate.
Ha – I love a rumination. These are good questions and I will think about all of them and get back to you. I am excited that this is being made into a Netflix movie this fall!
Okay, here are some thoughts. If you read (or listen) to the sequel you get some more information, but most of this is directly from TWIC10.
Carrie vs. Anne: I agree; I got confused. But it was definitely Anne that went over. Carrie is definitely alive because she’s the one who sent the money. And yes, Anne has gray eyes and Carrie’s are dark brown.
Anne’s body: Yes, toward the end of the book there’s a news article that says that a drowning victim was positively identified as Anne.
Richard’s plot to steal Anne’s money: I agree with you; if Anne disappeared it would take some time to have her legally declared dead. And if she’s an heiress her money might be tied up in trusts.
How did Carrie have money to send to Lo: she used Anne’s passport to withdraw a small amount of Anne’s money. (I think she did this when she disembarked pretending to be Lo and then re-embarked using Anne’s passport.) This was discussed in chapter 30 and was so people would not look for Lo on the boat.
Why throw Lo’s clothes over? So that Lo’s family would think she was dead (I think this was incidental and not on purpose.) Carrie also disposed of the gun she used to kill Richard with the clothes.
Was Richard really that enamored of Carrie? No, the book mentions their resemblance and I think he picked her because she looked like Anne and could impersonate her. I don’t think he intended to pretend to meet her and fall in love with her like Carrie tells Lo. I think if Lo hadn’t interfered with the plan, Richard would have ghosted her.