The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware
An interesting mystery that kept you engaged and wondering, though the reveal wasn’t as surprising as I expected. It’s not that I saw it coming exactly; it wasn’t predictable. It’s not like you can guess right from the beginning the who and the what and the plot swerve.
But it also wasn’t a POW! WHAT JUST HAPPENED kind of twist that left your jaw dropping either.
You had your short list of who could possibly have been involved in a murder, but there were too many obvious choices for it to really be much of a surprise actually. You would think that would have heightened the suspense, but I was hoping that the puppeteer was more of random, under the radar individual instead.
And there was a surprise twist, but I didn’t feel blindsided by it—it was interesting and did take me off-guard for a moment in a good way, but perhaps the impact of it fell flat because of the other parties involved. I think had the perpetrator come out of complete nowhere with a surprise background you didn’t expect, the twist would have been even more powerful.
I also felt like there were parts of the story pre-mystery that actually were going to be interwoven with what happened on the cruise, thinking there was something even more sinister at hand, but the events remained isolated incidents.
A missed opportunity to add a few extra layers of deceit and plot drama, in my opinion.
That being said, I still felt compelled to see how it all ended, and I very much enjoyed the inserted news clippings throughout the different book sections that heightened your sense of wonder of: what was really going to happen and was she going to get out of it?
I also liked watching the heroine grow in strength and self-confidence throughout and felt empathy for her struggles as she faced countless bouts of gaslighting from different people she interacted with. Literally everyone taunted her, from an industry professional and ex-boyfriend to the ship security and other guests.
She was driven to the point of insanity, and that’s what made her an interesting character to follow…you wanted to see what was going to happen to poor Lo after all she had been through.
All in all, the mystery all lined up nicely with the storytelling, so it made sense rather than shocked you. At least, from my perspective. Still a pleasurable read that I enjoyed..
To learn more about the author and her book: https://ruthware.com/