Publishers Weekly
05/09/2016
In Ware’s underwhelming sophomore mystery (after 2015’s In a Dark, Dark Wood), Laura “Lo” Blacklock thinks stepping in for her pregnant boss for a week-long jaunt on the new miniature cruise ship Aurora will give her a leg up at Velocity, the magazine where she’s toiled for years. A break-in at her London flat days before her departure does little more than set up Lo as an easily startled protagonist. Everything on the Aurora is sparkly and decadent, from the chandeliers to the wealthy guests, most of whom are either fellow travel writers or investors brought on by owner Lord Richard Bullmer, but Lo is distracted from the scenery—the ship is headed for a tour of the Norwegian fjords—by her certainty that she heard the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the water from the adjacent cabin. No one, unsurprisingly, believes her, or buys her story of a mysterious woman she saw lurking on the ship hours earlier. Those expecting a Christie-style locked-room mystery at sea will be disappointed. Agent: Eve White, Eve White Literary (U.K.). (July)
O Magazine
A fantasy trip aboard a luxury liner turns nightmarish for a young journalist in The Woman in Cabin 10, the pulse-quickening new novel by Ruth Ware, author of In a Dark, Dark Wood.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
"With a churning plot worthy of Agatha Christie, and fresh on the heels of her bestselling thriller In a Dark, Dark Wood, Ruth Ware twists the wire on readers’ nerves once again. “Cabin 10” just may do to cruise vacations what “Jaws” did to ocean swimming."
Metro
A twisted and suspenseful mystery that entangles friendship, identity and memory with a possible murder.... Subtly tips its hat to authors such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers
Independent Whig.
"The Woman in Cabin 10 bucks the trend of disappointing follow-ups, and is every bit as taut and provocative as the earlier book."
Associated Press
"[A] snappy thriller set on the high seas... The first chapter will grab your attention, force it against a wall and hold it there until the end.
Shelf Awareness
"Ware's propulsive prose keeps readers on the hook and refuses to let anyone off until all has been revealed."
Starred Review Booklist
"[The Woman in Cabin 10] generate[s] a dark, desperate tension that will appeal to Ware’s and Gillian Flynn’s many fans. This is the perfect summer read for those seeking a shadowy counter to the sunshine."
StarTribune
With a churning plot worthy of Agatha Christie, and fresh on the heels of her bestselling thriller In a Dark, Dark Wood, Ruth Ware twists the wire on readers’ nerves once again. “Cabin 10” just may do to cruise vacations what “Jaws” did to ocean swimming. You’ll be afraid to go out on the water.
TheSkimm
"This beach read thriller has sun, suspense, and goes well with SPF."
From the Publisher
Named by the Washington Post as "One of the best mystery books and thrillers of 2016"
Marie Claire
"Ruth Ware is back with her second hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-tingling tale."
PureWow
"Haunting and absurdly suspenseful."
Bustle
"If you're a fan of Agatha Christie, get ready to curl up with this suspenseful mystery."
The Washington Post
"Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 is an atmospheric thriller as twisty and tension-filled as her 2015 debut, In a Dark, Dark Wood... The novel’s tone is dark and claustrophobic as Lo continues her search for the woman even though someone is trying to stop her — maybe even kill her."
US Weekly
Ruth Ware’s thrilling suspense novel captivates.
Thrillist - R.L. Stine
"Lots of twists and surprises in an old-fashioned mystery."
New York Post
"A great modern whodunit!"
New York Journal of Books
"No one does spooky without the supernatural element better than Ruth Ware, and The Woman in Cabin 10 is proof for any who doubt it."
Electric Literature
"Ware does something more than write the next Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train, even if she writes in that wheelhouse. Ware puts her own stamp on the genre... The Woman in Cabin 10 is good: it’s creepy, it’s frustrating, and it’s interesting. It brings elements of our current fixations into the realm of the thriller/mystery in the best possible way."
Sunday Mirror
"With a flawed but likeable heroine, and a fast moving plot, it makes for a stylish thriller."
Metro M D
A twisted and suspenseful mystery that entangles friendship, identity and memory with a possible murder.... Subtly tips its hat to authors such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers
Metro
A twisted and suspenseful mystery that entangles friendship, identity and memory with a possible murder.... Subtly tips its hat to authors such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers
Independent
"The Woman in Cabin 10 bucks the trend of disappointing follow-ups, and is every bit as taut and provocative as the earlier book."
New York Post
"A great modern whodunit!"
Associated Press Staff
"[A] snappy thriller set on the high seas... The first chapter will grab your attention, force it against a wall and hold it there until the end.
Library Journal - Audio
10/01/2016
Traumatized travel journalist Lo Blacklock hopes to settle her nerves and cure her insomnia after a frightening home invasion with an exciting job assignment on board a small luxury cruise ship in the North Atlantic. Her paranoia is only increased, however, when she is certain she hears someone being thrown overboard from the cabin next door in the middle of the night. When her credibility is questioned after all of the passengers are accounted for, Lo digs further into the mystery and finds her life in danger. Imogen Church effectively captures the mood and uncertainty of the central character. VERDICT Ware's (In a Dark, Dark Wood) sophomore novel twists the classic locked-room mystery in a satisfying thriller that builds to a suspenseful climax. ["A gripping maritime psychological thriller that will keep readers spellbound": LJ 6/15/16 starred review of the Scout: Gallery hc.]—Phillip Oliver, formerly with Univ. of North Alabama, Florence
Library Journal
★ 06/15/2016
Travel journalist Laura "Lo" Blacklock receives a press pass for a weeklong cruise from London to the Norwegian fjords. Despite the ship's opulence and lavish amenities for the nine passengers, Lo finds her stay far from relaxing. On the first evening aboard, she witnesses a woman being thrown overboard. But her claims are quickly dismissed by the ship's crew as all the passengers are accounted for. Lo's desire to chronicle the liner's maiden voyage for her magazine is quickly overshadowed by her obsession with solving the mystery, regardless of the lack of evidence of foul play. With few potential suspects and little support from the others on board, Lo continues digging for answers. Her relentless quest for the truth despite warnings to stop, entangles her in a web of deception and danger. VERDICT Ware's follow-up to her best-selling debut, In a Dark, Dark Wood, is a gripping maritime psychological thriller that will keep readers spellbound. The intense final chapters just might induce heart palpitations.—Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
JULY 2016 - AudioFile
Lo Blacklock is a travel writer who gets the opportunity to cover the maiden voyage of a small cruise ship, the AURORA. Imogen Church narrates Lo's story at a smooth, relaxed pace, giving warmth and charm to the character. The mystery is cleverly plotted, and listeners will question every event. Did Lo really hear a body being dropped overboard, or had she had so many cocktails that she imagined it? Church's powerful yet understated narration perfectly captures Lo's desperate emotional state when no one believes her and what she considers to be proof disappears from her cabin. Through her effective use of tone, Church maintains an atmosphere of ambiguity and subtle paranoia. S.C.A. Winner of AudioFIle Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2016-05-03
Ware (In A Dark, Dark Wood, 2015) offers up a classic "paranoid woman" story with a modern twist in this tense, claustrophobic mystery. Days before departing on a luxury cruise for work, travel journalist Lo Blacklock is the victim of a break-in. Though unharmed, she ends up locked in her own room for several hours before escaping; as a result, she is unable to sleep. By the time she comes onboard the Aurora, Lo is suffering from severe sleep deprivation and possibly even PTSD, so when she hears a big splash from the cabin next door in the middle of the night, "the kind of splash made by a body hitting water," she can't prove to security that anything violent has actually occurred. To make matters stranger, there's no record of any passenger traveling in the cabin next to Lo's, even though Lo herself saw a woman there and even borrowed makeup from her before the first night's dinner party. Reeling from her own trauma, and faced with proof that she may have been hallucinating, Lo continues to investigate, aided by her ex-boyfriend Ben (who's also writing about the cruise), fighting desperately to find any shred of evidence that she may be right. The cast of characters, their conversations, and the luxurious but confining setting all echo classic Agatha Christie; in fact, the structure of the mystery itself is an old one: a woman insists murder has occurred, everyone else says she's crazy. But Lo is no wallflower; she is a strong and determined modern heroine who refuses to doubt the evidence of her own instincts. Despite this successful formula, and a whole lot of slowly unraveling tension, the end is somehow unsatisfying. And the newspaper and social media inserts add little depth. Too much drama at the end detracts from a finely wrought and subtle conundrum.