Bonus Read: Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 | 2016

(image from here)

"It was the noise of the veranda door in the next cabin sliding gentle open. I held my breath, straining to hear. And then there was a splash. Not a small splash. No, this was a big splash. The kind of splash made by a body hitting water." -The Woman in Cabin 10, p. 85

The Sum of It:
Mystery-loving friends: do yourselves a favor and find yourself a copy of Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 just as soon as you possible can. I found this book on a list of the top-selling books of 2016, and my interest was further piqued when I saw the dust jacket touting its reminiscence of Dame Agatha's works. #sold! I ordered the book, thinking I would tuck it away for some future air travel, but then, of course, when it arrived I decided to just read the first chapter to see if I liked it. To say I couldn't put it down was an understatement! This is the kind of book you have to just devour because you just HAVE TO KNOW WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON!

So, brief summary: The Woman in Cabin 10 follows travel journalist Lo Blacklock (great name #AMurderisAnnounced) as she is invited on the maiden voyage of a super swank cruise ship to write travel updates on how awesomely luxurious it is. Sounds great, right? Alas, Lo is having a hard time enjoying her fancy surroundings because just days before she leaves she a) is pretty traumatically burgled in the middle of the night, and b) maybe breaks up with her boyfriend??? She's having a hard time sleeping because of burglar flashbacks and so is further terrified when she hears what sounds like a body being thrown into the sea from her neighbor's cabin (#CABIN10) and sees smears of blood on cabin 10's veranda. HOWEVER, after reporting the mysterious occupant of cabin 10 #MURDERED, she is shocked to find out no such woman was ever on board the ship. It's up to Lo's weary wits (I swear, this poor, frightened woman gets like 12 hours of sleep in a two week period) to find out which of her illustrious fellow passengers knows the story of the woman in cabin 10.

The YOA Treatment:
What I enjoyed so much about this book is its so classically Agatha Christie-esque setup. I was reminded of Murder on the Orient Express, Evil Under the Sun, Death on the Nile, and Murder in Mesopotamia as I read about a group of travelers with all the stereotypical characters you expect from a good whodunnit: the handsome aristocrat, the playboy photographer, the much younger model wife of a rich guy named Lars. There are evening gowns and attentive Scandinavian stewards and cocktails on cocktails. You basically expect Poirot himself to show up halfway through to help Lo put all the clues together. I will admit, as I neared the conclusion, I did have a little suspicion of how the story would work itself out (thanks for all the practice, Dame Agatha! #littlegraycells) and it does, in my opinion, get a smidge caper-y near the end for a bit longer than it should (#sorryRuth). HOWEVER, overall, I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants a read that will keep them up all night, dying to get to the last page.

-A.