The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware

I think halfway through this book I was kind of done with Lora Blacklock. She was irritating and a bit hysterical in parts. Should I give her a break because at the very beginning of the book she is the victim of a home invasion? Maybe, but I don't want to. I had to spend too much time with her and her false equivalencies to give her that big of a break.

So let's start at the beginning. Lora - "Lo" - as she repeatedly tells us to call her is the victim of a home invasion. Her stuff is stolen, her flat vandalized, and she's confronted out of sleep by a masked man wearing latex gloves as he burgles through her things. She's terrified, and finally frees herself after he locks her in a bathroom. Normally she'd have time to relax and cope with her resulting PTSD symptoms, but she works for a travel magazine, Velocity, and is scheduled to go on the maiden voyage of an ultra-boutique cruise-liner to see the Northern Lights in the Norwegian Fjords. 

This would be all well and good if Lo wasn't a completely horrible journalist. Home invasion aside, she gets burgled on Friday and is supposed to leave Sunday. She hasn't done any advanced work prior to then and gets on board without any clue on how she is actually going to be doing her job.

She arrives on ship and immediately makes contact with a woman in the cabin next door. The Women in Cabin 10. That first night she hears a scream, and then a large splash. She goes to investigate and is immediately thought crazy by the security officer on board. Oh, because she's seriously irritating and whiny. She keeps saying she knows what the woman in the cabin has gone through (being murdered) because she too was a victim of violence (being burgled). Puh-lease. It wouldn't be so bad, but eventually she just keeps repeating it and lamenting that no one is taking her seriously. 

Eventually everyone on board becomes a suspect. I irritatingly figured out the who-done-it long before Lo so an entire section of the book was me yelling at her to get a move on. 

Ultimately the book was entertaining, but Lo just a tad too unlikeable to warrant a good review, although Imogene Church's narration was good, and her horrible Brooklyn accent was entertaining. I liked In a Dark Dark Wood much better (you can read that review here).

2.5/5 Stars.