Steve Clark reviews “The Woman in Cabin 10” by Ruth Ware – Mystery, travel and the rich and famous.

I took a winter vacation and read three new thrillers on the beach. I’ll give you a report on all three of these British novels. Two involve what are called in England, “hot burglaries.” These are burglaries carried out when the perpetrators know the occupant is in the house and either don’t care or intend to inflict vicious harm on the homeowner as well as steal. These crimes have increased since Britain has outlawed the ownership of firearms. Not make a political statement, I’m stating a fact.
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Perhaps the best of the three new books is The Woman in Cabin Ten (Scout Press, $26.00) by Ruth Ware and will soon be a movie. Its Ware’s second best seller, although Publisher’s Weekly call it “underwhelming,” compared to the similar Girl on the Train. I was expecting a closed room mystery, but Agatha Christie this is not.

​Laura Blacklock is a travel magazine writer who wakes up in the middle of the night to confront a man in her apartment. She manages to get out before she is seriously harmed, but many of her things are taken. Laura gets safely to her boyfriend’s flat, but he’s out of the country. Too frightened to go home, Laura jumps at the chance to replace a senior writer accompanying a wealthy businessman and his entourage on a yacht trip to see the Northern Lights

The boat is full of the rich and famous, including the owner’s wife who is sick with cancer.  Laura is assigned Cabin nine and is still suffering anxiety from her break in and the pressure of having to mingle with a bunch of rich snobs.
Laura realizes she doesn’t have make-up, having lost her purse in the burglary and knocks on the next-door cabin, number ten. There an attractive young woman lends her some mascara. However, Laura doesn’t see the woman at dinner. On the first night onboard she gets totally blitzed at dinner, collapses in her cabin but is awakened by a scream. She goes to the window and is certain that she sees or at least hears a body splash into the ocean.

Laura begins questioning passengers and crew onboard trying to find the missing woman. Everyone Laura speaks to assures her that cabin ten was empty that night and that no one has been booked to sleep there. As her little investigation meets complete resistance she receives cryptic warnings to quit asking questions.
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I won’t give away the ending which is good, although I figured it out before the mysterious woman in cabin ten was identified. This book moves well, but you may get exasperated at Laura since any sensible person would simply enjoy the cruise and follow the advice of the mysterious stranger telling her to back off. But of course, that wouldn’t make a very good story

Take a moment and read on to the next blog about “The Girl Before” by J.P. Delaney
And blog three in the series “I let you Go.” by Claire Mackintosh is here.

Steve E Clark as seen in the New York Times is Author of Justice Is for the Lonely and Justice Is for the Deserving. Kristen Kerry Novels Of Suspense.  You can purchase his books via his site at www.SteveClarkAuthor.com/BuyBook or request it at your local book store.  Want to know more about Steve Clark or read more reviews?  Check him out www.SteveClarkAuthor.com