Book Review - The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Title: The Woman in Cabin 10
Series: -
Author: Ruth Ware
 
Description: Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the water is calm and the guest jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guest are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly wrong.
 
Review: Lo Blacklock has to write a story about the new cruise ship Aurora, for the travel magazine she is working for. A luxury cruise trip doesn’t sound bad, but it’s not the dream job after all. When Lo thinks she witnesses a murder, but no passengers seem to missing from the ship. Lo is determined to unravel the mystery.
 
I really like Ruth Ware, her writing is beautiful, and the set-up for “The Woman in Cabin 10” is promising. I love the setting, a cruise ship on the middle of the sea with no contact to the mainland. But that’s about it.
 
I can honestly say I did not enjoy “The Woman in Cabin 10”. I don’t mind unlikeable characters, but at least they are interesting. The ones in this book are far from interesting. I did not care for a single characters and I didn’t like them either. And the motivations for some are highly questionable as well. Some choices some of them make, made absolutely no sense.
 
I don’t mind clichés either, when they are done well. But there are so many clichés in this story, you know exactly how they play out. With that, the book is repetitive, predictable and I was constantly annoyed by the characters.
 
I know this is probably a very unpopular opinion and it’s by no means a bad book. I just did not enjoy I always base my raking on that. If I would recommend you a Ruth Ware book, it would not be this one. I’m so sorry…
 
Rating: 1,5/ 5

Book Review - The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Title: The It Girl
Series: -
Author: Ruth Ware
 
Description: April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide… including a murder.
Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.
Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide… including a murder.
 
Review: April was the first person Hannah met when she came to Oxford. April was the ultimate It-girl, and together with Will, Hugh, Ryan and Emily they formed an inseparable group of friends. But by the end of the second term, April is found dead. Now, ten years later, Hannah and Will have built a life together and are expecting their first child. John Neville, the man convicted for April’s murder, has died in prison and Hannah is happy that she can finally put the past behind her. But when a journalist tells Hannah that Neville may have been innocent, Hannah dives back into the mystery, not knowing which of her friends she can and cannot trust.
 
This is the second book by Ruth Ware that I have read. “The Turn of the Key” was the first and this book really blew me away. “The It Girl” didn’t quite have the same effect, but I did enjoy it. Especially the second half of the book.
 
The chapters alternate between the past and the present. In the past, we see how Hannah meets April and how she eventually found her dead. In the present we follow Hannah’s current life working in a bookstore, being married to Will, expecting her first child and trying to get answers to new questions revolving around this mystery. I love dual timelines, although this is not a constant in the book. I think about two thirds of the way in, we only follow present day.
 
The setting, Oxford University, gives this book a dark academia vibe. Something Ware knows will do well with readers. The first half of the book is pretty slow and not very eventful, but when you pass the halfway point, there is more tension and suspense, and the mystery becomes more interesting. The reveal and final plot twists aren’t the most surprising, but I was okay with it. One part of the reveal I particularly liked, the culprit I somehow predicted.
 
The characters are all well-developed, but most of them are highly unlikeable. I never mind that in books, because even if you don’t like the people in the story, you still want to see the mystery get solved. At least, I do.
 
I do believe that there are many thrillers that did it better, but “The It Girl” is a solid book. A little slow in the beginning, but eventually it pays off. I think most Ruth Ware fan will enjoy it, but this is not your typical favorite.
 
Rating: 3, 5/ 5

Book Review - The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

Title: The Turn of the Key
Series: -
Author: Ruth Ware
 
Description: When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss: a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten. By the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, byt the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by the picture-perfect family.

What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare, one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
 
Review: A thriller set in a mysterious house, with a family who isn’t as picture-perfect as they seem.
 
Rowan Caine thinks she has found the dream job: working as a nanny in a luxury mansion, for an amazing salary. When she gets the job, she moves from London to the Scottish Highlands to live with the Elincourt family with four daughters. Unfortunately, most dreams are deception, including this one.
 
Rowan finds out as soon as she moves into the mansion. Many nannies have gone before her, all of which have not lasted long. The only question is: why? One thing is clear, the children aren’t jumping up and down of excitement to meet yet another nanny.
 
As soon as Rowan start working for the Elincourts, both parents have to leave for work and Rowan is left alone with three of the four children. She meets the hostile housekeeper and the kind handyman/ driver. And strange things start to happen. It all starts to look like someone wants her gone.   
 
The book starts with Rowan writing a letter, to a lawyer, because she is in prison for a crime that she, so she claims, hasn’t committed. Through this letter, we are experiencing the story. I was surprised with that, I didn’t expect it. It’s written from the I-perspective, which seems the logical choice and I really like it.
 
Even though you already know from the start that a child will die and that Rowan is the one blamed for it, the story is anything but predictive. Author Ruth Ware managed to give the story some surprising twists. And everyone has secrets, not just the house and the family that lives in it.
 
I really loved “The Turn of the Key” and I’m very excited to read more of Ruth Ware’s books.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5