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| Photo taken by me. |
Summary:
Thirty-two year old Lauren--Lo--Blacklock is a travel
journalist living in London. The Woman in
Cabin 10 starts with Lo’s flat be burgled while she is sleeping. She
surprises the burglar, and he slams her bedroom door in her face, locking her
in. After jimmying the door open several hours later, she gets help at her
neighbor’s. But she is well and truly shaken by the experience, which is
compounded by her anxiety, for which she takes medication. Despite an attentive
and sympathetic boyfriend, she doesn’t really get the chance to recover because
she is swept up in a last-minute work assignment: cover the maiden voyage of
the luxury cruise/yacht Aurora Borealis
with approximately twelve other guests and the owner of the yacht, Lord Richard
Bullmer and his wife Anne. In her haste post-burglary, Lo had forgotten to pack
her mascara, so she goes next door to cabin number 10 to borrow some, where she
is loaned a green-and-pink tube from a young, brunette woman wearing a Pink
Floyd t-shirt. The yacht is luxury to the maximum, and the food and drinks are
worthy of royalty. Her first night on the Aurora
Borealis, Lo is awoken from a alcohol-induced sleep by a scream and loud
splash. She rushes onto her room’s balcony and sees a smear of blood on the
sliding glass door of the cabin--number 10--next to hers. Despite calling the
stewardess, speaking with the head of security, and interviewing the crew and
other passengers, the Pink Floyd-wearing young woman is nowhere to be found.
There’s no record of her and no one knows who she is. Did Lo imagine her in her
heightened anxiety? Was the scream and the splash a product of her
alcohol-sodden mind? Is Lo just a paranoid woman? These are all doubts that
compound on Lo from her fellow passengers, the security head, and her own mind.
I don’t want to give away the ending, but Ware keeps readers turning page after
page well past their bedtimes with twists, messages written on mirrors, a
surprise kidnapping, and identity switches!
As a Genre Example:
The audience’s adrenaline is definitely pumping while
reading The Woman in Cabin 10! Just
as Lo is unsure of whom she can trust, so is the reader left in suspense thanks
to Lo’s first person narration. While there aren’t really the profession
details as heavily mentioned in the textbook, there are still details about the
yacht, about the individuals, and about the crimes Lo witnesses. Additionally, The Woman in Cabin 10 has a breakneck
speed. I stayed up way past my bedtime because I wanted to find out the answers
that Lo was searching for! As for the characters, there are some major twists
(another pointer of identification as a Thriller according to the textbook),
and our protagonist prevails after a lot of uncertainty and author-produced
misdirection. Additionally, there is an underdog character who also “wins”,
though that victory isn’t revealed until the very last page.
According to the Module notes, The Woman in Cabin 10’s categorization as a Thriller is less
obvious. The module notes make the distinction of a Thriller as a book where
the danger is to a society/culture/country or group at large vs. a Mystery as a
book where the danger is to a single person or their immediate
group/family/friends. However, due to the fact that there are so many
unanswered questions (Whose body was dumped over the side of the boat? Why were
they killed? Are the rest of us in danger?) in The Woman in Cabin 10, the line is severely blurred when, in the
end, the danger was only to Anne, Carrie, and Lo.
Like our classmates in the first discussion post of the module,
I questioned how The Woman in Cabin 10
should be categorized: Suspense or Thriller? In the end, it is probably more so
a Suspense with Thriller characteristics than a Thriller with Suspense
characteristics. However, the distinction isn’t the important aspect of
reader’s advisory. The important aspect is helping the reader find a book that
they will enjoy. And if they like edge-of-your-seat, solving-a-puzzle,
who-can-the-protagonist-trust, and a fast pace, then The Woman in Cabin 10 will meet their needs.
Evaluation:
I really enjoyed The
Woman in Cabin 10. I’ve been in a bit of a book slump since the new year,
so it was really nice to be so absorbed in a book. I wasn’t annoyed by any
aspect of it. Some readers might not like the constant self-doubt that Lo has
running through her mind--and thus the narration--but I also am plagued by
generalized anxiety disorder, so I appreciated the realistic and authentic
portrayal, especially in regards to how the others doubt her because of her
anxiety and how she still endeavors to fight those trying to stop her from
investigating. I would recommend The
Woman in Cabin 10 to others, for sure! In fact, I posted a picture on my
Instagram of the cover, and a friend commented saying that it was on her
to-be-read list and wanted to know if I would recommend it to her. But, I would
also recommend it to patrons in reader’s advisory: it is suspenseful, a
page-turner, and makes the reader think.
Reader's Advisory:
I think readers of other genres would like The Woman in Cabin 10, namely fans of
Mystery and Literary Fiction. There is definitely a puzzle to solve: who is the
woman Lo briefly met in cabin 10? Is she dead? Is anyone dead? Is Lo unstable?
Who is trying to warn her? Readers of Literary Fiction tend to read widely, and
those who don’t mind a darker tone would probably also enjoy this book because
of its contemporary setting and realistic style.
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