Monday, October 28, 2019

Woman in Cabin 10, Oct 2019

WOMAN IN CABIN 10 by Ruth Ware
October 10, 2019

Ruth Ware was raised in Lewes in the English county of Sussex.
 A voracious reader since childhood, she devoured mystery novels,
 especially those by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and 
Josephine Tey. Aside from reading, she spent her days composing 
stories, realizing she wanted to be a writer at a young age; always 
thinking creatively even if she was not writing, she would devise 
elaborate stories about her dolls and often relate them to her sister.
As a teenager, she developed more complex stories--but it would be 
many years before she would publish her first book.

Woman in Cabin 10: Assigned to review an exclusive North Sea 
luxury cruise, travel journalist Lo Blacklock witnesses a woman being 
thrown overboard and is baffled when all passengers remain 
unruffled and accounted for, a nightmare that unravels as Lo 
struggles to convince everyone that what she saw was real.

Mysteries:
  • The turn of the key (Aug 2019)
    The death of Mrs. Westaway (May 2018)
  • The lying game (Jul 2017).
    The woman in cabin ten (Jul 2016)
In a dark, dark wood (Aug 2015)

Read-alikes: 
1. Watch me disappear by Janelle Brown, Reason: A woman
 vanishes in the Northern California wilderness (Watch Me Disappear)
 and from a North Sea cruise ship (Woman in Cabin Ten) in these
 tense psychological thrillers. Each intricate story toys with what's 
real and what is imagined. -- Mike Nilsson 
2. The blue by Lucy Clarke,- Reason: Women take exclusive cruises
 looking to escape into carefree adventure, but instead find terror,
 mayhem, and murder. The suspense steadily builds in these complex
 and compelling psychological thrillers, culminating in startling and 
twisted conclusions. -- Melissa Gray 
3. Freefall by Jessica  Barry, Reason: In these thrillers, flawed but 
likeable female protagonists don't know who to trust after learning 
secrets that others will kill to keep. Dramatic natural settings 
(Cabin is set at sea, Freefall in the mountains) complicate their
 efforts to elude pursuit. -- Kim Burton 
4. Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek, - Reason: Are the protagonists 
of these gripping and taut psychological thrillers being gaslighted 
or are they really losing touch with reality? These novels are 
intricately plotted, and lead the reader through unexpected twists 
and turns before coming to a shocking conclusion. -- Melissa Gray 
5. The woman in the window by A. J. Finn,  Reason: Coping with a 
traumatic event, the protagonists don't trust their own memories 
after witnessing a crime that everyone surrounding them claims 
never happened. These gripping thrillers are full of twists and turns 
and a deep sense of foreboding. -- Halle Eisenman
 6. Little face by Sophie Hannah,  Reason: Though The Woman in 
Cabin 10 centers around a murder and Little Face on a substituted
 infant, both intricately plotted and dramatic psychological thrillers 
feature strong women who may be being gaslighted or may be 
losing their minds. -- Melissa Gray
 7. The American girl by Kate Horsley,  Reason: These gripping 
psychological thrillers star determined female journalists who are 
investigating murders. The American Girl is eerie and menacing
 while The Woman in Cabin Ten is claustrophobic and paranoia-filled;
 both emphasize that things are often not what they seem. -- Mike
 Nilsson
 8. The Elizas by Sara Shepard,  Reason: In these gripping 
psychological thrillers, women who are recovering from a distressing
 event investigate a crime no one believes happened, even as the
protagonists doubt themselves and their memories. -- Halle Eisenman 

After the publication of her young-adult fantasy novels, inspired by a conversation with a 
friend, Ware turned her attention to writing psychological crime thrillers--a genre in which
 she found great success. In 2015, she published In a Dark, Dark Wood, which follows 
Leonora "Nora" Shaw, a reclusive writer who receives an invitation to the bachelorette 
party of Clare, an old friend she has not spoken to in years. (Ware felt the event provided 
an ideal setting for a thriller.) Reluctantly, Nora attends the party in a house in the woods,
 where things turn sinister. In a Dark, Dark Wood received generally positive reviews from
 critics, with many praising Ware for creating an eerie, foreboding atmosphere throughout 
the story.
The following year, Ware published The Woman in Cabin 10. This tale follows Laura "Lo" 
Blacklock, a travel journalist assigned to spend a week on the cruise ship Aurora. While at 
sea, Lo witnesses a woman being thrown overboard--turning her stay into a nightmare. 
With qualities reminiscent of a Christie novel, such as the characters, their conversations, 
and a confined setting, The Woman in Cabin 10 was an immediate success. The thriller
 appeared on numerous best-seller lists, including those of the New York Times and USA 
Today.
In 2017, Ware published her third psychological crime thriller, The Lying Game, a chilling
story about four friends--Isa, Kate, Fatima, and Thea. Years ago, while attending the
same boarding school, the girls were expelled for playing a dangerous game called the
 Lying Game. Almost two decades later, the game comes back to haunt them when the 
remains of a body are found buried near the school. Shifting between past and present,
 the tale unfolds a seventeen-year-old mystery accompanied by lies and secrets. Ware
 was lauded for creating tension and delivering twists and turns, making The Lying Game 
an absorbing read.
Ware's fourth psychological crime thriller, The Death of Mrs. Westaway (2018) follows
 twenty-one-year-old Harriet "Hal" Westaway, a tarot card reader who receives a letter
 informing her she has inherited a significant fortune from her grandmother. Although Hal 
knows this is a mistake, her circumstances push her to pursue the inheritance fraudulently.
 Things go terribly wrong for her, however. The Death of Mrs. Westaway garnered favorable
 reviews from critics and debuted at number four on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

Impact

Ware has mastered the components that create a successful psychological crime thriller. 
The tense atmosphere, the settings --which have come in the shape of glass houses,
 cruise ships, boarding schools, and old mansions--and the twists all create a suspenseful
 read. More importantly, however, Ware has stated in interviews that the success of her
 books rests on her everyday main characters. Her protagonists are ordinary individuals
 with whom her readers can relate.



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