Book-in-Motion

Written: 2016  | Adapted: 2025

Pages: 340  |  Format: Paperback

Genre: Thriller, Murder Mystery

Price: $13.99 Kindle  |  $9.39 Paperback 

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Quick Takeaways:

What if a tragedy occurred and no one believed you? Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 navigated the consequences Laura Blacklock (Lo) faced when she witnessed a person fall overboard The Aurora Borealis, a glamorous ship know for carrying lucrative journalists from around the world. However, all passengers were still accounted for after she notified the captain. Admired as a modern Agatha Christie, Ware’s “Whodunit” novel turned a brief seven-day journey along the Atlantic into an investigative mission to discover who fell overboard. Through scrutinous interviews with other passengers, cliffhangers, and Laura’s own demons, Ware has the reader questioning whether Laura’s story was factual or her own paranoia. 

🌟What if no one believed you?

Ruth Ware asks this chilling question through Laura Blacklock (Lo), a journalist who swears she saw a woman fall overboard…yet every passenger is accounted for.

🌟Laura Blacklock (Lo), Investigative Journalist or Unreliable Narrator?

 Lo was on her way by stepping up the career ladder when not one, not two, but three unfortunate events undermine her. However, her ambition collides with anxiety, leaving readers wondering whether she’s uncovering the truth or unraveling under pressure. Was she uncovering an accurate story or letting her inner fears echo louder than reality?

🌟Slow build-up, but sharp plot twist

The first half is heavy with introductions, but patience pays off once suspicion deepens and the “whodunit” momentum kicks in.

🌟The Aurora Borealis: A luxury ship with revealing cracks

The Aurora Borealis was glamorous on the outside and decked out with 10 exquisite suites for the guests to leisure in. On the inside, cramped staff quarters and uneasy encounters foreshadow darker turns.

🌟A Cliffhanger ending that may or may not resolve in the sequel: The Woman in Suite 11. 

As with classic murder mysteries, everything is resolved by the end. Or is it? 

The Woman in Cabin 10: Ruth Ware’s Novel & Its Film Adaptation

Written: 2016  | Adapted: 2025

Pages: 340  |  Runtime: TBD

Genre: Thriller, Murder Mystery

Read/Watch Order: I read the book, then will watch the film on October 10, 2025.

Book Review

What if a tragedy occurred and no one believed you? Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 navigated the consequences Laura Blacklock (Lo) faced when she witnessed a person fall overboard The Aurora Borealis, a glamorous ship know for carrying lucrative journalists from around the world. However, all passengers were still accounted for after she notified the captain. Admired as a modern Agatha Christie, Ware’s “Whodunit” novel turned a brief seven-day journey along the Atlantic into an investigative mission to discover who fell overboard. Through scrutinous interviews with other passengers, cliffhangers, and Laura’s own demons, Ware has the reader questioning whether Laura’s story was factual or her own paranoia.  

Organized over a span of seven days, Ruth Ware quickly introduced Laura Blacklock (Lo) who lived in London as a journalist working for Travel Magazine Velocity for a decade. Pioneering an early Emily in Paris, Lo was given a chance to prove her skills by filling in for her boss, Rowan, while she was on maternity leave. As the main focus of the story, Blacklock aboards The Aurora Borealis whose mission was clear: make as many contacts as possible to boost the magazine’s prestige and her personal status. However, early on, Ruth Ware quickly foreshadowed how this story would turn. One was from Lo’s encounter with a burglar that worsened her diagnosed anxiety and resulted in sleepless nights drinking over the situation prior and while onboard. Then came Ware’s chilling warning when she described Lo’s perception of the yacht: “I had a sudden disorienting image of the Aurora Borealis as a ship imprisoned in a tiny bottle –tiny, perfect, isolated, and unreal.” This unreliable perspective both fuels the suspense and, at times, tests the reader’s patience.

With seven parts to the story, each section moved closer into finding out who fell overboard and why by bringing in outside voices from boyfriend Judah, family members, the media. At first the sections were harmless as emails emerged with concern over not having communication with the main character: Lo was on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic, connections are spotty, not concerning. However, the outside speculations excelled a third in the book once the race began in finding out what happened onthe ship. With some speculation giving credibility to Lo’s story, others questioned Lo’s character as a victim of her own paranoia. 

As a thriller or muder-mystery genre, attention to detail is critical when Ruth Ware introduces the different characters and their nuances. However, Ware extensively revealed the main character’s inner thoughts as a way of distorting reality. Therefore, it is a fun experience to see if your conclusions match Lo Blacklock’s. Those familiar with Agatha Christie’s stories such as The Murder on the Orient Express will also appreciate Ruth Ware’s style of writing who is know as the “modern-day” Agatha Christie. 

Page to Screen Predictions: Will the Film Deliver?

With Simon Stone directing the 2025 adaptation, the biggest question is how filmmakers will capture Lo’s internal unraveling. So much of the novel’s suspense depends on her anxious narration and distorted perception. Clearly narrating Lo’s inner thoughts and outer actions made a powerful impact on the story by seeing her transition into a full investigative journalist. Ware has Laura wrestle with her past anxieties and even start to question her own reality as surrounding members take her story with a grain of salt. It makes the readers wonder considering the boat comprised of many journalists that virtually no one believed her story. In the upcoming adaptation, that could become either claustrophobic brilliance or confusing noise. Stone would benefit in displaying her inner and outer conflict possibly through flashbacks to avoid confusing the viewer. Though I am very curious to see how Stone will visualize the events after Lo departs the ship as the book required a wide imagination that those events could actually play out.

The ship, too, is practically a character of its own. If the adaptation nails the Aurora Borealis’s qualities, luxurious on the surface but uneasy beneath, it could elevate the story into something cinematic. I’ll be curious to see how Stone handles the shift from shipboard suspense to the later, more expansive events that push the narrative beyond its initial setting.

For now, the novel earns three and a half stars: uneven in pacing, occasionally overstuffed, but undeniably atmospheric. It may not rise to Christie’s heights, but Ware’s mystery is gripping enough to keep readers turning the pages—and waiting to see what happens when it finally hits the screen.

Star Rating: 3.5 / 5