Not in a hundred years would I have figured out who the victim was; or for that matter, who the murderer was in this whodunit, yet when it was revealed, it seemed to be an apropos resolve. Of course this novel by Ruth Ware reminded me somewhat of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train (see my review of 8/16/2015). Close, but no cigar. One thing that does stand out in Ware’s novel is the prose. She is someone who not only writes with a kinda descriptive style but also knows how to write with gripping proficiency. It’s one of those novels that perks your interest from the get-go to the very last word (wire to wire). This is the British author’s second New York Times bestseller, the first being her maiden 2015 thriller, In a Dark, Dark Wood. She’s two for two so far. Can she be Great Britain’s next Agatha Christie? Ruth Ware is a hot mystery writer but doesn’t have a Hercule Poirot, so once again, close, but no cigar. Okay, let’s review a little of the story. Just a little.
As the story opens, our principal character, Lo (Laura) Blacklock is being burglarized in her apartment while sleeping off an inebriated evening. She wakes up in time to find a burglar outside her bedroom door, who slams the door in her face (oouch), removes the spindle from the door knob and ransacks the apartment. When he leaves, she manages to unlock her bedroom door. She is super upset but doesn’t have a lot of time to pine over it (thank God for her prescribed antidepressants). She is consoled by her boyfriend Judah (on his way to Moscow on business) and somewhat (for some reason I love that word) by the police. Lo works for a travel magazine, Velocity. Her boss, Rowan, being pregnant, can’t make the press voyage on the brand new ten cabin luxury cruiser the Aurora from London to the Norwegian Fjords. She assigns Lo to take the trip and write a good article on the voyage and it’s owners, the super rich Lord Richard Bullmer and his wife Anne.Once on the small but lavish cruiser (one of the chandeliers has over two thousand Swarovski crystals), she is assigned cabin nine and is told to be in the Lindgren Lounge for cocktails and a facilities presentation at 7:00 pm. For the sake of setting the scene at the reception, let me tell you who was in attendance: Cole Lederer (a renowned photographer), Tina West (editor of the Vernean Times), Alexander Belhomme (a rotund foodie writer), Archer Fenlan (a extreme travel writer), Ben Howard (a ex-writer at Velocity), Lars Jenssen and his wife, Chloe (he of a Swiss investment group), Owen White (a UK investor) and of course, Richard and Anne Bullmer and their senior staff. Naturally, Lo Blacklock was also in attendance. That’s people enough for nine of the ten cabins. Why was cabin ten empty? Or was it? Was somebody going to be murdered tonight? Could be. Okay, the scene is set, now you will have to get your own copy of this stirring sophomore novel by Ruth Ware to find out what happens next.
I loved this novel. I was especially impressed with the prose and the flow of the story. If there were some hiccups in this novel, they went over my head. Okay if I stretch my imagination, I can come up with a few minor complaints near the end of the novel, but I’m going to keep them to myself. Do I recommend this novel? Does Grizzly Adams have a beard?
RATING: 5 out of 5 stars
Comment: Sometimes I’m amazed at what other reviewers are thinking. When I went to Amazon for the Customer Review score, I was surprised. Even though Ware’s novel is an unbridled hit, it’s only garnered an average score of 3.8 stars on 363 customer reviews. Why? Because 20% of the reviews are for one or two stars. The main reason why? The bad review is usually from a reader who has very limited experience reviewing books. They don’t even know what they are looking for. In their mind, it’s either a ‘good read’ or a ‘bad read’.
Here are some of their comments: boring, weak weak weak, epic fail, waste of time, don’t bother, awful, drivel, hated it, could not finish and my favorite...this book is so bad it should be free. Ha, ha. I guess it’s a case of Different strokes for different folks.
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