It is nine long years since Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 made its considerable mark on the publishing world. Ware is an author known for her standalones, but with the Woman in Suite 11 she has broken that mould to create a sequel.
So let’s say hello again to Laura ‘Lo’ Blacklock, the travel journalist who had such a central part to play in Cabin 10. The character is about to be played by Keira Knightley in a Netflix adaptation of that first book. Nigh on a decade has passed since that fateful voyage, and these days Lo has settled into life as a wife and mother to two sons, living in New York with her husband Judah and pondering ways she might be able to get back into the writing game.
Since last we met, Lo has written a non-fiction bestseller about what happened on the cruise ship that was the subject of the aforementioned previous book. But all the fuss has died down now and Lo wants to return to travel journalism. This is how she finds herself on the way to a super-luxurious new hotel in Switzerland, at the behest of a publicity-shy billionaire.
The Financial Times is keen for Lo to get an exclusive interview with Marcus Leidmann, who is proving elusive until he agrees to a short chat while the rest of the journalists and influencers are out on a hunting/foraging excursion. Her first impressions are of a man who is both successful and somehow cold and she hopes to get more for her piece at a second, more formal interview the next day.
Instead, she receives a late-night summons to one of the hotel’s suites – and is shocked to be greeted by the woman who claims to be Marcus Leidmann’s mistress. It’s Carrie, whom we last met in The Woman in Cabin 10 and who alleges that her lover has her held captive and is threatening to kill her. She is just one of many returning characters from that best-seller. Journalist Ben Howard, food critic Alexander Belhomme and photographer Cole Lederer are here in Switzerland too.
The strange reunion lulls us into thinking that Ware is laying the groundwork for a tasty and twisted few chapters ahead, but sadly that’s not to be; after a slow start, The Woman in Suite 11 does pick up a little momentum before once again clicking back into snail’s pace. With just Lo and Carrie at the epicentre, there is little to keep the pages flying except to wonder why Ben, Alexander and Cole are even included.
Perhaps I was at a disadvantage through not having read The Woman in Cabin 10, but Lo never really endeared herself to me — whether due to her post-pregnancy inertia or the fact that she’s been out of the journalism game for so long. Rather than some hot shot career woman at the top of her game, she comes across lacklustre, naive and whingey, and Carrie isn’t much better. The plot seemed scant and sketchy, and I saw the twist coming a mile off.
Some sequels take their readers on a whole new adventure and are all the better for it. Sadly that doesn’t apply here and I wonder if those who enjoyed Lo Blacklock’s first appearance in print will find her second quite so compelling. This is a book to dip in and out of while in holiday mode, but if you’re looking for something that will keep you engrossed for hours on end, then I’d suggest you look elsewhere.
Hotel crime with a cosy side can be found in Glenda Young’s series, starting with Murder at the Seaview Hotel.
Simon & Schuster
Print/Kindle/iBook
£8.99
CFL Rating: 3 Stars
