* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster *
The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware is the sequel to The Woman in Cabin 10, published in 2016. While some readers have patiently waited 9 years to find out what happened to Laura Blacklock after the events on the Aurora, I only had to wait a week. I read The Woman in Cabin 10 in the lead up to the release of The Woman in Suite 11 which I think was a huge advantage as all of the characters were fresh in my mind.
After the events in Norway, Laura published a book entitled Dark Waters and has been a stay at home Mum in the US raising two kids with husband Judah. After 6 years of occasional freelancing, Laura is ready to re-enter the workforce on a permanent basis and is interviewing for a job.
Although still introducing herself as Lo - ugh - I was pleased to see a more mature Laura in these pages. Now a Mum, Laura's excessive drinking is a thing of the past although she's still making questionable choices which drives the narrative forward.
Ruth Ware has an appealing way of including the everyday into a character's behaviour, and I particularly enjoyed this one:
"For the next half hour, I tried to distract myself. I scrolled my phone, did Wordle and the New York Times Spelling Bee..." Page 144I do the Wordle with my friend every day and the New York Times Spelling Bee every night with my husband, so I loved seeing this reflected in the main character. But I always 'do the Wordle', but here Laura 'did Wordle'... have I been saying this incorrectly the whole time?
As I mentioned in my review of The Woman in Cabin 10, author Ruth Ware loves a locked room mystery and this time she literally gave us one. I found some of the sleuthing around the comings and goings of a particular hotel room a tiny bit tedious but it was all necessary to inform the plot and narrow down the suspect pool.
I loved learning the identity of the woman in the title - don't worry, no spoilers here - and the complex dynamic between Laura and the supporting character play out, which also formed the focus of the book. I recommend The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware to fans of crime and mystery novels, but you'll definitely need to read The Woman in Cabin 10 first.
