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What Would You Do: The Woman in Cabin 10
141 Plays2 years ago
In the first of an occasional series, "What Would You Do," Brook and Sarah consider what they would do if they were in the same situation as the main character of a novel.
This time, they discuss Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10. We'd love to hear what you would do.
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Music: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers - www.silvermansound.com
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Transcript
Introduction to 'The Woman in Cabin 10'
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke. And we both love mystery.
00:00:17
Speaker
Brooke, this episode, we're doing something that we haven't done before. We are getting into the detail of a book that we've both read, and we kind of bounced around what we would call this, and I think we landed on, What Would You Do? Right? So if you were the character in the book, what would you do? So I'm really excited to get into this with you.
00:00:43
Speaker
We're going to do The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. So this is a spoiler warning for everyone.
Mysterious Events on the Cruise
00:00:50
Speaker
If you haven't read this book yet, you might want to do that first and then listen to this episode because we are going to get into some detail and we don't want to ruin anybody's experience with the book.
00:01:02
Speaker
So I'll just start with a summary of the plot, and then we'll get into what would you do. So Laura, or low black lock is a London based travel journalist in her early 30s. One night her flat is broken into and she's injured by the burglar.
00:01:18
Speaker
A few nights later, understandably upset and having slept very little, she makes her way to her journalist boyfriend's apartment, even though he's away on assignment. She falls asleep on his bed. When he finds her, she's startled and she attacks him. His response is to invite her to move in and they end up arguing.
00:01:34
Speaker
Shortly after, she leaves on the maiden voyage of a luxury exclusive cruise yacht filling in for her boss, who's pregnant. Lo feels like this is a make or break assignment for her. However, because she's shaken by the burglary, she's done little to prepare and is really surprised when she sees her ex-boyfriend, Ben, who is a writer for a rival publication as one of the other passengers. As Lo gets ready on the first night, she borrows some mascara from the woman in the cabin beside her, cabin 10.
00:02:04
Speaker
She attends dinner the first night, has a lot to drink, and ends up passing out in her room. She's woken by a screen and a splash, and she runs out to her balcony and sees what she thinks is a body disappearing in the water.
Crime and Isolation on Board
00:02:16
Speaker
And so begins the gaslighting. She's told that cabin 10 was unoccupied and that all passengers and crew are accounted for.
00:02:23
Speaker
The ship's security knows of her history with anxiety, alcohol, and antidepressants, but humors her for a bit and lets her speak to various staff members. Her clue, the mascara, goes missing. Another clue, a photographer's phone with a picture of the woman in cabin 10, is damaged. Is it an accident or not? A warning is scrolled on a mirror, but nobody could have done it, except for Ben. Because they're at sea, she cannot contact anyone, and her phone ends up being stolen.
00:02:50
Speaker
The night before the ship is to arrive in Norway, she's attacked and taken into another cabin, this time in the crew quarters, where the woman from Cabin 10 holds her captive.
Lo's Independence and Career Drive
00:03:00
Speaker
Lo realizes that this woman has assumed the identity of the wealthy wife of the ship's owner, who must have been who was thrown overboard. Lo tries to convince this woman, whose name is Carrie, that she is also at risk, and together they devise a plan to allow Lo to escape.
00:03:15
Speaker
Lo does escape, although that is fraught with issues, and eventually she is reunited with her boyfriend.
00:03:22
Speaker
Great summary, Sarah. So I was interested in the way that the story opens. We open with her apartment being burglarized and that she's sort of victimized. She gets a little bit battered up, beaten up, and she has to go next door to a neighbor and get some help. So this was a very big traumatizing event for her to have this creepy guy in her apartment. And so my first thought was,
00:03:50
Speaker
would you even go ahead and go on that assignment on this ship assignment after you've just been through this traumatic event? Yeah, that's a really good question, Brooke. You're right. That event is so pivotal to the rest of the story, right? Because it really sets up and helps you as a reader understand why she's anxious and why she's feeling the feelings that she feels when she's on the ship.
00:04:19
Speaker
I think it also sets up that she's feeling like this is her big break, right? This is her opportunity to really make a name for herself.
Impact of Drinking on Lo's Decisions
00:04:30
Speaker
And so she kind of weighs, if she doesn't go on this trip, then her career is going nowhere.
00:04:37
Speaker
So, um, I probably would have gone before I was a parent. My priorities changed when I became a parent in terms of, um, in terms of my focus on, you know, what was important, but before I became a parent, my career was very important. So yeah, I probably would have tried to set as she did, try and set those feelings aside of her anxiety and, and you know,
00:05:03
Speaker
Um, not really processing the traumatic event and yeah, really tried to throw myself into work. What about you? Yeah, I think you're exactly right. Immediately we get one of these like no win situations that she gets placed in over and over, but it's like it's one of these impossible decisions that she has to make. And you're right. When it comes down to it, the career is a must.
00:05:28
Speaker
and she pushes on. Well, and I think one of the things about this character, and this is something that I really liked about her, is that she's pretty independent, right? She lives apart from her boyfriend and in fact gets quite almost upset when he suggests, and it's not for the first time, when he suggests that they should live together.
00:05:51
Speaker
And you can see how wanting to continue to build her career is so important to her. She's just such an independent person.
00:06:03
Speaker
I thought that argument before she leaves on the trip was so interesting because I think we've all been in that position where like she wasn't honestly angry at him, but she's stressed out because she has to go do this thing. That's really scary. She just got burglarized. She's, and what do you do? Are you getting a fight with your boyfriend? You know, it's like, I could just see that those situations happen in our lives. And then later we look back and like, I wasn't even mad at him. I was just kind of mad at everything. Totally.
00:06:33
Speaker
So once she's on the boat, I actually don't know if I would have borrowed mascara from someone else.
00:06:42
Speaker
Right. Which obviously is a big, you know, a big point to the plot. Yes. Yes. Let's, let's face it. Some of these decisions that they make that are bad is precisely what the story needs. But, um, I was thinking about that just this morning as far as like, you didn't even know who was in that cabin. It's someone else's mascara. Didn't your mom ever tell you not to share cosmetics?
00:07:06
Speaker
especially with strangers, there is some weirdness about that. Yeah. Maybe if it was lipstick, I don't know. I just feel like makeup is so intimate, right? And it's like on your face or blush maybe.
00:07:21
Speaker
that would have felt maybe a little bit more like something I would have done, but low does it.
Pursuit of Truth Amid Skepticism
00:07:30
Speaker
She borrows this mascara and then it becomes a clue that is really important as the story unfolds.
00:07:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's pivotal. The other thing that is a big question and is definitely kind of a trope these days in domestic thrillers is how much she's drinking because we know she's stressed out and we know that she's been through this traumatic event.
00:07:56
Speaker
But, you know, she's just on a total drinking binge for these first few days. And it, you know, really becomes a downfall to her through the story. It makes her look unreliable to the other characters and is quite possibly harming her decision making.
00:08:14
Speaker
Yeah, I've had periods where I haven't slept very well and I can certainly see the appeal of turning to something, whether it's alcohol or some other sleep aid, Nyquil, I know you're not supposed to do that, but I know people do. If you think back to a point in your life when you've been sleep deprived, whether it's when you've got a newborn in the house or whatever,
00:08:40
Speaker
I know how desperate you get for sleep. I don't think I would be drinking quite as heavily as her, but I'm also, you know, older than low, so maybe in my 30s I would have, I don't know.
00:08:56
Speaker
Right, right. Well, and then you have on top of the fact that she's definitely abusing alcohol herself, then she's at these parties and the champagne's flowing or various cocktails. She's just kind of getting handed these things and you need to participate and be part of the group. And so then there's sort of the social drinking that's happening that's just
00:09:22
Speaker
putting her over the edge. So you have to feel for her in that way. And I think we've all been in that position where we're kind of felt like, okay, well, I need to fit in with this group. Yeah, totally. And yeah, this is, again, going back to the earlier part of our conversation, this is something that she views as being really important for her career. And so she needs to mix and mingle with these people and, you know,
00:09:45
Speaker
sometimes having a drink helps with all of that, right? But I think because she felt it was so important to her career, you'd wonder if maybe she would be a little more careful with how much she was drinking because you don't want to leave a bad impression with someone who might be really important to you later down the line. Exactly. Yes, I had that thought too.
00:10:13
Speaker
So at that first night, she's drinking a lot and now we have her going back to her cabin and this is the night where she hears the suspicious activity. Yeah. So, I mean, I think I would, if I heard a disturbing sound, I would definitely look out my window. I think that's human nature, right? To want to, to see what's going on. And I don't remember, does she call for the security right away or does she wait until the next morning?
00:10:44
Speaker
I believe that she does. I think she reports it right away, but they kind of put her off until the next morning.
Reality and Danger Escalate
00:10:50
Speaker
If I remember correctly, but yeah, I'm with you. I would, I would get up. I would look out my window. I would, you know, try to see what was going on for sure. Yeah. And then if she reported it right away, that's, that's, I would do that as well. Right. Um, alert the authorities that there was something that was, that was potentially up.
00:11:11
Speaker
So when she ends up speaking with the ship security and he invites her to go along and meet the staff and confirm that the person that she thinks she saw is alive and well, I think I would do that because I would be really curious, right? I would want to reassure myself that everything was okay.
00:11:37
Speaker
But I would be really sensitive to the fact that I was causing a stir, if that makes sense. At some point, I would feel like I was making a big fuss. And I don't know when, but I think I would say, OK, there's nothing more I can do. But I certainly I think I would do that that first round of questions.
00:11:56
Speaker
Exactly. And that first experience she has is very hospitable, right? He's like, well, come on. Let's go talk with everyone. I'm sure you'll figure out it's very friendly and jovial. And I think there's a more positive feeling about it. But definitely as it goes on,
00:12:14
Speaker
I was cringing because she would share things and I was like, you don't know who you're talking to. That's the experience the reader is supposed to have. We're cringing going, oh my gosh, you might be talking to the bad guy right now. She was definitely, and that's what you were saying, Sarah. There would become a turning point that I would say, okay, I need to at least appear that I'm backing off from this whole thing because it's getting deep.
00:12:38
Speaker
Yeah, and I think, you know, certainly later on in the book when that message is scrawled on the mirror, right? For me, that would be like, okay, I think I've done all I can.
00:12:54
Speaker
And I would want to say out loud to somebody like, you know what, I must've just been crazy. That was probably a nightmare. You know, I would want to like make it very verbal, probably would be so awkward that no one would fall for it, but that's what I would try to do.
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah, totally, totally. So that whoever is after you, you know, leaves you alone. But, you know, she becomes almost fixated on finding this answer, and then she discovers that photograph.
00:13:28
Speaker
right, of the woman from cabin 10. And she, you know, feels like, okay, this person does exist, right? And now I've got proof of it. And then that, I think it was on a camera, it gets damaged. And so she doesn't, she can't point to that piece of evidence anymore. And I think
00:13:49
Speaker
then really starts to question like, okay, what is going on here, right? Did that camera just happen to get damaged? Was it intentional? Is there someone really behind all of this? And then she starts questioning, okay, this is the point where she starts thinking, I need to be careful about who I'm talking to.
Escape and Survival Instincts
00:14:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that's the turning point. That's the point that she realizes that it's not maybe just like an
00:14:19
Speaker
intimate situation between two people that something happened. Like there's something going on in this entire ship that she is witnessing. It's a bigger deal. It's a bigger group of players and she has to be careful of perhaps everyone. Yeah. Yeah. And, and so I don't know if that's the point where I would be, you know, loudly proclaiming that. Oh yeah. Nope. Everything's okay.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah, you wonder when you would really start to focus on preserving your own safety and what you would do to do that. So she obviously is locking the door behind her.
00:15:03
Speaker
And she was for a bit confiding in Ben, who was her ex-boyfriend, but then she starts to mistrust him and really feel like she's alone. And because she can't communicate with anybody off the ship, it becomes very isolating, I think.
00:15:25
Speaker
Yeah, and she doesn't know that her current boyfriend, who she had the argument with before she left, is trying desperately to get in to get in touch with her. She has no idea that people are trying to reach her. So she must she is completely alone at this point.
00:15:42
Speaker
Yeah, which would be really, really tough. So maybe because, you know, I mentioned about how she's such an independent person, I think she feels like she can't rely on anybody, right? And so the only person that can figure this out is her.
00:16:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's set up really well that she doesn't have any other options. And I guess in the what would you do, you'd probably have to do what she does and try to solve it in order to survive. But I have a funny, what would you do, Sarah? At one point, the crew, the staff is kind of, you can tell that they're trying to keep her away from the mystery, but they bring her some food to her room.
00:16:28
Speaker
Would you eat a prawn hard-boiled egg sandwich on rye? I was like, what? That sounds horrible. I probably wouldn't. Not to mention the fact she's like scared, her stomach's a mess. Yeah, that doesn't sound like it would sit well.
00:16:44
Speaker
But they did, you know, there was earlier in the book talk about how the food was so amazing on this ship, right? Like it was a no expenses spared kind of experience that certainly if I was offered to go on this kind of a trip, I would definitely do it.
00:17:04
Speaker
Um, you know, I would hope that there would be no mystery associated with it, but I would be pretty excited about being on a luxury, um, a luxury yacht for, uh, for a short trip. Oh yeah. The yacht just sounds amazing. And that's a really good point. They're not going to bring her peanut butter and jelly on the Aurora. It's going to be something swanky and, um, gourmet.
00:17:30
Speaker
Uh, so I have another, what would you do? Uh, and this is so later once she's being kidnapped essentially and, and putting this other cabin and she's by herself in the dark and she fashions a weapon out of a tray. I don't know if I would have the wherewithal to think about how to do that.
00:17:52
Speaker
Yeah, I probably wouldn't, to be quite honest. I don't think I would think of it. And I'm not sure that the low character, I'm not sure it was in character for her to think of it either. She was getting along the way we learned that she has an anxiety disorder, which is a miracle in itself that she gets through this whole thing because she has anxiety issues. And her captor starts bringing her medication to
00:18:21
Speaker
Help with her anxiety and I was thinking I wonder if I would somehow try to drug my captor I don't know if that's even possible or you know something more Mental or something like that rather than fashion a shiv. That's I just couldn't do it
00:18:38
Speaker
Creating a weapon, I don't think would be my first choice, but I don't know, desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess. This is true. I think you would be a bit out of your mind at that point, having been locked up in the dark for so long.
00:18:54
Speaker
Totally. And I have to say, she does seem to keep her wits about her remarkably well, which is again why I consider her to be such a strong character. And then even when she ends
Resilience in Life-threatening Situations
00:19:10
Speaker
up convincing her captor to let her escape, would you have gone into his room or would you have just tried to leave?
00:19:21
Speaker
Right, because the plan was that she needed to go into a room to get clothes that would make her resemble another person, so it's easier for her to get off the ship. But that was probably the most anxiety-inducing scene of the whole book for me, is when she's going into the bad guy's cabin. And I was thinking, I just wouldn't. I think I would have tried to just leave
00:19:47
Speaker
And remember, she's lost. She keeps getting lost in the hallways. I think at that point, I just would have booked it and tried to get off the yacht. Yeah, me too. And most of the crew was gone, right? So she didn't feel like there was even anybody that she could
00:20:07
Speaker
find and was probably feeling like anybody who was there would have been very loyal to him. And so trying to avoid being seen by any of them. So understand why she wanted to get the clothing so that she could leave more easily.
00:20:29
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if I would be brave enough to do that and then it doesn't end up working out quite as they hoped, right?
00:20:42
Speaker
Right. Then she has to do something that I seriously would never be able to do, which was basically scale the outside balconies of the yacht in order to try to enter a joining cabin and then leave. But of course, she falls in the water. And if the option or even the suggestion that I could fall into the ocean, I'm out. I couldn't do it.
00:21:08
Speaker
Yeah, I did. That was a point where I was like, have we passed the point of this being realistic? Because I guess it wasn't a cruise ship, 11-floor cruise ship. There were only, I think, three or four decks, right? So it wasn't like she would have been following multiple stories.
00:21:37
Speaker
into the water. So maybe, maybe it was more plausible than I gave it credit for when I when I first read it. But and then she's swam right back to the back to the shore, which I think would be very, very hard to do in the because the water would be so cold. Again, you know, if you're driven by adrenaline, maybe you can maybe you can do that.
00:22:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think that you'd have to be a really, really strong swimmer to make that leg of the trip. But she does. She makes it. And then she goes to the local police. So Sarah, would you have just gone and told your story to the local police? I think so, because what else would you do? Because she didn't end up getting... Did she get the money? I don't think she did, right? So she ends up having nothing, right?
00:22:34
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I have enough faith in the police that that's who I would turn to. What about you, Brooke?
00:22:40
Speaker
Yeah, I thought that was actually a wonderful flip because I was thinking, yay, she's made it. You go to the police when you're in trouble. And then she shares what happened. And then lo and behold, in not her language. So she's not sure what the policeman is saying on the phone, but it becomes really clear that he's just calling to notify the bad guy that she's there and he can come and get
Survival and Thematic Reflection
00:23:04
Speaker
her.
00:23:04
Speaker
And I thought, oh my, I would totally fall for that because I would have been trusting in law enforcement. But she does ultimately escape and is reunited with her family. I found that part to be more tense, just that scene in that when she realizes that she's been double-crossed.
00:23:23
Speaker
Yeah, because you realize then that really there's nowhere she can go in that little village. I think it's in my head. It's a quaint little village where she won't be turned back over to this very rich, influential person. And it's when she ends up, you know, she runs, she runs and runs and.
00:23:41
Speaker
She ends up in a rural area and a sweet farmer and his wife find her. She's able to use their phone to contact her friends and family. I would definitely trust in them. When they came around, I think I would definitely trust in them. Yes. I hope we find ourselves on a luxury cruise liner or a luxury yacht, but that there's no murder involved.
00:24:11
Speaker
so we don't actually have to find out what we would do in that situation. I agree, Sarah, because I think I found out that I am not capable of fighting my way out. So if any of our listeners have read The Woman in Cabin 10, we'd love to hear what you have to say. You can email us or reach us on Instagram and tell us what you would do in low Blalox situation.
00:24:37
Speaker
Thank you for listening. We'd love to hear your feedback. You can reach us at hello at CluedinMystery.com or on Instagram at CluedinMystery. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a rating or review or telling a friend to help spread the word. Thank you for joining us today on CluedinMystery. I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah. And we both love mystery.