May saw me listening to two quite different audiobooks, of which The Woman in Cabin 10 was my stand-out favourite! What a tense, claustrophobic read!
The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware
Narrated by Imogen Church
Synopsis (Goodreads):
In this tightly wound story, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who
writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime:
a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo’s stay is
nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling,
and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the
deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a
nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain
accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite
Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone
terribly, terribly wrong…
My musings:
The Woman in Cabin 10 was one of my best finds on kindle
monthly deals this year – and one of my favourite audiobook mysteries of 2017 to
date. I loved everything about this book, from the neurotic main protagonist Lo
Blacklock to its claustrophobic setting on a boat where there is a killer on
the loose. With increasing interest in the legal loopholes of death at sea
(which is a fascinating subject, I agree), there have been quite few contemporary novels which have exploited
the controversy to create tense mysteries with their own unique take on the
obstacles encountered by victims or families of victims seeking answers, and
justice. But by far none of them have done it quite as well as Ruth Ware, who –
in my humble opinion – has created a true masterpiece of suspense set aboard a
luxury yacht. I really love a good cat-and-mouse game, and this was one of the
best!
Ensconced in the tight (but relatively safe) confines of my
car, I could picture Lo’s growing panic trapped aboard the boat with a killer only
too well – and nobody willing to believe her story. Ironically, at the same
time, I was yearning for just such a luxury trip, and bemoaning Lo’s
persistence to pursue the story. Chill, Lo, just sit in the hot-tub and sip
champagne! With Lo being slightly on the neurotic side (an understatement) and
not disinclined to imbibe in alcohol to self-medicate her PTSD, there is of
course always that niggling doubt as to how reliable her reality really is. Is
Lo going crazy? Is her paranoia not stepping slightly over the conspiracy-theory
line? Was there ever even a girl in Cabin 10? But every time I thought I had
worked it all out, Ware managed to toss another curveball, throw a bit of tense
action into the mix. I especially loved the inclusion of the “now” elements
into the story, the emails and blog posts concerning Lo’s disappearance. So
very well done!
This was an extremely tense, claustrophobic and nail-bitingly intense read that kept me
guessing throughout, and had me sitting quietly in my carport late at night
still listening to “just a few more minutes” because I absolutely had to find
out what happens next. Praise also goes to Imogen Church, whose voice was
perfect for Lo’s character and made listening all the more compelling and
enjoyable!
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 1/2
The Woman on the Orient Express, by Lindsay Jayne Ashford
Narrated by Justine Eyre
Synopsis (Goodreads):
Hoping to make a clean break from a fractured marriage,
Agatha Christie boards the Orient Express in disguise. But unlike her famous
detective Hercule Poirot, she can’t neatly unravel the mysteries she encounters
on this fateful journey.
Agatha isn’t the only passenger on board with secrets. Her cabinmate Katharine Keeling’s first marriage ended in tragedy, propelling her toward a second relationship mired in deceit. Nancy Nelson—newly married but carrying another man’s child—is desperate to conceal the pregnancy and teeters on the brink of utter despair. Each woman hides her past from the others, ferociously guarding her secrets. But as the train bound for the Middle East speeds down the track, the parallel courses of their lives shift to intersect—with lasting repercussions.
Agatha isn’t the only passenger on board with secrets. Her cabinmate Katharine Keeling’s first marriage ended in tragedy, propelling her toward a second relationship mired in deceit. Nancy Nelson—newly married but carrying another man’s child—is desperate to conceal the pregnancy and teeters on the brink of utter despair. Each woman hides her past from the others, ferociously guarding her secrets. But as the train bound for the Middle East speeds down the track, the parallel courses of their lives shift to intersect—with lasting repercussions.
My musings:
I was a huge Agathe Christie fan as a teenager and in my
early teens, and although I have not read much by the author since devouring
all her books in my youth, this amazing woman still intrigues me. Therefore I
was quite excited when the audiobook version of The Woman on the Orient Express
popped up in my recommendations from Amazon earlier this month, hoping to find
out more about the mystery still surrounding the author’s life.
Focusing on events that may have inspired Christie’s writing
and lead to the meeting between the author and her soon-to-be husband Max Mallowan,
the novel is mainly set on the Orient Express on its journey from London to
Baghdad, and at the archaeological site at Ur. Christie’s friendship with
Katherine Whooley is well documented in history, and in her novel, Ashford
stages the first meeting between the two woman aboard the train. To complete
the trio, Ashford also includes a third – fictional – character, Nancy Nelson,
a young woman who flees England as she is carrying her married lover’s child.
As the train journey progresses, the three women get to know each other and
form a tentative friendship, which sees them all travelling to the
archaeological site at Ur, where Katherine has been working.
I loved the historical details Ashford seamlessly slips into
the story, like the mystery surrounding Agatha’s recent breakdown, or the
speculations about Katherine’s medical issues that may have contributed to the
suicide of her first husband. Nancy is the only character who is not based on
an actual person from Christie’s real life, and I admit I struggled a bit
accepting her into the fold. With Christie’s death still falling into my
lifetime (she died in 1976, and yes, I am that old!), it is too current for me
to accept these “alternative facts”, and I’m not sure if the blend of fact and
fiction is really for me when it concerns the recent past. That said, I
thoroughly enjoyed the author’s descriptions of the train journey to many
exotic locations, staying true to an era in history where women were not as
free to travel and forge their own path in life – which makes Christie all the
more remarkable. The story inspired me to pick up an old copy of Christie’s
autobiography, which I read in my early twenties and now want to revisit again.
I will enjoy comparing the two stories (as I am sure that Christie may have
also slipped a few fictional elements into her version of events – wouldn’t
you, given the chance?).
All in all, The Woman on the Orient Express was a light,
enjoyable story for my daily commute. Whilst I found some of the events in the
last part of the story slightly predictable and differing a bit too much from
historical facts for my liking, it put an interesting spin on a chapter in
Christie’s life which saw her moving on from her broken marriage and finding
new love. Justine Eyre provided a wonderful narration, which brought all
characters and places to life for me.
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
Currently Reading (review to follow soon):
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