Reviews - The Woman in Suite 11

694 reviews for:

The Woman in Suite 11

Ruth Ware

3.55 AVERAGE

kalm0506's review against another edition

4.25

mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nickikendall's review against another edition

5.0

mysterious tense

It has been several years since I read The Woman in Cabin 10, the thought of a long awaited sequel immediately had me pre-ordering this book as an avid Ruth Ware fan. I have of course read many books since reading The Woman in Cabin 10 but as I started this book, the memories of the characters from it and how it ended were soon back in my mind. Our main character, Lo Blacklock, is now happily married with children, a former travel journalist and survivor of the Aurora cruise ship nightmare—where she insisted she saw a woman thrown overboard, only for no one to believe her—Lo eventually proved her claims, endured terrifying events, and wrote a book about her experience. The Woman in Suite 11 picks up 10 years after the harrowing incidents of Cabin 10, Lo is married to journalist Judas and raising two boys. She’s left her magazine job behind, choosing freelance journalism after giving birth. When she receives an invitation to attend the grand opening of an exclusive Swiss hotel, owned by the elusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann—who never gives press interviews—she's intrigued and decides to accept this invitation.
From the very start of her trip, unsettling events begin to unfold, her flight gets anonymously upgraded, the other attendees at the press opening include familiar faces from the Aurora—her ex, Ben; gourmet critic Alexander; photographer Cole. Lo soon finds herself being asked to help someone who had previously saved her life on the Aurora and she feels this is her chance to repay that favour. This was another captivating read from Ruth Ware, as I have found with all of her books it was very well paced, gripping and has a suspense filled tension you can feel whilst reading it. The unexpected twists and the way the storyline unfolded was sheer Ruth Ware writing perfection. The more I read it, the more then tension picked up in it, it all culminated in a very satisfying ending. #ruthware #thewomaninsuite11 #simonandschuster #thriller #amazonkindle #goodreads #thestorygraph #getlitsy #fable #tea_sipping_bookworm #bookqueen #bookstagram

yellacraion's review against another edition

1.0

Now I haven't read the first one in years so maybe it is nostalgia speaking but I LOVED The Woman in Cabin 10 and have had it on my favorites shelf for a long time. It was fresh and thrilling. So I was very excited to hear that there was going to be a sequel and I was sure that I would love whatever mystery Ware cooked up to follow the original page-turner.

Unfortunately, this book falls so short that it doesn't even feel like a true sequel. I am actually baffled at how there can be such a dramatic shift between the two--and I don't just mean in the characters. There is nothing in this book that feels like a mystery, let alone a fun one, or a thrilling one, or even a captivating one. Every 'twist' is extremely predictable and this isn't helped by Ware deliberately writing spoilers into the end of several chapters. ??? Instead of just letting the events play out.

The plot is so profoundly stupid, even though it gets off to an ok start. Once they left the lodge, I was off the train. Every single choice that Lo makes is unreasonable. I was willing to excuse at least the basic premise but I really find it hard to believe that a 40+ year old woman would choose to do even a fraction of those things, especially towards the end. I also hated that half of the characters were just dropped in from the previous book for only a very flimsy reason, and then never used again, and without a cast of new characters to replace them. Lo's family as well and their unwavering niceness, understanding, and forgiveness was not even just unrealistic it was frustrating and annoying to see them fawning over her while she is repeatedly shooting herself (metaphorically) in the foot. Not to mention Lo expressing almost every five sentences that she is ~old now~ and all that. It was just exhausting. She was supposed to be so much more mature and experienced from her last encounter and the therapy and all that but none of that showed. Ugh.

Everything was capped off with an ending that was so, so stupid. It is clearly trying to set up for more potential books but at this point please, no. Same with the loose ends that I feel were intentional to reference back to from a future novel. I just. I really, really, wanted to like this and I could not have been more disappointed.

This has honestly made me pretty wary about the upcoming movie. If the book was written to promote or perhaps create more fodder for Netflix maybe it makes a bit more sense, but it is not a good sign for what is to come.