Book review: Twisty thriller keeps us guessing

'The Woman in Suite 11' is the ideal holiday read for those who enjoy tense, psychological thrillers; it’s the definition of a page-turner

Ruth Ware: Protagonist ‘Lo’ Blacklock makes some questionable decisions in this fast-paced psychological thriller. Picture: Gemma Day

• The Woman in Suite 11 
• Ruth Ware
• Simon & Schuster, €15.99

The Woman in Suite 11 is Ruth Ware’s tenth novel. With books such as One Perfect Couple, Zero Days, and The Turn of the Key, she is now firmly entrenched as a force in the psychological thriller genre.

This latest offering is a follow-on to the hit The Girl in Cabin 10, which is set to be a Netflix movie starring Keira Knightley this autumn. 

In The Woman in Suite 11, Laura “Lo” Blacklock is back and it’s 10 years after the traumatic events she experienced on board the luxury cruise ship Aurora.

We reunite with Lo in New York where she now lives with her husband Judah and their two young boys Eli and Teddy. 

A travel journalist, Lo has been busy raising her boys for the past three years and is on the cusp of returning to work when she receives an invitation to the opening of a luxury hotel in Switzerland owned by the reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann. 

With Lo trying to re-establish herself in the world of travel journalism, it’s an invite too appealing to pass up.

In the Grand Hotel du Lac on the banks of Lake Geneva Lo encounters some familiar faces from Cabin 10 — a trio of travel journalists with whom she has somewhat strained relationships. 

There’s also the matter of the book Lo wrote about her experience on the Aurora, with some of these fellow journos coming in for criticism in the book. 

It’s a fraught, and somewhat unsettling start to the press trip for Lo, and memories of her time on the Aurora are thrust to the fore.

We’re reminded throughout the novel of the events of Lo’s time on the luxury cruise ship where she was gaslit, trapped, and in imminent danger — and this old trauma resurfaces when another, more shocking, familiar face reaches out to Lo for help escaping an abusive relationship with the billionaire Leidmann.

And so Lo and her old frenemy take off on a chase through Europe, as they try to out-run Leidmann and his influence. 

While it’s not completely necessary that readers have read Cabin 10, it would help to understand some of the choices Lo makes. 

On the face of it, some of these, frankly unwise, decisions reveal a gullibility in Lo, or perhaps she just feels she owes this person something.

There is twist upon twist in this pacy thriller (arguably a couple of twists too many?). One twist setup peters out entirely and rather unsatisfactorily doesn’t lead us anywhere. 

But where Ware shines is building that psychologically-edgy environment where Lo doesn’t know who to trust.

A shocking murder in the very hotel Lo and her companion are staying further ramps up the jeopardy and Lo finds herself at the centre of police attention.

Away from the calming security of her husband and family, Lo is alone and faced with increasingly stressful situations. 

Her old trauma haunts her and panic attacks threaten as she spirals from one crisis to another. Can she figure out who to trust or see who’s playing her for a fool?

This is the ideal holiday read for those who enjoy tense, psychological thrillers. Ware has created a realistic protagonist in Lo Blacklock. 

Sure, she’s flawed and makes some questionable decisions, but you’re still rooting her — there’s a humanity to her and a willingness to believe in people that overrides the slight annoyance readers may feel with her naivete.

It’s the definition of a page-turner — as the plot hurtles towards the end, readers will find themselves unable to put the book down.

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