I’ve used every umbrella I own at least twice and there always seems to be one drying out in the laundry room.

I’ve got quite a few tabs open on my computer for Hunter wellies

but sadly none of the colours I want seem to be available in my size right now.  I know I’ll only wear them a handful of times each year which is why I’d rather wear something in a statement primary colour as I trudge through the puddles on my way home from the shops.  Life is too short for sensible black or brown coloured wellies.

www.amazon.com

It’s been just the kind of weather for enjoying a good book and fortunately they’ve been much easier to find than my elusive unicorn pair of Hunters.  Do you remember me mentioning Reese Witherspoon’s Instagram account and how I follow it mostly for her book suggestions?  Well, ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ by Ruth Ware was my first read from her account and I loved it. You can read the Smart Bitches Trashy Books review here.

Smart what did I just write?  Let me explain.  SMTB is a hilarious blog / site that I actually discovered as I did a little reading around ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’.  The ladies primarily review romance novels which I’m not a huge fan of but their reviews have piqued my interest.  I’m hoping that they’ll cover more murder and suspense novels in the future.

But back to my novel.  ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ is firmly in the domestic noir category I know and love so well.  Lo is an up and coming travel journalist who is given the break of her career with the chance to write about the maiden voyage of The Aurora.  The Aurora is a luxurious boutique cruise liner and not only does Lo score the write up, she also gets the chance to get on board for the cruise.  Unfortunately Lo is also going through major relationship / commitment issues with her partner Judah and she also has the beginnings of a problem drinking habit….

Lo boards The Aurora and a whole new world of luxury and privilege envelops here in a glittering haze of wall to wall glass, crystal chandeliers and impossibly glamorous super wealthy people.  One night, Lo begins to dress for a ship dinner when she realizes that she’d forgotten her mascara.  She ducks out of her cabin (that’s technically the size of her entire flat back home) and stops by number 10 to borrow some.  The door of cabin 10 opens quickly and a young lady in a Pink Floyd T shirt shoves a tube of Maybelline at her before quickly slamming the door shut.

Lo never sees the girl again but she does witness what she suspects is the tail end of a murder on the deck outside room a little while later.  She’s also gained a reputation as a solid drinker by this stage as well.  Plus a former boyfriend also on the cruise knows enough about her past and her other issues to make the officials on the boat look upon Lo with suspicion.

Ruth Ware does an admirable job of taking us into Lo’s disordered mind and keeps us guessing as to how much of the disorder is due to the alcohol, how much relates to Lo’s longstanding anxiety and how much of can be attributed to the ‘murder’.

‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ isn’t gory or graphic but it is compulsive reading.  Beyond the suspense surrounding the murder, Ware raises some interesting issues surrounding mental illness and the stigma it still has in society.  Lo’s depression and anxiety as well as her need for anti-depressants somehow makes her a less credible and reliable witness than if she’d not had this diagnosis or treatment.  Despite this, Lo is determined to find out the truth and in doing so, much of the prejudice leveled at her is disproved.  With the determination came a positive change in Lo’s manner and the way her character was developed in the novel.  Lo became more likeable to me as I began to understand a little of her back story as it was drip fed to us during her time on the cruise.

The good news is that Ruth Ware  has another novel that’s already published and it’s called ‘In A Dark, Dark Wood’.  Plus she has a third, ‘The Lying Game’ due to be published later this year.  Guess who’s  got plenty to read already as we head into the cooler months?