The Woman in Cabin 10
By Ruth Ware
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
Featured in TheSkimm * An Entertainment Weekly “Summer Must List” Pick * A New York Post “Summer Must-Read” Pick
A gripping psychological thriller set at sea from an essential mystery writer in the tradition of Agatha Christie.
In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, 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. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. 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 dark and terrifying 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…
With surprising twists, spine-tingling turns, and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another taut and intense read in The Woman in Cabin 10—one that will leave even the most sure-footed reader restlessly uneasy long after the last page is turned.
Editor's Note
Modern classic whodunit…
The intensely intimate setting (a luxury cruise ship) ratchets up the fear and paranoia when things go awry. It’s impossible to escape the allure of this modern twist on classic Agatha Christie murder mysteries.
Ruth Ware
Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer. She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail (Toronto) bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood; The Woman in Cabin 10; The Lying Game; The Death of Mrs. Westaway; The Turn of the Key; One by One; The It Girl; Zero Days; and One Perfect Couple. Visit her at RuthWare.com or follow her on socials @RuthWareWriter.
Read more from Ruth Ware
One Perfect Couple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The It Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In a Dark, Dark Wood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lying Game: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Death of Mrs. Westaway Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zero Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for The Woman in Cabin 10
2,587 ratings213 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a gripping and suspenseful thriller with many twists and turns. The book keeps readers guessing until the end and is a page-turner that is hard to put down. While some reviewers found the plot to be slow at times and the main character annoying, overall, readers enjoyed the story, the intriguing twists, and the satisfying ending. The book is recommended for those who enjoy quick mysteries with suspenseful plots and don't mind a lack of character development.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Liked the book more than I thought I would at the beginning. Interesting writing style which enhanced the suspense and aided in the misdirection and intrigue.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fascinating mystery that will grab you and not let go. Very creative.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I listened to the audio copy of the book-- excellent narrator!
Despite the fact that there was tragedy upon this "boutique" cruise, I couldn't keep myself from looking up information on luxury criuses--bucket list item, for sure!!!
This was another one of those stories I just couldn't stop listening to--loved the writing and the storyline, and OH EM GEE, did I ever adore Lo Blacklock! I wanna be besties with her!!! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twists and turns make for fun reading.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I decided to read this earlier book by Ruth Ware after reading and enjoying the Death of Mrs. Westaway which i enjoyed very much. I did not enjoy this book nearly as much unfortunately. I didn't find the story nearly as compelling nor as exciting. It probably was because I didn't care for Laura (Lo) Blacklock. I never did feel sympathetic for her plight at all. She didn't seem real to me either. Can anyone be that scattered and confused? The book's plot was also quite weak. I did not find that the tension and suspense built up at all throughout the book. I was quite disappointed with this book, but I did finish it, so therefore I gave it 2 stars. I kept hoping it would get better.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I thought this was a pretty good read, although the ending could have been fleshed out a lot more so that we would know specifically what happened to all of the characters and not just Laura Blacklock. Another book that would probably make a good movie.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware
The setting is this book is on a small cruise ship in The North Sea. The story is suspenseful and at times a bit haunting.
Lo Blacklock is a journalist who writes for a travel magazine,and has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a small luxury cruise ship with only 10 cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and select guests excited as the exclusive cruise ship begins her maiden voyage in the picturesque North Sea. The ship has been christened The Aurora. 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 dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard in the cabin next to hers. She immediately reports the incident and the mystery begins. All passengers on ship remain accounted for, so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo s desperate attempts to convey that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. Cabin 10 was to be occupied, but the occupant cancelled at the last minute. Yet, just before going to dinner, Lo went into cabin 10 to borrow from a woman a mascara in a green and pink tube. Fortunately, Lo still has this in her possession. This is evidence, right? Mysteriously though, her only piece of evidence disappears from her cabin. As Lo is taken through cabin 10 to prove it has never been occupied, she sees that nothing is out of place and there are no personal belongs there as there had been when she borrowed the mascara.
The story slows down at this point, but the mystery is so great that you will certainly continue reading. Then toward the end, the story zooms into pace that you can barely keep up with surprising twists. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I wanted to read this one because I read In a Dark, Dark Wood, and while I figured out the twist quite quickly, something about the writing style hooked me. I liked this book a lot because it was very suspenseful, but I have to say - I am SO TIRED of the female protagonists being portrayed as unreliable narrators. I feel like every other adult book I read has a woman one antidepressants or with a drinking history and she is always discredited for being unreliable. I really hope that trend ends and we get some quality female protagonists with other problems.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I was super excited to read this. I am fascinated with cruise ships and I love mysteries, so it sounded perfect! The story concerns Lo Blacklock, a journalist for a travel magazine. She is given the job of attending the inaugural voyage of a luxury cruise ship, the Aurora. The ship only has 10 cabins, so it will be a small intimate voyage. Lo is given cabin number 9.
On the first evening on the ship, after a night of heavy drinking at the welcome party, Lo hears something thrown overboard from cabin 10 and becomes convinced it was a body. As she rushed to report it, she is told that cabin 10 is empty and has been so the whole time. Lo is sure of what she saw, but every one else begins to suspect it was her imagination. She sets out to solve the mystery.
I felt a similarity between this and The Girl on the Train. Both feature characters that have a drinking problem. Both have "unreliable" narrators. Why the authors feel the need to give the women so many problems I don't understand. The book would have been just as gripping if she didn't have a drinking problem.
Lo has a wonderful, kind, supportive boyfriend waiting for her back home. So of course, there is the obligatory "problem" with him. He wants to marry Lo, and she is not sure if she is ready for commitment. She picks a big fight with him right before she leaves for the cruise.
The mystery itself is interesting. Once it is solved, I thought it was obvious, but I didn't guess it beforehand so that is good. The ending felt a little bit unbelievable, but it was a satisfying ending. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Didn't love it, but it was fine. This is the one with the woman on the small cruise ship, with the mystery woman in Cabin 10.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A little slow in spots, but overall I enjoyed it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book kept me in a tense state until I could figure out what was going on.....I felt slightly let down at that point, but was very engaged for most of the read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Meh. Saw the ending coming.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 was par for the course for the mystery genre, with uninspiring writing but an interesting and fast-moving plot. The characters were either not very well developed or downright annoying, as was the case with the heroine. I did enjoy the book overall and wasn't disappointed, given I had a pretty good sense of what I was getting myself into. I do think it will make for good cinema.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A different kind of mystery novel with a lot of twists and turns. Very atmospheric, and very successful at making an opulent cruise ship a threatening environment in which no one can be trusted. The restricted cast of characters is reminiscent of Agatha Christie. A quick read, which makes it great vacation reading for mystery buffs.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kinda similar-ish to The Girl on the Train, but really good!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Book DescriptionFrom New York Times bestselling author of the “twisty-mystery” (Vulture) novel In a Dark, Dark Wood, comes The Woman in Cabin 10, an equally suspenseful and haunting novel from Ruth Ware—this time, set at sea.In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, 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. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. 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 dark and terrifying 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…With surprising twists, spine-tingling turns, and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another taut and intense read in The Woman in Cabin 10—one that will leave even the most sure-footed reader restlessly uneasy long after the last page is turned.My ReviewI found this book to be a quite a page-turner. I did, however, find a lot of the story to be unbelievable but it did make for a good fiction story. I think the characters were a little under-developed and hard to identify with but the plot did hold my attention. I look forward to reading more of Ruth Ware's books, especially In a Dark, Dark Wood which I have on order from my library. In the meantime, I am going to try her new release, The Lying Game. I would, however, recommend this book to those who like psychological thrillers.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One of the best books I read in 2017! Kept me guessing and thrilled to the end.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Exciting book
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Laura (Lo) Blacklock, a British travel writer, is awakened one night by a noise and discovers a burglar ransacking her flat. She's completely shaken by the experience and looks forward to her next assignment which takes her out of town. She'll be aboard a week long inaugural cruise of the Norwegian fjords on an elite ship with just ten cabins. She's given Cabin 9 and when she knocks on the door of Cabin 10 to borrow some mascara, it's answered by a young woman.
Later that evening at the welcoming reception she drinks too much and falls into her bed exhausted. She wakes when she hears a scream. She rushes to her veranda and hears the splash of someone hitting the water. She looks next door and notices what seems to be blood smears on the glass railing of Cabin 10. She calls security, but they tell her the cabin is empty. The person who booked it had to cancel before the cruise. There's no luggage, no woman, and no blood on the veranda. After meeting everyone on board, even Lo begins to wonder what she really saw.
I was a big fan of In a Dark Dark Wood by this author and realize this book has gotten many mixed reviews. Maybe because I had such low expectations I actually enjoyed it. I didn't like it quite as much as her first one, but I did feel this was a tightly written psychological thriller with an intriguing setting. Lo can be a very annoying character and I wasn't very sympathetic towards her. I listened to the audio performed by Imogen Church, who did a fantastic job on this novel, as well as In the Dark Dark Wood. I am awarding a extra half star just for stellar job of narration, and definitely recommend the audio version of this novel. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I had very high hopes for this novel after having read Ware's debut novel, In a Dark Dark Wood. The reviews on this novel were phenomenal. The beginning of the story gripped me but then it took a turn for the bland and boring. I could not wait to finish it for the simple fact I was ready to get it over with. I was not impressed and find that I enjoyed her debut novel much much more than I did this one. Lo Blacklock could have been a much more likeable character, but Ware did not develop her enough. I hope that Ware's next novel is better.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Extremely long on details, very skimpy on the plot.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Kept reading it because it was moderately suspenseful, but easy to spot where the story was going and I didn't like the narrator that well. Knew too late about her anxiety problem and just thought she was weak.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Ending was good but I found the book to be a little too slow. The young woman (who suffers from anxiety attacks) believes she saw a murder. The plot takes place aboard a luxury yacht that she is on to write an article for a travel magazine. akes her almost to the end of the book for her to figure out what you deduced half way through. The main character was just a little too dumb for me.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I liked the mystery part of this book, but there weren't any characters that appealed to me. What was supposed to be a glamour trip on a luxury cruise ship for travel journalist, Lo Blacklock, turned into a total terror experience. Lo has a lot of "baggage" to bring on the trip, but most of it is in her head, not her luggage. That really got in the way of my enjoyment.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This might be a great short story, or a good novella, but it is just an ok book. So much of it didn't matter to the overall part, that I must admit, I started skim reading it. The only thing that kept me going to the end was the "newspaper" clips that actually had an air of mystery to them. And, I'll admit, that the book ended much better than it began, or middled (is middled even a word?). So, I'd advise a fellow reader to skim to the end and enjoy!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I won a review copy here on GR in a publisher giveaway in one of my groups. Props to the cover designers, it is a cool 3-D effect of water rolling down a window. There are 3 books on my bedside table right now, A Prayer for Owen Meany (long!), Mary, Called Magdalene (really long!), and We the Living (not as long, but you really have to focus!). This is just what I needed. My first reaction on reading about how Lo regretted drinking during the week and waking up hungover, was "Oh please not another The Girl on the Train, which I couldn't stand because of the across the board nastiness of all the characters. But no, here this book sailed on and delivered characters that could be tolerated. I am fortunate to have the ability to suspend belief when reading something like this which makes it all the more entertaining. The writing is simplistic, which was fine for this - while compared by others to Agatha Christie, I can't agree - her work as a bit more depth, and a little less panic. The parts of the work were separated by emails and stories about the disappearance of the narrator, which was fun, reminded me of Night Film, which deserves more readers, so if you enjoyed this, try that one. I hadn't thought Ware's first book sounded that good, but I may give it a try now.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Initiallly, i thought this was going to be another unreliable, unlikeable main character, but she grew on me. By the end of the novel, i was pulling for her and hoping that she would survive her ordeal. There is excellent use of misdirection and a wonderful locked room element to this mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I just couldn't put this one down. Lo, a super high-strung writer is offered the trip of a lifetime aboard a luxury yacht, where she thinks she sees a murder in the cabin next to her. The only problem is that cabin is empty and no one believes her. A few twists and turns with some likeable characters. My only ding is that it ended and I wanted more closure.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved loved loved this read. Very suspenseful. Thought the protagonist was a strong woman with baggage like we all have at varying levels. Couldn't put it down. Loved the setting. This would make a great movie!
Book preview
The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware
- CHAPTER 1 -
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
The first inkling that something was wrong was waking in darkness to find the cat pawing at my face. I must have forgotten to shut the kitchen door last night. Punishment for coming home drunk.
Go away,
I groaned. Delilah mewed and butted me with her head. I tried to bury my face in the pillow but she continued rubbing herself against my ear, and eventually I rolled over and heartlessly pushed her off the bed.
She thumped to the floor with an indignant little meep and I pulled the duvet over my head, but even through the covers I could hear her scratching at the bottom of the door, rattling it in its frame.
The door was closed.
I sat up, my heart suddenly thumping, and Delilah leaped onto my bed with a glad little chirrup, but I snatched her to my chest, stilling her movements, listening.
I might well have forgotten to shut the kitchen door, or I could even have knocked it to without closing it properly. But my bedroom door opened outward—a quirk of the weird layout of my flat. There was no way Delilah could have shut herself inside. Someone must have closed it.
I sat, frozen, holding Delilah’s warm, panting body against my chest and trying to listen.
Nothing.
And then, with a gush of relief, it occurred to me—she’d probably been hiding under my bed and I’d shut her inside with me when I came home. I didn’t remember closing my bedroom door, but I might have swung it absently shut behind me when I came in. To be honest, everything from the tube station onwards was a bit of a blur. The headache had started to set in on the journey home, and now that my panic was wearing off, I could feel it starting up again in the base of my skull. I really needed to stop drinking midweek. It had been okay in my twenties, but I just couldn’t shake off the hangovers like I used to.
Delilah began squirming uneasily in my arms, digging her claws into my forearm, and I let her go while I reached for my dressing gown and belted it around myself. Then I scooped her up, ready to sling her out into the kitchen.
But when I opened the bedroom door, there was a man standing there.
There’s no point in wondering what he looked like, because, believe me, I went over it about twenty-five times with the police. Not even a bit of skin around his wrists?
they kept saying. No, no, and no. He had a hoodie on, and a bandanna around his nose and mouth, and everything else was in shadow. Except for his hands.
On these he was wearing latex gloves. It was that detail that scared the shit out of me. Those gloves said, I know what I’m doing.
They said, I’ve come prepared.
They said, I might be after more than your money.
We stood there for a long second, facing each other, his shining eyes locked on to mine.
About a thousand thoughts raced through my mind: Where the hell is my phone? Why did I drink so much last night? I would have heard him come in if I’d been sober. Oh Christ, I wish Judah was here.
And most of all—those gloves. Oh my God, those gloves. They were so professional. So clinical.
I didn’t speak. I didn’t move. I just stood there, my ratty dressing gown gaping, and I shook. Delilah wriggled out of my unresisting hands and shot away up the hallway to the kitchen, and I just stood there, shaking.
Please, I thought. Please don’t hurt me.
Oh God, where was my phone?
Then I saw something in the man’s hands. My handbag—my new Burberry handbag, although that detail seemed monumentally unimportant. There was only one thing that mattered about that bag. My mobile was inside.
His eyes crinkled in a way that made me think he might be smiling beneath the bandanna, and I felt the blood drain from my head and my fingers, pooling in the core of my body, ready to fight or flee, whichever it had to be.
He took a step forwards.
No…
I said. I wanted it to sound like a command, but it came out like a plea—my voice small and squeaky and quavering pathetically with fear. N—
But I didn’t even get to finish. He slammed the bedroom door in my face, hitting my cheek.
For a long moment I stood, frozen, holding my hand to my face, speechless with the shock and pain. My fingers felt ice-cold, but there was something warm and wet on my face, and it took a moment for me to realize it was blood, that the molding on the door had cut my cheek.
I wanted to run back to bed, to shove my head under the pillows and cry and cry. But a small, ugly voice in my skull kept saying, He’s still out there. What if he comes back? What if he comes back for you?
There was a sound from out in the hall, something falling, and I felt a rush of fear that should have galvanized me but instead paralyzed me. Don’t come back. Don’t come back. I realized I was holding my breath, and I made myself exhale, long and shuddering, and then slowly, slowly, I forced my hand out towards the door.
There was another crash in the hallway outside, breaking glass, and with a rush I grabbed the knob and braced myself, my bare toes dug into the old, gappy floorboards, ready to hold the door closed as long as I could. I crouched there, against the door, hunched over with my knees to my chest, and I tried to muffle my sobs with my dressing gown while I listened to him ransacking the flat and hoped to God that Delilah had run out into the garden, out of harm’s way.
At last, after a long time, I heard the front door open and shut, and I sat there, crying into my knees and unable to believe he’d really gone. That he wasn’t coming back to hurt me. My hands felt numb and painfully stiff, but I didn’t dare let go of the handle.
I saw again those strong hands in the pale latex gloves.
I don’t know what would have happened next. Maybe I would have stayed there all night, unable to move. But then I heard Delilah outside, mewing and scratching at the other side of the door.
Delilah,
I said hoarsely. My voice was trembling so much I hardly sounded like myself. Oh, Delilah.
Through the door I heard her purr, the familiar, deep, chainsaw rasp, and it was like a spell had been broken.
I let my cramped fingers loosen from the doorknob, flexing them painfully, and then stood up, trying to steady my trembling legs, and turned the door handle.
It turned. In fact it turned too easily, twisting without resistance under my hand, without moving the latch an inch. He’d removed the spindle from the other side.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I was trapped.
- CHAPTER 2 -
It took me two hours to prize my way out of my bedroom. I didn’t have a landline, so I had no way of calling for help, and the window was covered by security bars. I broke my best nail file, hammering away at the latch, but at last I got the door open and I ventured out into the narrow hallway. There are only four rooms in my flat—kitchen, living room, bedroom, and tiny bathroom—and you can pretty much see the full extent of it from outside my bedroom, but I couldn’t stop myself from peering into each doorway, even checking the cupboard in the hallway where I keep my hoover. Making sure he was really gone.
My head was pounding and my hands were shaking as I made my way outside and up the steps to my neighbor’s front door, and I found myself looking over my shoulder into the dark street as I waited for her to answer. It was around four a.m., I guessed, and it took a long time and a lot of banging to wake her up. I heard grumbling, over the sound of Mrs. Johnson’s feet clumping down her stairs, and her face when she cracked open the door was a mixture of bleary confusion and fright, but when she saw me huddled on the doorstep in my dressing gown, with blood on my face and on my hands, her expression changed in an instant and she took off the chain.
Oh my days! Whatever’s happened?
I got burgled.
It was hard to talk. I don’t know if it was the chilly autumn air, or the shock, but I had started shivering convulsively and my teeth chattered so hard I had a momentary horrible image of them shattering in my head. I pushed the thought away.
You’re bleedin’!
Her face was full of distress. Oh, bless my soul, come in, come in!
She led the way into the paisley-carpeted entrance to her maisonette, which was small and dark and grimly overheated, but right now felt like a sanctuary.
Sit down, sit down.
She pointed to a red plush sofa and then went creakily to her knees and began to fiddle with the gas fire. The gas popped and flared, and I felt the heat rise a degree as she got painfully to her feet again. I’ll make you some hot tea.
I’m fine, honestly, Mrs. Johnson. Do you think—
But she was shaking her head sternly.
There’s nothin’ to beat hot sweet tea when you’ve had a shock.
So I sat, my shaky hands clasped around my knees, while she rattled around in the tiny kitchen and then came back with two mugs on a tray. I reached out for the closest and took a sip, wincing at the heat against the cut on my hand. It was so sweet I could barely taste the dissolving blood in my mouth, which I supposed was a blessing.
Mrs. Johnson didn’t drink but just watched me, her forehead wrinkled in distress.
Did he…
Her voice faltered. "Did he hurt you?"
I knew what she meant. I shook my head, but I took another scalding sip before I could trust myself to speak.
No. He didn’t touch me. He slammed a door in my face—that’s the cut on my cheek. And then I cut my hand trying to get out of the bedroom. He’d locked me in.
I had a jolting flash of myself battering at the lock with a nail file and a pair of scissors. Judah was always teasing about using the proper tools for the job—you know, not undoing a screw with the tip of a dinner knife, or prizing off a bike tire using a garden trowel. Only last weekend he’d laughed at my attempt to fix my showerhead with duct tape, and spent a whole afternoon painstakingly mending it with epoxy resin. He was away in Ukraine and I couldn’t think about him right now. If I did, I’d cry, and if I cried now, I might never stop.
Oh, you poor love.
I swallowed.
Mrs. Johnson, thank you for the tea—but I really came to ask, can I use your phone? He took my mobile, so I’ve got no way of calling the police.
Of course, of course. Drink your tea, and then it’s over there.
She indicated a doily-covered side table, with what was probably the last turn-dial phone in London outside an Islington vintage-retro boutique. Obediently I finished my tea and then I picked up the phone. For a moment my finger hovered over the nine, but then I sighed. He was gone. What could they reasonably do now? It was no longer an emergency, after all.
Instead, I dialed 101 for nonemergency response and waited to be put through.
And I sat and thought about the insurance I didn’t have, and the reinforced lock I hadn’t installed, and the mess tonight had become.
I was still thinking about that, hours later, as I watched the emergency locksmith replace the crappy bolt-on latch of my front door with a proper deadlock, and listened to his lecture on home security and the joke that was my back door.
That panel’s nuffing but MDF, love. It’d take one kick to bash it in. Want me to show you?
No,
I said hastily. No, thanks. I’ll get it fixed. You don’t do doors, do you?
Nah, but I got a mate who does. I’ll give you his number before I go. Meantime, you get your hubby to whack a good piece of eighteen-mil plywood over that panel. You don’t want a repeat of last night.
No,
I agreed. Understatement of the century.
Mate in the police says a quarter of all burglaries are repeats. Same guys come back for more.
Great,
I said thinly. Just what I needed to hear.
Eighteen-mil. Want me to write it down for your husband?
No, thanks. I’m not married.
And even in spite of my ovaries, I can remember a simple two-digit number.
Aaaah, right, gotcha. Well, there you go, then,
he said, as if that proved something. This doorframe ain’t nothing to write home about, neither. You want one of them London bars to reinforce it. Otherwise you can have the best lock in the business, but if they kick it out the frame you’re back in the same place as before. I got one in the van that might fit. Do you know them things I’m talking about?
I know what they are,
I said wearily. A piece of metal that goes over the lock, right?
I suspected he was milking me for all the business he could get, but I didn’t care at this point.
Tell you what
—he stood up, shoving his chisel in his back pocket—"I’ll do the London bar, and I’ll chuck in a piece of ply over the back door for free. I got a bit in the van about the right size. Chin up, love. He ain’t getting back in this way, at any rate."
For some reason the words weren’t reassuring.
After he’d gone, I made myself a tea and paced the flat. I felt like Delilah after a tomcat broke in through the cat flap and pissed in the hallway—she had prowled every room for hours, rubbing herself up against bits of furniture, peeing into corners, reclaiming her space.
I didn’t go as far as peeing on the bed, but I felt the same sense of space invaded, a need to reclaim what had been violated. Violated? said a sarcastic little voice in my head. Puh-lease, you drama queen.
But I did feel violated. My little flat felt ruined—soiled and unsafe. Even describing it to the police had felt like an ordeal—yes, I saw the intruder; no, I can’t describe him. What was in the bag? Oh, just, you know, my life: money, mobile phone, driver’s license, medication, pretty much everything of use from my mascara right through to my travel card.
The brisk impersonal tone of the police operator’s voice still echoed in my head.
What kind of phone?
Nothing valuable,
I said wearily. Just an old iPhone. I can’t remember the model, but I can find out.
Thanks. Anything you can remember in terms of the exact make and serial number might help. And you mentioned medication—what kind, if you don’t mind me asking?
I was instantly on the defensive.
What’s my medical history got to do with this?
Nothing.
The operator was patient, irritatingly so. It’s just some pills have got a street value.
I knew the anger that flooded through me at his questions was unreasonable—he was only doing his job. But the burglar was the person who’d committed the crime. So why did I feel like I was the one being interrogated?
I was halfway to the living room with my tea when there was a banging at the door—so loud in the silent, echoing flat that I tripped and then froze, half standing, half crouching in the doorway.
I had a horrible jarring flash of a hooded face, of hands in latex gloves.
It was only when the door thudded again that I looked down and realized that my cup of tea was now lying smashed on the hallway tiles and that my feet were soaked in rapidly cooling liquid.
The door banged again.
Just a minute!
I yelled, suddenly furious and close to tears. I’m coming! Will you stop banging the bloody door!
Sorry, miss,
the policeman said when I finally opened the door. Wasn’t sure if you’d heard.
And then, seeing the puddle of tea and the smashed shards of my cup: Crikey, what’s been going on here then? Another break-in? Ha-ha!
It was the afternoon by the time the policeman finished taking his report, and when he left, I opened up my laptop. It had been in the bedroom with me, and it was the only bit of tech the burglar hadn’t taken. Aside from my work, which was mostly not backed up, it had all my passwords on it, including—and I cringed as I thought about it—a file helpfully named Banking stuff.
I didn’t actually have my pin numbers listed. But pretty much everything else was there.
As the usual deluge of e-mails dropped into my in-box, I caught sight of one headed Planning on showing up today;)?
and I realized with a jolt that I’d completely forgotten to contact Velocity.
I thought about e-mailing, but in the end, I fetched out the twenty-pound note I kept in the tea caddy for emergency cab money and walked to the dodgy phone shop at the tube station. It took some haggling, but eventually the guy sold me a cheap pay-as-you-go plus SIM card for fifteen pounds and I sat in the café opposite and phoned the assistant features editor, Jenn, who has the desk opposite mine.
I told her what happened, making it sound funnier and more farcical than it really had been. I dwelled heavily on the image of me chipping away at the lock with a nail file and didn’t tell her about the gloves, or the general sense of powerless terror, or the horribly vivid flashbacks that kept ambushing me just as I was rummaging for change, or stirring tea, or thinking of something else completely.
Shit.
Her voice at the end of the crackly line was full of horror. Are you okay?
Yeah, more or less. But I won’t be in today, I’ve got to clear up the flat.
Although, in actual fact, it wasn’t that bad. He’d been commendably neat. For, you know, a criminal.
God, Lo, you poor thing. Listen, do you want me to get someone else to cover you on this northern lights thing?
For a minute I had no idea what she was talking about—then I remembered. The Aurora. A boutique super-luxury cruise liner traveling around the Norwegian fjords, and somehow, I still wasn’t quite sure how, I had been lucky enough to snag one of the handful of press passes on its maiden voyage.
It was a huge perk—in spite of working for a travel magazine, my normal beat was cutting and pasting press releases and finding images for articles sent back from luxury destinations by my boss, Rowan. It was Rowan who had been supposed to go, but unfortunately, after saying yes she had discovered that pregnancy didn’t agree with her—hyperemesis, apparently—and the cruise had landed in my lap like a big present, fraught with responsibility and possibilities. It was a vote of confidence from her, giving it to me when there were more senior people she could have buttered up, and I knew if I played my cards right on this trip, it would be a big point in my favor when it came to jockeying for Rowan’s maternity cover and maybe—just maybe—getting that promotion she’d been promising for the last few years.
It was also this weekend. Sunday, in fact. I’d be leaving in two days.
"No, I said, surprising myself with the firmness in my voice.
No, I definitely don’t want to pull out. I’m fine."
Are you sure? What about your passport?
It was in my bedroom; he didn’t find it.
Thank God.
"Are you absolutely sure? she said again, and I could hear the concern in her voice.
This is a big deal—not just for you, for the mag I mean. If you don’t feel up to it, Rowan wouldn’t want you—"
I am up to it,
I said, cutting her off. There was no way I was letting this opportunity slip through my fingers. If I did, it might be the last one I had. I promise. I really want to do this, Jenn.
Okay…
she said, almost reluctantly. Well, in that case, full steam ahead, eh? They sent through a press pack this morning, so I’ll courier that across along with your train tickets. I’ve got Rowan’s notes somewhere; I think the main thing is to do a really nice puff piece on the boat, because she’s hoping to get them on board as advertisers, but there should be some interesting people among the other guests, so if you can get anything else done in the way of profiles, so much the better.
Sure.
I grabbed a pen from the counter of the café and began taking notes on a paper napkin. And remind me what time it leaves?
You’re catching the ten thirty train from King’s Cross—but I’ll put it all in the press pack.
That’s fine. And thanks, Jenn.
No worries,
she said. Her voice was a little wistful, and I wondered if she’d been planning to step into the breach herself. Take care, Lo. And ’bye.
It was still just about light as I trudged slowly home. My feet hurt, my cheek ached, and I wanted to go home and sink into a long, hot bath.
The door of my basement flat was bathed in shadow as it always was, and I thought once again that I must get a security light, if only so that I could see my own keys in my handbag, but even in the dimness I could see the splintered wood where he’d forced the lock. The miracle was that I hadn’t heard him. Well, what do you expect, you were drunk, after all, said the nasty little voice in my head.
But the new deadlock felt reassuringly solid as it clunked back, and inside I locked it shut again, kicked off my shoes, and walked wearily down the hall to the bathroom, stifling a yawn as I set the taps running and slumped onto the toilet to pull off my tights. Next I began to unbutton my top… but then I stopped.
Normally I leave the bathroom door open—it’s only me and Delilah, and the walls are prone to damp, being under ground level. I’m also not great with enclosed spaces, and the room feels very small when the window blinds are down.
The front door was locked, and the new London bar was in place, but I still checked the window and closed and locked the bathroom door before I finished peeling off my clothes. I was tired—God, I was so tired. I had an image of falling asleep in the tub, slipping below the water, Judah finding my naked bloated body a week later… I shook myself. I needed to stop being so bloody dramatic. The tub was barely four feet long. I had trouble contorting myself so I could rinse my hair, let alone drown.
The bath was hot enough to make the cut on my cheek sting, and I shut my eyes and tried to imagine myself somewhere else, somewhere quite different from this chilly, claustrophobic little space, far away from sordid, crime-ridden London. Walking on a cool Nordic shore, perhaps, in my ears the soothing sound of the… er… would it be the Baltic? For a travel journalist I’m worryingly bad at geography.
But unwanted images kept intruding. The locksmith saying a quarter of all burglaries are repeats.
Me, cowering in my own bedroom, feet braced against the floorboards. The sight of strong hands encased in pale latex, the black hairs just showing through…
Shit. Shit.
I opened my eyes, but for once the reality check didn’t help. Instead, I saw the damp bathroom walls looming over me, shutting me in.…
You’re losing it again, my internal voice sniped. You can feel it, can’t you?
Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up. I squeezed my eyes closed again and began to count, deliberately, trying to force the pictures out of my head. One. Two. Three. Breathe in. Four. Five. Six. Breathe out. One. Two. Three. Breathe in. Four. Five. Six. Breathe out.
At last the pictures receded, but the bath was spoiled, and the need to get out of the airless little room was suddenly overwhelming. I got up, wrapped a towel around myself and another around my hair, and went into the bedroom, where my laptop was still lying on the bed from earlier.
I opened it, fired up Google, and typed: What % burglars return.
A page of links came up and I clicked on one at random and scanned down it until I came to a paragraph that read:
WHEN BURGLARS RETURN…
A nationwide survey indicated that, over a twelve-month period, approximately 25 to 50 percent of burglaries are repeat incidents; and between 25 and 35 percent of victims are repeat victims. Figures gathered by UK police forces suggest that 28 to 51 percent of repeat burglaries occur within one month, 11 to 25 percent within a week.
Great. So it seemed like my friendly doom-and-gloom merchant, the locksmith, had actually been understating the problem, not winding me up. Although the maths involved in up to 50 percent repeat offenses but only 35 percent repeat victims made my head hurt. Either way, I didn’t relish the idea of being among their number.
I had promised myself I wouldn’t drink tonight, so after I had checked the front door, back door, window locks, and front door for the second—or maybe even the third—time, and put the pay-as-you-go phone on to charge beside my bed, I made myself a cup of chamomile tea.
I took it back through to the bedroom with my laptop, the press file for the trip, and a packet of chocolate cookies. It was only eight o’clock and I hadn’t had any supper, but I was suddenly exhausted—too exhausted to cook, too exhausted even to phone for takeaway. I opened up the Nordic cruise press pack and huddled down into my duvet, and waited for sleep to claim me.
Except it didn’t. I dunked my way through the whole packet of cookies and read page after page of facts and figures on the Aurora—just ten luxuriously appointed cabins… maximum of twenty passengers at any one time… handpicked staff from the world’s top hotels and restaurants… Even the technical specifications of the boat’s draft and tonnage weren’t enough to lull me to sleep. I stayed awake, shattered yet somehow, at the same time, wired.
As I lay there in my cocoon I tried not to think about the burglar. I thought, very deliberately, about work, about all the practicalities I had to sort out before Sunday. Pick up my new bank cards. I had to pack and do my research for the trip. Would I see Jude before I left? He’d be trying my old phone.
I put down the press pack and pulled up my e-mails.
Hi, love,
I typed, and then I paused and bit the side of my nail. What to say? No point in telling him about the burglary, not yet. He’d just feel bad about not being here when I needed him. I’ve lost my phone,
I wrote instead. Long story, I’ll explain when you get back. But if you need me, e-mail, don’t text. What’s your ETA on Sunday? I’m off to Hull early, for this Nordic thing. Hope we can see each other before I leave—otherwise, see you next week? Lo x
I pressed send, hoping he didn’t wonder what I was doing up and e-mailing at 12:45 a.m., and then shut down the computer, picked up my book, and tried to read myself to sleep.
It didn’t work.
At 3:35 a.m. I staggered through to the kitchen, picked up the bottle of gin, and poured myself the stiffest gin and tonic I could bring myself to drink. I gulped it down like medicine, shuddering at the harsh taste, and then poured a second and drank that, too, more slowly this time. I stood for a moment, feeling the alcohol tingling through my veins, relaxing my muscles, damping down my jangled nerves.
I poured the dregs of the gin into the glass and took it back to the bedroom, where I lay down, stiff and anxious, my eyes on the glowing face of the clock, and waited for the alcohol to take effect.
One. Two. Three. Breathe in. Four.… Five.… Fi…
I don’t remember falling asleep, but I must have. One minute I was looking at the clock with bleary, headachy eyes, waiting for it to click over onto 4:44, the next minute I was blinking into Delilah’s furry face as she butted her whiskery nose against mine and tried to tell me it was time for breakfast. I groaned. My head ached worse than yesterday—although I wasn’t sure if it was my cheek or another hangover. The last gin and tonic was half full on my bedside table, beside the clock. I sniffed it and almost choked. It must have been two-thirds gin. What had I been thinking?
The clock said 6:04 and I calculated that meant I’d had less than an hour and a half’s sleep, but I was awake now, no point in trying to fight it. Instead, I got up, pulled back the curtain, and peered into the gray dawn and the thin fingers of sun that trickled into my basement window. The day felt cold and sour, and I shoved my feet into my slippers and shivered as I made my way down the hall to the thermostat, ready to override the automatic timer and start the heating for the day.
It was Saturday, so I didn’t have to work, but somehow the work involved in getting my mobile number assigned to a new phone and my bank cards reissued took up most of the day, and by the evening I was drunk with tiredness.
It felt as bad as the time I’d flown back from Thailand via LA—a series of red-eyes that left me wild with sleep deprivation and hopelessly disoriented. Somewhere over the Atlantic, I realized that I had gone beyond sleep, that I might as well give up. Back home, I fell into bed