The protagonist, Laura Blacklock, is a travel journalist who witnesses a disturbing event aboard a luxury cruise, leading her to investigate a potential crime that others doubt.
Antagonist
Carrie
Secretive, deceptive, manipulative, resourceful.
As the antagonist in “The Woman in Cabin 10,” Carrie orchestrates a complex plot that ensnares Lo and drives the suspenseful narrative.
Supporting character
Ben Howard
Supportive, intrusive, persistent, and loyal.
Although he is an ex-boyfriend, Ben remains a steady friend, providing emotional support and aiding Lo's investigation despite their past relationship.
Rating
Rating:
3.1/5
Continue down for all the characters to The Woman in Cabin 10
B.A. in History and International Studies from University of Ilorin, Kwara State.
Encircling Lo are other guests, concealing hidden motives, deepening the unfolding mystery of the victim’s vanishment. From major to minor characters, the author develops a setting charged with insecurity and nervousness.
Laura “Lo” Blacklock
Role: Protagonist
Key Info: Flawed, anxious, resilient, skeptical.
Laura is an anxious yet determined journalist who witnesses Carrie’s disappearance.
Background: The background is when she is assigned to cover the journey on a luxury cruise while dealing with trauma from a recent robbery.
Personality: Lo’s personality is flawed, yet resilient and determined, pushing through her anxiety to reveal the mystery on the yacht.
Development: Her development happens when she goes from an anxious woman into a courageous investigator.
Significance: Her perspective is significant to the narrative, highlighting themes of resilience and the pursuit of truth. Her journey from anxiety to bravery highlights her role as a relatable and complex protagonist, driving the suspense and emotional depth of the story.
Laura is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. At 32 years old, she works as a travel journalist at Velocity. Although ambitious, she has settled for low-level jobs, anticipating a promotion opportunity. When the chance to report on a luxury cruise presents itself, she takes it. Before embarking on the trip, she experiences a traumatizing burglary and fights with her American boyfriend, Judah, about living with him.
On the ship, Lo battles unease triggered by the recent burglary. The first night on board, she lends mascara from the woman in the adjacent cabin and notes her discomfort. That night, Lo wakes up to a scream, and she hears a body thrown into the sea. When she sees a blood trail on the balcony, she alerts security. At first, the head of security, Nilsson, tries to help quell her fears by searching the ship for the missing woman. Eventually, though, her claims are discarded because she drinks and uses antidepressants.
With support from Ben, Lo continues analyzing and questioning other passengers even when she receives a threat. When the woman from the next cabin knocks on her door, Lo hurriedly follows and gets attacked. Trapped in a windowless room, she discovers that the missing woman is impersonating the already dead wife of the ship owner, Lord Bullmer.
The most notable relationship in the story of “The Woman in Cabin 10” exists between Lo and the woman from cabin 10. Obsessed with discovering what happened to her, Lo exposes herself to danger. While trapped, Lo learns her name (Carrie) and her relationship with Lord Bullmer. Carrie helps her escape from the ship.
Almost caught, she outmaneuvers Bullmer and his forces. When she returns to safety, she plans to move in with Judah and quit Velocity for a new career path.
Carrie pretends to be Anne Bullmer after her death.
Background: Carrie’s background is traced back to her job as a waitress. She meets Richard Bullmer, and they begin a romantic relationship.
Personality: Her personality is highly manipulative and secretive. With her deceptive and resourceful skills, she takes up the personality of Anne Bullmer.
Development: Carrie develops compassion for Lo Blacklock and sets her free at the end.
Significance: Her character is significant as she drives the suspense and tension in the narrative. Carrie’s character is central to the exploration of trust and deception. Her interactions with Lo explain the unreliability of perception.
When Lo first meets the occupant of Cabin 10, she is a confused young woman wearing a Pink Floyd T-shirt. Lo borrows a mascara, and she insists that Lo does not return it. Donning a wig and facial makeup, Carrie impersonates Anne Bullmer after Richard murders her. She throws Anne’s body overboard and poses as her at dinner and the spa. When Lo continues to investigate her disappearance, she sends a threatening message.
On the night before Lo’s appointment with the police, the woman in cabin 10 knocks on her door and lures her to her captivity. Revealing her name as Carrie, she becomes friends with Lo. She explains her relationship with Richard Bullmer and insists they are in love. When Lo contradicts, she angrily leaves but returns to help Lo escape the Aurora.
Carrie undergoes significant development in “The Woman in Cabin 10.” At first, she is naive and vulnerable enough to hide Bullmer’s murder of his wife. She impersonates Anne, tries to stop Lo from investigating, then locks her in a private room when she refuses to listen. As she talks with Lo, however, she feels remorse and compassion.
Ultimately, Carrie kills Richard Bullmer and sends Lo untraceable money.
Ben Howard
Role: Supporting character
Key Info: Supportive, intrusive, persistent, and loyal.
Ben is an intrusive yet loyal friend who alerts others about Laura’s disappearance.
Background: Ben’s background reveals he was Lo’s ex-boyfriend and colleague.
Personality: His personality is supportive and loyal. Although he is intrusive and tells some lies, he shows genuine concern for Lo’s well-being throughout the story.
Development: He evolves from a partner of Lo’s past to a supportive friend, highlighting his growth.
Significance: His character signifies loyalty and trust. Although Lo struggles to believe him, he turns out to be on her side. Ben Howard is a figure in Lo’s life that balances personal history with present support. He adds emotional depth to the narrative.
Still attracted to Lo, Ben tries to rekindle their sexual relations but gets turned down. He used to work at Velocity but is currently an investigative journalist at the Times newspaper.
Although Ben supports Lo’s obsession with the murder mystery, he acts suspiciously. In his drunken state, he tells Nilsson about the break-in to Lo’s apartment and lies about his whereabouts while Lo investigates. When Lo goes missing, Ben raises a ruckus.
Richard is a deceptive businessman. He kills his wife and manipulates his lover.
Background: Initially, Bullmer’s success inspires Lo. As the yacht owner, he sets the stage for the unfolding mystery.
Personality: His charismatic and confident demeanor creates an air of friendliness around him. However, his deceptive and imposing ways are soon exposed.
Development: He undergoes hardly any character development. His sinister ways are revealed as the plot progresses.
Significance: Bullmer’s character symbolizes the interplay of wealth, power, and the danger of illusion. His character also showcases the thematic exploration of privilege and accountability within the narrative, offering a perspective on power dynamics and influence aboard the luxury cruise.
When Richard’s parents die, he becomes broke. At Oxford University, he creates a productive start-up. He marries a wealthy Scandinavian heiress as old as Lo.
The Aurora, Richard’s latest commercial enterprise, is where Lo meets the woman in cabin 10. He maintains a friendly and relatable personality despite his achievements. When Lo shares her encounter with the woman in the next cabin and what she heard on the first night on the ship, he listens.
The plot unfolds to reveal that he murdered his wife, coercing his secret girlfriend, Carrie, to impersonate her for the rest of the voyage. When Lo escapes, he gets the information and tries to recapture her, but Carrie kills him.
Anne Bullmer
Role: Secondary character
Key Info: Wealthy, ill, mysterious, sad.
Anne, the sick wife of Richard Bullmer is murdered and thrown overboard.
Background: Before cancer strikes, she is beautiful and happy. However, she is usually confined to her cabin due to her illness.
Personality: Anne’s personality is rich and mysterious. Eventually, her death on the first night of the cruise comes to light. Carrie uses makeup to impersonate her.
Development: Anne’s character maintains the suspense because only Lo knows about Carrie.
Significance: Anne Bullmer’s role in “The Woman in Cabin 10” advances the plot and adds intrigue. Her frail exterior masks a different personality that is manipulative.
Anne is a wealthy heiress. Most of her childhood was in Swiss boarding schools. She speaks immaculate English and traveled a lot as a young woman. Anne has been fighting breast cancer for years and looks sick and pale on the first night of the voyage.
Hours later, Richard murders her and throws the body into the sea. Carrie, Bullmer’s secret lover, impersonates her to avoid suspicions. Eventually, Lo realizes that Anne is the real victim, and Carrie disguises herself as Anne so that Richard will lay hold of Anne’s wealth. Danish fishermen recover Anne’s body from the sea.
Judah “Jude” Lewis
Role: Supporting character
Key Info: Charming, protective, loyal, kind.
Judah is a supportive boyfriend who loves Laura.
Background: Judah is Lo’s current boyfriend. She fights with him before her trip. Judah’s concerns about the whereabouts of Lo are brought to the surface as the plot unfolds.
Personality: His personality is kind and charming. When he cannot reach Lo, he cares enough to reach out to her relatives and friends, then the police. He is also loyal to Lo.
Development: His charming and protective nature not only helps to advance the plot but also offers a balance to Lo’s anxiety and fear.
Significance: Judah’s actions are significant because they explain the mystery surrounding Lo’s disappearance and survival. Judah Lewis provides emotional and practical support for Lo in her time of need.
Judah’s job ensures that he travels a lot. After the morning she is robbed, Lo unconsciously attacks him with a lamp. Trying without success to get Lo to move in with him, he becomes frustrated.
Before Lo leaves for the luxury cruise, they argue. Jude frets when she makes no form of communication on the ship and raises awareness about her missing status. Eventually, he reconnects with Lo, and she agrees to live with him.
Nilsson doubts Laura’s account of Carrie’s disappearance.
Background: Onboard, Johann Nilsson is responsible for the safety of the passengers. He maintains order and oversees security protocols.
Personality: Johann’s personality is authoritative and cautious. When Lo talks about a murder, he patronizingly dismisses her determination to expose the murderer on board.
Development: Johann remains dismissive of Laura’s fears. His character does not change.
Significance: Johann’s character illuminates the tension between authority and chaos, illustrating the difficulty of maintaining control in a confined and dangerous environment.
He is the head of security on the ship. Initially, he takes Lo’s claims seriously and leads her to the other staff to identify the woman from cabin 10. After a conversation with Ben, however, he concludes she is reliving her traumatic ordeal by making a similar story up. He also doubts the authenticity of her account because she takes antidepressants with alcohol.
Cole Lederer
Role: Secondary character
Key Info: Charismatic, observant, resourceful.
Cole is a charismatic photographer who knows his social status.
Background: As a photographer‚ he has a picture of Carrie that helps Laura’s investigation.
Personality: His charming nature enthralls others.
Development: As the story peaks, Cole proves to be a realist. He is aware of his social standing and confidently talks about it. Cole’s interactions with other characters advance the plot.
Significance: Cole Lederer presents various plot twists and his actions move Lo closer to the truth.
As an award-winning photographer, he takes pictures on the cruise. He flirts with Lo on the first night of the voyage. Lo sees a picture of Carrie dressed as a waitress among the shots he took. While Lo tells Bullmer about the missing woman, Cole breaks a champagne glass, and his camera falls into the Jacuzzi.
Tina is an ambitious journalist who is hostile to Laura.
Background: Tina’s background shows her excellent journalism. She is a guest on the luxury cruise ship, and the first time she meets Lo, she ignores her to talk to someone else.
Personality: Tina is wary of women and flirtatious with men.
Development: Tina’s hostility makes Lo self-conscious and suspicious. The suspicion increases when a steward gets caught sneaking out of her room at an odd hour.
Significance: Tina’s character is significant as Lo realizes she does not want her type of career later in the book
Starting her career in the late eighties, she is a journalist and editor of a travel publication. Although rumored to be cruel, she offers Lo a freelancing opportunity. She raises Lo’s cynicism when she flares up at a harmless question.
Archer Fenland
Role: Minor character
Key Info: Huge, suspicious, potentially abusive.
Archer is a bully who frightens Laura onboard.
Background: He is another guest on the luxury ship.
Personality: As a food critic, he enjoys talking about his taste in food. He is caught trying to abuse one of the hostesses when he is drunk.
Development: Lo does not feel safe with Archer as one of her suspects. His character does not change throughout the book.
Significance: Archer’s role is significant because he becomes one of Lo’s suspects.
He is an ex-marine whose presence on the yacht feels out of place to Lo. When the topic of Lo’s robbery begins, Archer says she needs to learn some self-defense. He tries to show her a few moves and ends up scaring her. He has some marital problems with his ex-wife.
Background: Camilla Lidman works on the luxury cruise ship. She is responsible for welcoming guests, including the protagonist, Laura Blacklock, and ensuring their stay is comfortable.
Personality: Camilla is characterized by her professionalism and poise. She is a friendly stewardess who welcomes the guests on board. She creates an air of comfort in the Aurora.
Development: While Camilla fulfills her role as a staff member, her interactions with Laura and other guests contribute to the novel’s atmosphere of suspense.
Significance: Camilla Lidman plays a key role in setting the tone of the Aurora as a luxurious yet unsettling environment. When Laura tries to question her about the events onboard, she becomes defensive.
Camilla is in charge of hospitality on the Aurora Borealis. She welcomes Lo on her first day with a beaming countenance. Her job entails making the guests on the yacht feel comfortable. When Lo comes to the staff quarters to inquire about the woman in cabin 10, Camilla becomes slightly defensive.
Iwona
Role: Minor character
Key Info: Elderly, calm, quiet.
Iwona is a kind and quiet staff onboard.
Background: Iwona works on the cruise ship.
Personality: Iwona is empathetic yet secretive, adding to the suspense.
Development: Iwona remains a largely static character. Her secretive behavior keeps others, including Lo, from fully understanding her motives or thoughts.
Significance: Iwona’s importance lies in her silence and the mystery she brings to the narrative. Her secretive nature keeps the protagonist and readers uncertain about her thoughts and motives.
She is a staff on the Aurora. Lo meets her while searching for the missing woman from cabin 10.
Karla
Role: Minor character
Key Info: Tensed, naive, impressionable.
Karla, the nervous stewardess that attends to Laura.
Background: Karla is the stewardess who cleans Lo’s cabin. Her interactions with Lo are short but tense, especially when Lo suspects something is wrong on the yacht.
Personality: Karla is nervous and anxious. Her character suggests she knows more than she lets on but is scared to speak.
Development: Karla does not undergo significant growth in the story. She stays tensed and frightened.
As Lo’s stewardess, she is alarmed when Lo reports a mascara missing and suggests replacing it.
She cleans Lo’s cabin, and when asked if she has seen anything suspicious on the yacht, she begs Lo not to endanger her job by going to the police. Her emotional outbursts make Lo believe she knows more about the aurora than she says.
Chloe Jenssen
Role: Minor character
Key Info: Expressive, happy, free.
Chloe Jensson is a poised and expressive young woman.
Background: Chloe Jensson is a high-profile guest on the yacht. As an ex-model, her presence adds a layer of glamour to the plot.
Personality: Chloe is confident and happy.
Development: Her character does not change throughout the book.
Significance: Chloe Jensson adds to the plot development. Her interactions with other characters highlight the theme of perception versus reality.
She is an ex-model who is married to Lars Jenssen. Her professional name is Wylde, and she claims to have been discovered by a modeling scout in an out-of-town supermarket.
Owen White
Role: Minor character
Key Info: Observant, calm, quiet, skeptical.
Owen White is a reserved guest onboard.
Background: Richard Bullmer specifically invites Owen to provide a professional assessment of the yacht. His presence is notable as he is not as engaged in activities as the other guests.
Personality: Owen is a man of few words. He is quiet and calm.
Development: Although Owen remains a background character, his significance grows as the plot unfolds. His skepticism about the yacht foreshadows later events.
Significance: By revealing why the occupant of Cabin 10 canceled his trip, Owen becomes an essential link in the mystery Lo unravels. His presence portrays the importance of seemingly minor characters in driving the plot
He is a UK investor. Onboard, he keeps to himself, making it hard for Lo to converse with him. He admits to his inability to recommend the yacht as an investment opportunity because he does not think the setup is sustainable. He tells Lo the supposed occupant of cabin 10 is Ernst Solberg, but he pulled out at the last minute due to a burglary.
Josef
Role: Minor character
Key Info: Expressive, polite.
Josef is a professional cabin attendant who assists passengers on the yacht.
Background: Josef is one of the crew members Lo first interacts with. He takes her to her cabin, telling her fun facts about the Aurora.
Personality: Josef is courteous and calm when he addresses the guests. His affair with Tina is discreet.
Development: His involvement with Tina adds intrigue to the plot. He proves to have desires and motivations of his own.
Significance: Like Carrie, Josef portrays the possibility of people in higher positions taking advantage of those in lower ones. The blurred lines between professional and personal lives are displayed.
Josef is a cabin attendant and is a colleague of Camilla Lidman. He takes Lo to her cabin when she arrives on the yacht. Onboard, he starts a sexual relationship with Tina West.
Lars Jenssen
Role: Minor character
Key Info: Romantic, calm.
Lars Jenssen is a confident and composed businessman.
Background: Lars Jenssen is the head of a Swedish investment group invited to the cruise as a potential investor in the venture.
Personality: Lars is a confident businessman who displays intimacy with his wife.
Development: Lars does not undergo any personal growth but shapes Lo’s perspective of Chloe and their marriage.
Significance: Lars character is another example of the difference between expectations and reality. His seemingly perfect marriage to Chloe creates a foil to Lo’s suspicions, making Lo question whether her judgment of Chloe’s behavior is reliable.
As a husband of Chloe, he shows intimacy by holding her tenderly. His actions significantly make Lo doubt her thoughts about their marriage and Chloe’s behavior.
He is the head of a Swedish investment group and receives an invitation to the cruise as a potential investor.
Konrad Horst
Role: Minor character
Key Info: Elderly, kind.
Konrad Horst helps Lo find safety and communicate with her family despite language barriers.
Background: Konrad loves being in a remote area. When Lo escoaes from the yacht, she sleeps in his barn.
Personality: He is kind and protective. Although he does not understand Laura, he is empathetic and concerned about her.
Development: He appears toward the end of the book and plays a role in Lo’s journey to safety.
Significance: Konrad’s character showcases the themes of compassion and the importance of human connection. Small acts of kindness are proven to have a lasting and significant impact.
He is elderly with a full white beard. He finds Lo in his barn and drives her to safety even though their different languages impede communication. He also lends his phone so Lo can communicate with her family.
