Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Woman in Cabin 10, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Entrapment and Isolation
Perception vs. Reality
Trauma, Mental Illness, and Resilience
Ambition and Compassion
Wealth and Power
Summary
Analysis
Lo joins Tina and Chloe in the ship’s spa for scheduled treatments. To her surprise, Anne Bullmer arrives, too. She looks “less sallow, her face somehow slightly less drawn,” but she still has deep shadows under her eyes. Lo struggles against a panic attack as the group descends to the lower level of the spa, and she realizes they’re below the ocean’s surface with no apparent exits.
Lo is surprised that Anne, so sick the night before, would show up for a spa treatment, but her face looks vaguely better than it did the day before. Lo feels trapped in the cramped, dark environment belowdecks, knowing they’re surrounded by water.
Themes
As they walk down the hall, Tina makes a quick apology to Lo for having spoken so sharply to her earlier, but Lo still feels uncomfortable around her. Ulla welcomes Lo into a treatment room, where she’s been booked for a mud wrap. Lo is dubious about the mud wrap, but she’s surprised how soothing it is, and she soon finds herself drifting into much-needed sleep.
Tina makes what seems to be a kind gesture to Lo, but Lo doesn’t quite trust her. Lo feels claustrophobic and out of sorts in the fancy spa, but in her still sleep-deprived state, the mud treatment brings welcome relief from the stresses of the past days.
Themes
While she naps, Lo dreams about the girl from Cabin 10—her dead body drifting far beneath the ocean’s surface. As Lo wakes up, she realizes that the roar in her ears is not part of her dream. She discovers that the shower is running in the next room, and the room is filled with steam. When she turns on the light, she sees words written across the bathroom mirror: STOP DIGGING.
Lo is haunted by what’s become of the woman. When she wakes up, she finds that she wasn’t safe from intrusion even while asleep in the spa. Someone wants her to stop investigating the murder.
Themes
A BBC News website article, dated to a week later, reports that Danish fishermen have found the body of a woman off the coast of Norway, and that it’s speculated to be the body of the missing Laura Blacklock.
The suspense continues to build, as the article shows that Lo will go missing for at least a week. It’s also a chilling echo of the dream Lo just had.
Themes
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