We Found All the Changes Between the Book and Movie Version of ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’

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Netflix’s adaptation of Ruth Ware’s bestselling novel, The Woman in Cabin 10 arrives on the streaming platform today, and fans of the book have a lot to look forward to. The characters are still fun, the boat is still spectacular, and the story is still thrilling, but there are some major differences, including one of the killers. Read about all of the differences between the book and the film below. Spoilers most definitely ahead.

The Woman in Cabin 10

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Laura’s job has changed.

In the book, Laura–or Lo as she’s known in the text and in the film adaptation–has a junior role at a glossy travel magazine, Velocity. She’s vying for a senior editorial position like the one held by her boss, Rowan (played in the film by Gugu Mbatha-Raw). In the book, Rowan, not Laura, was invited on the Aurora’s maiden voyage. Due to her pregnancy, Rowan passes off the opportunity to Laura, who in turn hopes to convert it into taking on her boss’s position during her maternity leave. In the movie, Laura (Keira Knightley) works at The Guardian as an investigative journalist. When one of her sources is murdered in front of her eyes, her boss suggests that she takes the trip for some R&R.

The other passengers on the ship are different.

Like any good murder mystery, the cast of characters (in both the book and film) is vital. In the book, the boat is a primarily populated by journalists, with a couple of wealthy friends of hosts Richard (Guy Pearce) and Anne Bullmer (Lisa Loven Kongsli) joining in. Tina is a legendary journalist with high-reaching connections who once worked at Velocity and Cole is a famous travel photographer. Guests include married couple Chloe, a model, and Lars Jenssen, a financier.

In the film, Heidi (Hannah Waddingham) is a famous gallerist and friend of the Bullmers; Grace (Kaya Scodelario) is a model/influencer who works, tangentially, for the Bullmer company, and Danny Tyler (Paul Kaye) is an aging, eccentric rocker with a history of legal trouble. Anne, who is in the latter stages of terminal cancer, has also brought her doctor, Robert Mehta on board. Other characters—all friends of the Bullmers except for Laura and Ben—round out the ship’s passengers.

Laura and Anne’s relationship is different.

Early in the film, Anne invites Laura into her private sanctuary, a library that she asked Richard to include in the boat. There, she reveals that she invited Laura on the trip in part because she planned to announce that she would divert her fortune away from her husband and into an externally managed trust, all of which would ultimately fund the foundation. Anne then asks Laura to look over and edit her gala speech, planned for the end of the trip, and the two agree to reconvene the following afternoon. In the book, however, the two meet briefly at the opening night dinner, after which Mrs. Bullmer is rarely seen, though she’s said to be in the spa at the same time as Lo, Tina, and Chloe.

Laura is robbed in the beginning of the book.

At the beginning of the novel, Laura returns home from a night of drinking and is robbed and locked up in her apartment. Throughout the book, she constantly flashes back to the robbery, and some other characters suggest that the murder she heard in Cabin 10 is just paranoia.

In the book, Ben doesn’t die.

In the movie, Ben is an ex-fling of Laura’s, though the two have maintained an acquaintance. He’s on board the Aurora as a photographer (a different character, named Cole McCabe, is a photographer in the book). The two reconnect on board and work to solve the case together. When, at the end of the movie, Laura is fleeing certain death, Ben comes looking for her. While trying to save her from Dr. Mehta, he’s accidentally injected with a poison syringe and dies gruesomely.

In the book, it’s a totally different story. Laura and Ben, an ex-boyfriend, have been out of contact for years, during which time, Ben has built a career as an investigative journalist (something which makes Lo self-conscious about her own job). When the two meet again on the boat, Ben does flirt with Laura, but it’s totally unwanted. In fact, since breaking up with Ben, Laura’s begun dating a war correspondent, Judah, very seriously. He’s a central character in the book who doesn’t exist in the movie. When he doesn’t hear from her, Judah rings the alarm about Laura’s disappearance, when she’s kidnapped by Carrie, and it’s Ben—who’s returned safely to London—who suggests she’s in danger.

There is no gala at the end of the book.

As the movie reaches its climax, Laura—who has jumped overboard to escape Dr. Mehta and Captain Addis—arrives at the site of the gala that Richard (Guy Pearce) has planned for his wife and friends, to raise money for cancer research. He begins to make a speech, with Carrie (impersonating Anne) at his side, before they are interrupted by Laura, who unveils Richard’s scheme. Richard then takes Carrie hostage and attempts to escape, before being thwarted by Laura, who ultimately shoots him. The book, however, ends with Laura fleeing the boat and ending up hiding in a farm in rural Norway, where she’s ultimately able to get in touch with the consulate and return safely to her family and friends in London.

In the film, Laura does not get kidnapped and held captive by Carrie.

In the book, Carrie, the titular “Woman in Cabin 10” is a British aspiring actress in the midst of an affair with Richard. He’s promised her that they’ll be together once Anne is out of the picture. She’s shaved her head and eyebrows to impersonate Anne, with whom she shares a striking resemblance. After accidentally revealing herself to Laura, Carrie kidnaps her and keeps her in the basement for a few days before letting her run away where she’s ultimately able to get back to London. In the film, though, Carrie (played by Gitte Witt), is an actress, but is now a Norwegian woman who has been hired for the role by Richard, with whom she has no other relationship.

Which leads us to the biggest change of all: Who kills Richard?

In the book, we’re led to believe that once Richard returns to the Aurora—and Laura safely escapes—Carrie shoots and kills him both to escape and avenge Anne. All of this, is however, vaguely circumstantial, and the final sighting of Carrie is a bank deposit she mysteriously makes for Laura at the end of the book from an account with the name “Tiggersbounce” a reference to a shared love of Winnie the Pooh the two discuss during the kidnapping. In the film, however, Laura shoots him, while Carrie and his assistant look on.

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