Every Ruth Ware Book, Ranked—From 'In a Dark, Dark Wood' to 'The Woman in Cabin 10'

It’s almost a unanimous truth amongst Ware’s fans that her 2017 novel The Lying Game is the weakest link in her literary arsenal. The premise is promising enough: four former friends are forced to face the consequences of the lies they told in boarding school after years spent trying to forget. But the slower pace of this one, which spends more time on the scenery than the character development, doesn’t compare to the regular pearl-clutching suspense Ware's readers are used to feeling.

Zero Days certainly isn’t slow. However, fans say it’s a departure from Ware’s other works because it’s so jam-packed with action, à la Mr. & Mrs. Smith. (And not so incidentally, it’s about a husband-and-wife duo who break into buildings and hack their security systems.) But without the usual gothic atmosphere and style she’s come to be known for, Ware’s 2023 book falls flat for some. Perhaps it'll do better on the small screen—Universal International Studios has already optioned it for a series.

Ware's 2024 novel is like Love Island gone very, very wrong. The reality TV-inspired book follows Lyla and her movie star boyfriend Nico as they head to Ever After Island to compete for a shot to be crowned "the perfect couple" on national TV. The characters embody cliches galore (to be expected for a book about reality show contestants, no?), and the villain is obvious, making this one a bit hit or miss. Even still, the plot's survivalist turns are entertaining enough to keep you invested.

Ware has said in interviews that she spent years hiding her novels under the bed thinking they weren’t good enough, but her debut novel, In a Dark, Dark Wood, earned instant acclaim and hit The New York Times Best Sellers list early on. Even more so: Reese Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine, snatched up the rights to the book’s film, which is still in early development. All of that is even more impressive, considering this book is just middle-of-the-road in the Ware catalog. It's set at a hen party, or British bachelorette party, where protagonist Nora Shaw winds up in the hospital, unable to recall what happened while celebrating her former BFF’s impending nuptials.

With the characters of this novel about the employees of a start-up app company getting picked off “one by one” during their off-site company retreat in the French Alps, there should be enough of them to go around. The only problem? Ware offers up so many that it can be difficult to keep ‘em all straight. But if you’ve got the wherewithal for it, it’s an entertaining, little locked-room mystery—some have even said Christie-esque.

“A feeling of overwhelming wrongness” is how one Goodreads reviewer described Ware’s twisted tale about a tarot card reader who comes into a large sum of money with the passing of old Mrs. Westaway. Only old Mrs. Westaway’s a stranger, and the more connections Hal uncovers to her deceased benefactor, the creepier things get. In short? It’s Ware in all her gothic mystery glory.

As fans of Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train will tell you, there’s something deeply unsettling about not being able to trust your own memory. The Woman in Cabin 10 takes that idea and runs with it, courtesy of heroine Lo Blacklock, who swears she saw a woman go overboard on the cruise ship she’s aboard. But Lo was tipsy when it happened, all passengers were accounted for, and no one wants to hear what she has to say. The whodunnit of it all keeps readers’ attention up to the end. It was one of Goodreads’ most popular books the year it was published in 2016, and, years later, it's still undeniably Ware's most famous and one of her most gripping books.

Topping even Ware’s most well-known novel is her 2022 story of on-campus mayhem. The It Girl follows Oxford University’s very own Serena van der Woodsen, April Clarke-Cliveden, who winds up dead after just one year, and her recently formed bestie, Hannah Jones. A decade later, Hannah is content enough to let sleeping dogs lie when it comes to the identity of April's killer, Oxford porter John Neville. Except he might not actually be the killer, and the school “friends” Hannah thought she knew might have a terrible secret they’ve been hiding for years. The It Girl is juicy, it’s a page-turner, and it’s a must-read for Ware stans.

Topping the list of the best Ruth Ware novels is her homage to Henry James 1898’s gothic horror The Turn of the Screw. Mystery lovers all but devoured this modern take about a live-in nanny in a remote Victorian home who winds up in prison for the murder of her charges. She swears she’s innocent, which means someone else isn’t—and the twists and turns this mystery takes to find out who left readers with chills, goosebumps, and nails bitten down to the quick. Don’t say we didn’t warn you…