INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A superb suspense writer…Brava, Ruth Ware. I daresay even Henry James would be impressed.” –Maureen Corrigan, author of So We Read On “This appropriately twisty Turn of the Screw update finds the Woman in Cabin 10 author in her most menacing mode, unfurling a shocking saga of murder and deception.” –Entertainment Weekly From the #1 New York Times … deception.” —Entertainment Weekly
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lying Game and The Death of Mrs. Westaway comes this thrilling novel that explores the dark side of technology.
When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss–a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten–by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare–one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the home’s cameras, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman.
It was everything.
She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty–at least not of murder–but somebody is.
Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, The Turn of the Key is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.
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So… Ruth Ware has 5 books published to date. In the last two months, I’ve read two of them. One I found on my apartment building’s library shelves. The other, this one, The Turn of the Key, was the winner in my Book Bucket List contest in May. Since one of my all-time favorite stories is Henry James’ Turn of the Screw, I was bound to like this one… and so I did. Thanks to the voters for making this one happen!
Rowan Caine is a nanny. She doesn’t like her current job and accepts a new one as a live-in nanny in Scotland, where the salary is immense and the house has a difficult history. Rowan will watch three young children and possibly a teenager when she’s home from boarding school. The parents must leave on an extended business trip right away, and Rowan is the fourth nanny in the last few years. Of course, strange things begin to happen. The housekeeper is a little odd. The gardener / handyman pops up from nowhere in unusual moments. The house is technologically advanced to the point that it basically talks to you all the time. What’s a girl to do when one of the children mysteriously dies?
Right off the bat, we know Rowan is in prison for killing the girl. This is not a spoiler. What I will say, is I knew within the first twenty pages that Rowan wasn’t telling us the full truth. I also knew exactly what she was trying to hide… or at least part of it, as I came to learn later on around the 67% mark. We learned a major fact that came so out of left field, it shocked me. I felt my eyes pop further open while flipping the pages on my Kindle to anxiously read what was about to happen. Kudos to Ware for that fantastic surprise. I kinda wonder whether she teased us by letting readers guess the immediate secret, then holding back a bigger one. Nice.
I liked how this book was told. Rowan’s in prison, writing letters to a lawyer to seek help. Each letter reveals pieces of the story as she rewrites and throws some away. Finally, we get to the past scenes, where Rowan meets the parents, the kids, and the poison garden in the backward. That’s when she also learns how many other people died in the house in the past. Why would someone live there? I never get it… but then again, we’d never have a book if they didn’t. So I accept it. I probably would live in one too, so I should just shut my mouth. Okay, done. Let’s move on.
The kids are nightmarish. I thought the baby was going to bite and eat Rowan at one point. This is not a horror or paranormal story either, so hold on to your teeth, friends. I’ve stayed in hotels before where everything is voice-activated, and it drove me nuts when I couldn’t turn the lights on or off properly. Poor Rowan should’ve run, but Ware makes her strong and determined. Of course, there’s a reason behind her visit. And as the secret unfolds, I found myself curious how it would come together. She went to prison. She must’ve told them the truth, right? Nope… we really don’t know. We never actually revisit the trial. We don’t know where the parents disappeared to after their daughter died.
We only get a letter. A letter that gives us enough clues to assemble our own version of the truth. I liked this ending a lot. I felt it could’ve been even stronger to absolutely make our hearts pound in our chests at the end. But given who the letter came from, it was done in such a way that it was a read-between-the-lines thing, and so… I kept saying ‘no no no no’ and I wanted to talk to this murderer myself to ask more questions! So… was Rowan the murderer all along? One of the parents? The people working at the estate? Another family member? A mysterious ghost? You’ll have to read it to find out!
I wanted to wait to read this book until I was in Scotland proper, since it takes place at a renovated smart home in the Highlands. I started reading on the plane over, and by the time I reached the Highlands myself a few days later… I was so damn freaked out I had to put it down and read nonfiction for the remainder of my stay. This is a stellar book, hand’s down my favorite of her yet. Moody, atmospheric, and chilling, it’s a tour de force from Ware, who has become one of my all-time favorites.
Don’t read this book if:
1. You value keeping your fingernails pretty.
2. You value sleeping for a healthy number of hours.
3. You value time with your family.
4. You don’t want to always be comparing other thrillers to this one.
Oh my gosh, this book is everything a thriller should be. I have recently heard Ruth Ware compared to Agatha Christie (my very favorite author) and while I never would have thought it possible, I’m becoming a believer. At the very least, she is the AC of this generation. And this book only add to the title.
Ruth Ware is one of those rare authors whose entire collection of works I’ve read. I started out in 2016 with The Woman in Cabin 10 (my favorite to date), and I’ve been hooked ever since. Ware’s newest release, The Turn of the Key, is a close second to TWiC10, and once I started reading I just couldn’t stop.
This mystery/thriller is written in letters from protagonist Rowan Caine to lawyer Mr. Wrexham, whom Rowan has never met but is hoping to convince to take her case. We learn quickly that Rowan is in prison and she herself considers her case hopeless, but is nevertheless determined to tell Wrexham the whole story on the off chance he might believe it.
Rowan then unfolds the story of how she came to nanny for the Elincourts — a wealthy Scottish family with four daughters, one of whom is now dead, and for whose murder Rowan has been convicted. This immediate reveal of the novel’s outcome made for interesting reading, and as Rowan describes her relationships with each of the four girls, I couldn’t help but speculate as to which one might end up dead and why.
The Elincourts sprawling home served as its own character, and the house staff added to the short list of potential suspects. In typical Ware fashion, the author excels at weaving in both the setting and an unexpected element — the supernatural, in this case — in order to keep readers even more captivated. There is not only a murder, but also ghosts, poison, adultery, hidden identities, and secrets revealed. How can one possibly put this down?
The Turn of the Key is a fun, quick, spellbinding read that I’d recommend to any thriller reader. Ruth Ware has yet to disappoint.
I was afraid I wouldn’t like this because it seemed to be, at first glance, kind of a Gothic suspense, but since I’m a fan of the author, I decided to read it. I tore through the book, unable to stop reading. And it scared the heck out of me, which I actually loved because I need some excitement in this pandemic. My only complaint was not really being totally sure of the ending.
SO terrific! Turn of the Screw meets Agatha Christie in this sinister modern gothic–yes, the new and unreliable (maybe?) nanny in the scary–scary-modern!–house with the enigmatic groundskeeper and too-good-to-be-true job and the duplicitous children–it’s irresistible. Ruth Ware is amazing.
I’m a huge fan of Ruth Ware’s and this book did not disappoint. We learn up front that a nanny is in jail and a child is dead. But why? How? What really happened at the creepy house where she was looking after the three children of a wealthy couple? I read this in one sitting!
OMG!
What an unputdownable book!
I loved everything about this book, the creepiness, the Gothic feel and especially the mystery.
So many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming.
The first few chapters started out slow for me and I sadly couldn’t get back to the book for about a week but WOW once I picked it up again I sailed through it in a day and a half.
I highly recommend this book for all psychological thriller readers!
I cannot wait to read more from this Author.
The Turn of the Key was a solid 3 star read, until the very end and BOOM! 4 stars. Are you kidding me with this? Oh Ruth, you get me Every. Single. Time. Just when I think I can’t take any more of Rowan’s madness, she bowls me over with the ending.
The entire story is told through a series of letters written by our main protagonist, Rowan to a solicitor / lawyer Mr. Wrexham. I really loved the format of the letters to tell the story and I thought it worked. The story is definitely creepy and there is the whole vibe of “what is really going on here?”
This book is one of those that keeps you guessing and makes you not really trust anything. I encourage you to crack this book open and go along for the ride. Admittedly, it gets a little long in the middle and I found myself wanting to hurry things along. This was especially true when it came to Rowan’s sleep deprivation and “madness”. But then things started wrapping up and I was turning the pages at a furious pace.
I highly recommend this book to all lovers of the “slow burn” thriller.
Thank you to Gallery / Scout Press for my copy of this book via Edelweiss
Mind-bending, engrossing, and totally creepy in all the best ways. Ware is adept at ratcheting up the suspense little-by-little, keeping you breathless to know what happens next until the chilling ending.
Oh. My. God. I don’t know that I even have words except to say that this is my new favorite Ruth Ware novel. I refuse to give any spoilers so I won’t go into too much detail here but I want to say this book has everything. Plot twists galore. This book is spooky even when you know it’s not really paranormal. I picked up on a couple of the hints that Ware dropped but I found myself flipping through pages as fast as possible so I could try to figure it all out and put the pieces together. This book is a must-read for any lover of thrillers.
I didn’t just read this book; I devoured it in 12 hours. I had trouble putting it down to do anything else including eat and sleep. This is Ruth Ware’s best book to date, in my opinion. It was perfect in every way from the cover, to the characters, to the twists, to the engaging plot. This is a definite must read for those who love thrillers and suspense.
“The Turn of the Key” by Ruth Ware is a mystery within a mystery told in a first person narrative by Rowan Caine. “I am the nanny in the Elincourt case.” In a series of letters to a lawyer, Mr. Wrexham, she begs him to represent her at her trial. “I didn’t kill that child.”
With that startling opening, readers follow every heart-wrenching line as Rowan pours out the events leading up to her incarceration and upcoming trial. “To explain properly, I have to tell you how it happened. Day by day. Night by night. Piece by piece.” She writes as a conversation, unedited, unplanned. She relates events to her prospective lawyer, the good, the bad, and the corrected “I’ve scribbled it out, but you can probably see the word through the paper.”
Readers want to believe her, want to be on her side; she seems so sincere, so honest, and so very desperate. “I am telling you the truth.” She describes finding the perfect job as a nanny to lovely girls. The couple has a home with every modern convenience, a smart home with programmed monitoring, automatic safety locks, spontaneous music, instinctive communication, and even a fridge that keeps track of food. This is the job she has always wanted.
Vivid descriptions pull readers into the beautiful geography that greets Rowan.
“The house in front of me was a modest Victorian lodge, foursquare, like a child’s drawing of a house, with a glossy black door in the center and windows on each side. It was not big but solidly built of granite blocks, with lush Virginia creeper rambling up one side of it, and I could not have put my finger on exactly why, but it exuded warmth and luxury and comfort. “
Ware works very hard to make readers believe that everything is perfect, and we do want to believe that nothing is wrong. However, Rowan’s disturbing comments keep popping into our minds, and we know that things are not as nice as we would like them to be. When the parents leave on a business trip, Rowan is alone with the children, and things start to go wrong. At first, it is just one or two curious events, and she explains them away as the result of her inexperience with the high tech gadgets that manage everything in the home. Events take a dramatic turn, and the unexplained escalates. Rowan’s tension increases, and disaster looms. The unvarnished truth rears its ugly head, about the house, about the children, about Rowan.
“The Turn of the Key” is Ware at her best as she takes readers down one mysterious path and then another more complicated one with hardly a respite between. Adversity, suspicion, and jeopardy grow progressively and deliberately page after page. I was given a review copy of “The Turn of the Key” by Ruth Ware and Simon & Schuster. I could not put it down, so I recommend planning some time for uninterrupted reading with the internet OFF.
Heart pounding, nail biting, with a jaw dropping conclusion, The Turn of the Key reminds me why I enjoy curling up with a good book! Highly recommend Ruth Ware’s latest to mystery lovers!
**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
One of the most twisted books I’ve read in a long time. There is no guessing-ahead here. The story unfolds evenly and draws you in more and more with every turn of the page. Totally original and well worth your time!
This book has it all. Ruth Ware keeps you guessing as to who did what during the entire book. Every time I thought I had it figured out, another suspect came into the picture.
The story is told by a young woman, Rowan, who is in jail for murdering a child when she worked as a nanny. She writes to a lawyer she never met or might never meet. The first half of the book is slow as the house is described in minute detail. I had to force myself to read the descriptions. The pace quickens toward the end of the book. Nothing earth-shattering happens, but Rowan becomes terrified for her life. She hears noises, and objects appear. Rowan doesn’t know whom to trust.
There’s a resolution to the mystery, but true to former Ruth Ware’s books, it is left dangling. I didn’t find the ending realistic. I understand authors enjoy to pin the murder on the least likely, but in this case, it is pinned on the unlikely.
I’ve had Ruth Ware’s The Turn of the Key on my Kindle shelf for a year and never got around to reading it until now. I opened the book expecting to read a few chapters and completed the novel in one day. The Turn of the Key is a suspenseful novel, with twists you won’t see coming, twists that make you gasp and mumble confounded expletives. Foremost, I love stories taking place in Victorian homes, and better yet, a smart home with every function creepily controlled by a computer, and a secret garden on the property.
The book commences with the main character, Rowan Caine, composing a letter to a lawyer from her prison cell, professing her innocence and explaining incidences leading up to her incarceration, a clever way to grip the readers’ attention. Rowan’s missive begins with the day she answered an ad for a Nanny position in the Scottish moors. She’s immediately captivated by this Victorian home renovated into a smart home by its owners, the Elincourts who are Architects.
“It was the house I would have made for myself if I had the money and the taste and the time to create something so deeply, infinitely welcoming and warm.”
Rowan wins Sandra Elincourts’ approval and accepts a position that seems too good to be true. And, well, you know the saying, if it’s too good to be true, it usually is, confirmed Rowan’s first day on the job when the Elincourts abandon her for a two-week-long business trip leaving her in a computerized home she can barely control and with children (Maddie, Ellie, Petra, and Rhiannon) who don’t want her there. But why are they determined to get rid of Rowan? Are they just rebellious children missing their parents? Are they afraid Rowan will ultimately abandon them like previous nannies? Or do they fear she’ll meet an evil fate inside the home?
After the cryptic warning from Maddie the day of her interview and finding a strange note from her predecessor in her room, Rowan senses something’s wrong inside Heatherbrae House.
“Don’t come here,” she whispered… “It’s not safe… the ghosts wouldn’t like it.”
Rowan not only has to contend with recalcitrant children but also something supernatural behind the locked door in her room. Sleep deprivation ensues when creaking floorboards, a chill, and the home’s blaring computer app keeps Rowan awake most nights. She can’t sleep until she unlocks the door and uncovers the dreadful sounds. Is it a ghost?
In a single night, things fall apart around Rowan. Lies unfold, Rowan’s personal truths come to light, and a heartbreaking death upends her life.
The Turn of the Key is suspenseful, twisty, and unpredictable. My only gripe with the story is the ending which I can’t reveal but believe it’s a wise move by the author. This is one of my favorite novels of 2020. Mrs. Ware, thanks for the fantastic read!
Nora’s a bit of a recluse, but when she’s invited to the “Hen Do” of a past friend, she feels she must attend. The get-together is scheduled for a weekend in an immense glass house in the middle of the woods, with its spotty cellular service and opportunities for creepy interactions. Included for the guests by the up-tight party planner are a trip to a shooting range, no coffee, and even an Ouija Board. What wasn’t on the agenda was the murder.
Ruth Ware writes of a strange encounter where the suppressed past collides with the present, and her protagonist can not run from the intrigue when blood is spilled. She expertly crafts a mystery that weaves subtle elements of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” with aspects of Gillian Flynn’s books to create a suspenseful, intriguing tale.
Her name was all over the papers, in every headline, and her face insinuated guilt. She tried to plead her innocence to the police but no one would listen.
From her prison cell she wrote to her lawyer about her time working at Heatherbrae House. She pleaded for her innocence in the only way she knew how by writing letter after letter hoping he was reading them.
Overall:
The entire book was written as a letter to a defense attorney from prison. Even formatted as a letter the story was so compelling that I often forgot it was written this way, with her testimony of innocence. The delivery of information was crafted with pure artistic talent.
Even knowing from the beginning why Rowan was in prison didn’t inhibit my enjoyment of the story. With so many factors coming into play I was still unsure of who actually was killed. It could’ve been any child.
I found with the way Ruth wrote this story that highlighting certain details was imperative for me in determining what facts were true so as to confirm or dispute her claims of innocence. Believe me you will question everything. Ruth constantly led the reader into the direction she wanted the reader to focus on. With so many clues being dropped it was both easy and difficult to decipher what should be the focal point. There were many obstacles of disturbances to keep the readers mind busy.
Ruth Ware wrote a very clever book providing just enough details to engage the reader into reading more. The little snippets of suspicious activity gave a chilling and eerie feeling to the doom that was about to occur. I got chills during several scenes. There were so many facets to this story and trying to process every tiny detail was tricky. Ruth Ware kept the reader captive to her words. Everything she wrote was meant as a clue or a distraction. All very clever.
The twists and turns kept coming at me in every chapter.