At a Glance

Title: The Turn of the Key

Author: Ruth Ware

Published: August 6th by Gallery/Scout Press

Page: 337

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Goodreads Rating: 4.07

Synopsis

“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 nannyingpost, 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 the 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 a murder.

Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, 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, Jack Grant.

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. Which means someone else is.”

My Thoughts

I started reading Ruth Ware’s books a few years ago. I loved The Lying Game and In a Dark Dark Wood. Last year I read The Women in Cabin 10, after I had just finished reading A.J. Finn’s The Women in the Window and to say I was less than impress with Cabin 10 would be an understatement. Earlier this year I got around to reading The Death of Mrs. Westaway, another Ruth Ware novel, and once again I was hardly impressed. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mind set for a mystery or maybe I was on a thriller overload, whatever the case, I had a 50/50 chance of loving on her newest book, The Turn of the Key. 

I ended up taking the plunge and selecting The Turn of the Key as one of my August Book of the Month picks. Fun story though, my mom knew I liked Ruth Ware books and actually ended up pre-ordering a copy for me as a surprise! She’s so sweet, but I digress.

I will start by saying Ware is great at building in-depth characters. She takes not just the main characters but also the supporting characters and weaves them perfectly and intricately into the story. This in turn creates a lot of ‘confusion’ around the mystery. Meaning the reader is constantly second guessing ‘who dunnit’. This book was no exception to that. It constantly had me thinking I had solved it and then when presented with another clue, I had to admit that I had no idea who the murderer was. I also really enjoyed that we didn’t know who had been murdered until the very end of the book, which just helped keep the suspense high.

I read this book in a single night. Mainly because the creepy factor in the book was going to keep me from sleeping, so I figured I needed to simply finish reading the book. No lie, this book scared me more than The Whisper Man which was marketed as a ‘scary book’, whereas this book was simply marketed as a thriller/mystery.

Overall, I give this book ★★★★★. The stars all come from being so engrossed in the story, being thoroughly creeped out, and for not being able to figure out the ending. I will say that I was a little disappointed in the ending only because it seemed a little rushed, however it still neatly tied the story together and so I didn’t knock off any stars for that. This book actually gave me tons of Verity vibes, which I am here for! So if you liked Verity or just like a good suspense mystery you’ll love this book. Get it HERE!

This is my new favorite Ruth Ware book. Have you read her other books? Which one is you’re favorite?