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The Turn of the Key
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 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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Community Reviews
The first 75% of the novel was quite good. I didn't like her idea of writing it as a letter to an attorney to try to retain him, because it's book length (duh), and no one would write a letter that's a manuscript. It's a gimmick, and it didn't work for me. However, other than that, the majority of the story was well done.
I didn't expect it to be quite so creepy! If I was reading the book, and someone suddenly spoke in the room, or my phone gave a notification ding, I was very visibly startled!
There were hints of other books throughout. Mrs. McKenzie gave me Mrs. Danvers (Rebecca) vibes at times. The house, with its mashup of old wallpaper and Victorian appearance contrasted with the omnipresent camera system, sound system and poured concrete floor, gave off a feeling of trepidation, something like what you'd feel if the houses from The Haunting of Hill House and The Girl Before were mixed. And of course, let's not forget that The Secret Garden becomes entirely perverted as a garden of potential death.
Unfortunately, the ending kind of ruins it for me.
There were a lot of parts about the ending which I did like, however, Maddie is 8. While she definitely seems to be a bit off, there isn't anything about her that indicates she had the ability to program the phone play the recording that she put on it. Also, she was supposedly climbing around on the roof to get into a 4th floor attic window and her nanny's third floor window? Presumably she climbed out of the nanny's window and climbed up? Now, I certainly climbed out of my fair share of windows when I was in elementary school, and around new home construction in the days before they put up safeguards, but I think this climbing was beyond her. And even though Ellie wrote the note privately to Rowan/Rachel when she was in prison, I do not believe at all that R wouldn't have used it to get out of prison. Face it, even Ellie would have been better off if R had made the note public. Ellie will always be carrying the burden, now of both her sister's death and R's punishment.
Okay, now that I've written all that, I decided to look up if Scotland had the death penalty (nope), and I came across a release that Ruth Ware put out, and I'm changing from 3 stars to 4. Here is her statement: âI have been asked this a lot and itâs really hard to answer over twitter without spoilers â and I try to keep my twitter feed fairly spoiler free. So I apologise if you have ended up here after being redirected from twitter! The short answer is that there are some things you are supposed to know, and some things you are not supposed to know, and which I canât help with.
What you are supposed to know is what you probably already figured out â that Rowan / Rachel was writing to Mr Wrexham when she received the letter from Ellie and learned the truth about what went down at Heatherbrae House. Consequently she realises that she cannot make good on her promise to Mr Wrexham to tell the whole truth â at least not without betraying her sisterâs trust. So instead of sending the letters she hides the whole package in the wall and goes to her trial with her original lawyer, relying on her original story to save her. Essentially she takes the fall for Ellie.
What I donât know is the verdict â thatâs really up to you to decide. Either way, whether she was convicted or found innocent, she would not have been able to get back to retrieve the letters. If she were found innocent she would have been released, and if she were found guilty she would have been sent to prison probably closer to home, which is why they are still in the wall when the prison is demolished.
One thing I can tell you is that she isnât dead. We donât have the death penalty in the UK, and life very rarely means actual life unless the crime is particularly brutal or the perpetrator is so mentally ill they cannot be safely released. So you can rule out that concern!
As a reader, I really enjoy being left with something to ponder at the end of a book, so I try to leave a lingering question for the reader when I write too, but this is a particularly big question, I do admit. Do you think there was enough evidence against her to convince a jury? Would you have convicted in their shoes?â
Now I like the ending better. I suppose it's kind of like when a piece of modern art makes more sense when you know the philosophy behind the artist's endeavor. (Okay, so I'm reading Get the Picture now...)
I didn't expect it to be quite so creepy! If I was reading the book, and someone suddenly spoke in the room, or my phone gave a notification ding, I was very visibly startled!
There were hints of other books throughout. Mrs. McKenzie gave me Mrs. Danvers (Rebecca) vibes at times. The house, with its mashup of old wallpaper and Victorian appearance contrasted with the omnipresent camera system, sound system and poured concrete floor, gave off a feeling of trepidation, something like what you'd feel if the houses from The Haunting of Hill House and The Girl Before were mixed. And of course, let's not forget that The Secret Garden becomes entirely perverted as a garden of potential death.
Unfortunately, the ending kind of ruins it for me.
There were a lot of parts about the ending which I did like, however, Maddie is 8. While she definitely seems to be a bit off, there isn't anything about her that indicates she had the ability to program the phone play the recording that she put on it. Also, she was supposedly climbing around on the roof to get into a 4th floor attic window and her nanny's third floor window? Presumably she climbed out of the nanny's window and climbed up? Now, I certainly climbed out of my fair share of windows when I was in elementary school, and around new home construction in the days before they put up safeguards, but I think this climbing was beyond her. And even though Ellie wrote the note privately to Rowan/Rachel when she was in prison, I do not believe at all that R wouldn't have used it to get out of prison. Face it, even Ellie would have been better off if R had made the note public. Ellie will always be carrying the burden, now of both her sister's death and R's punishment.
Okay, now that I've written all that, I decided to look up if Scotland had the death penalty (nope), and I came across a release that Ruth Ware put out, and I'm changing from 3 stars to 4. Here is her statement: âI have been asked this a lot and itâs really hard to answer over twitter without spoilers â and I try to keep my twitter feed fairly spoiler free. So I apologise if you have ended up here after being redirected from twitter! The short answer is that there are some things you are supposed to know, and some things you are not supposed to know, and which I canât help with.
What you are supposed to know is what you probably already figured out â that Rowan / Rachel was writing to Mr Wrexham when she received the letter from Ellie and learned the truth about what went down at Heatherbrae House. Consequently she realises that she cannot make good on her promise to Mr Wrexham to tell the whole truth â at least not without betraying her sisterâs trust. So instead of sending the letters she hides the whole package in the wall and goes to her trial with her original lawyer, relying on her original story to save her. Essentially she takes the fall for Ellie.
What I donât know is the verdict â thatâs really up to you to decide. Either way, whether she was convicted or found innocent, she would not have been able to get back to retrieve the letters. If she were found innocent she would have been released, and if she were found guilty she would have been sent to prison probably closer to home, which is why they are still in the wall when the prison is demolished.
One thing I can tell you is that she isnât dead. We donât have the death penalty in the UK, and life very rarely means actual life unless the crime is particularly brutal or the perpetrator is so mentally ill they cannot be safely released. So you can rule out that concern!
As a reader, I really enjoy being left with something to ponder at the end of a book, so I try to leave a lingering question for the reader when I write too, but this is a particularly big question, I do admit. Do you think there was enough evidence against her to convince a jury? Would you have convicted in their shoes?â
Now I like the ending better. I suppose it's kind of like when a piece of modern art makes more sense when you know the philosophy behind the artist's endeavor. (Okay, so I'm reading Get the Picture now...)
It's a fast paced, easy read book that has you in the edge. You see all the clues where realizing it unless you really look at where the comma sits. For Thursday who read it, you'll understand.
It's not a horror genre but it's a mystery thriller up until the very end. Then it says you in the face and you're left asking yourself, "what?!?!" (âÈâ!)
This is my first time reading Ruth Ware's book so I don't know if this is her m.o.
It's not a horror genre but it's a mystery thriller up until the very end. Then it says you in the face and you're left asking yourself, "what?!?!" (âÈâ!)
This is my first time reading Ruth Ware's book so I don't know if this is her m.o.
Wow! What a story. I felt like I was right there in Heatherbrae house. The ending of course leaves some things open ended. But itâs just perfect. Another great book from Ruth Ware.
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