Review | The Turn Of The Key – Ruth Ware

October is the perfect month to read thrillers, so I decided I wanted to share a thriller review with you all today. Recently I listened to the audiobook off The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. I listened to it in two days and only stopped in between because I had to be social for a couple of hours haha. Because it’s a thriller, I would recommend not reading the synopsis as they usually reveal a little bit too much in my opinion. Let’s get into it!

Review | The Turn Of The Key – Ruth Ware

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway comes Ruth Ware’s highly anticipated fifth novel.

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 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.

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.


The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
Published by Gallery/Scout Press on 06/08/2019
Genres: Thriller, Mystery
Pages: 337
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads
5 Stars

Review

I first have to say The Turn of the Key is based on The Turn of the Screw, so yes the synopsis or even the title might sound familiar. Personally, I haven’t read The Turn of the Screw, I hadn’t even heard of it. But I did want to mention it here. We get a ton of retellings in this day and age so I don’t get why people are falling over this one. I really enjoy seeing all these retellings and reimaginings and I was definitely interested in this story.

The story is told in a letter to a solicitor, a narration style I hadn’t seen before and one I really enjoyed. Our narrator expects us to have some information but wants to share her side of the story. This left us with the first mysteries, as we obviously don’t have the information just yet. All we know going in, the narrator is the nanny and one of the children in her care will end up dead.

Rowan, our nanny, starts the story all the way at the beginning, when she applies for the job. The family is living in the middle of nowhere in a ‘smart house’. Everything is controlled by an app, this should make life super easy. You can talk through your phone in rooms, you can control the lights, temperature, locks and what not through that app. It seems amazing, but not all is what it seems to be at first 😉

This is a thriller, so of course we get quite some twists. They are all over this story, and while I did really enjoy them, I did see some of them coming from a mile away. I don’t think most of these twists were the strongest part of the story, but there were a couple of really good ones! The writing style of Ruth Ware is perfect for the story. I think she did an amazing job in creating this creepy atmosphere and that truly is the best part of the story. When listening to the audiobook I got chills and it took me a while to go to sleep when I was in the middle of the book. I kept thinking of everything that happened and I think that shows how well done this story is.

The characters are all pretty flawed. I don’t think I really liked any of them if I’m being honest! They do make for an interesting story luckily and I don’t really read this type of book for the characters. I also like my (thriller)characters flawed, so this wasn’t a negative point for me at all. It would’ve been nice to care a bit more about everyone, but I think I only cared about the children.

Throughout the story the two most important questions are, who died and who did it. For me personally there was only going to be one really satisfying answer I think, and luckily that was the answer we got! This ending probably isn’t for everyone, while we get answers a lot is also left very open. It would’ve been nice to have a longer epilogue to find out a bit more. But overall I’m very satisfied.

This was my second Ruth Ware novel and I will definitely be picking up more of her books. I loved how creepy the atmosphere was and flew through the story. The characters are very flawed but they tell an interesting story. I found some of the plot twists predictable but I’m happy how the whole book turned out! This was a five star read for me and would definitely recommend it!

Have you read this one yet? Or any other Ruth Ware? What was your favorite book by her? Let me know in the comments! I would love to pick up another book by her. This is the season to read all the mystery thrillers!

Rating Report
Plot
5 Stars
Characters
4.5 Stars
Writing Style
4.5 Stars
Overall Enjoyment
5 Stars
Cover
5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars

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