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 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.
The week before Halloween seems quite the fitting time to review this book, as it is somewhat likely to have you sleeping with the lights on. Just a wee bit on the scary side, but oh, so unbelievably good!
Having read 3 of Ware’s 4 books, all of which I liked, I can say that this is her best book to date! It is such a shocking story and the ending is not one that I ever saw coming! At all! Not one small tiny blip of an idea of how it would end.
I am so glad I did not read other reviews of this, because I would hate to have missed out on this one. Ware’s ability to set the tone of a story is spot on, in my opinion. I felt that I could completely grasp the fear that gripped Rowan inside that house. A few people claimed not to understand the ending as to Rowan’s fate, but it is clear that she would never hurt one of those children. Ever.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you can get to it before Halloween! And the narration by Imogen Church added a bit more intrigue to the already great plot! Especially with some of the terms native to Scotland, as well as the added accents of London and Scotland.
Book Details:
- The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
- Hardback: 352 pages; Gallery/Scout Press (August 6, 2019)
- Paperback: 352 pages; Gallery/Scout Press (May 5, 2020)
- Kindle: 2889 KB; 352 pages; Gallery/Scout Press (August 6, 2019)
- Audiobook: 12 hours 13 minutes; Imogen Church (Narrator), Simon & Schuster Audio (Publisher)
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Propensity to Discuss 
Like you, I didn’t see the ending coming! I couldn’t put the book down. I had to keep reading to see who got murdered and who murdered her. I didn’t have a clue about Rowan’s childhood. I thought the author used a clever way to tell the story in the form of a letter. Most of the time, I forgot I was reading a letter!
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