Unlike many of the reviews I actually really enjoyed this book...to a point. I was immediately sucked in trying to figure out what child was killed, how they were killed and who may have done it if it wasn't Rowan. The writing is a little strange since it is supposed to be Rowan writing to a solicitor and telling her story, however you often forget its a letter until Ware pops in something about who the letter is to which is slightly distracting but still didn't take away from the story. Overall I was thoroughly engrossed in this mystery trying to figure things out as I usually do, then bam it ends. Just like that. No real ending. I have no real clear cut answer as to what happened to Rowan. I feel very unsatisfied and a little angry that I'm left in limbo just guessing at what may have happened.

I wish I could recommend this book because I really like the author but the ending was so disappointing that I just can't knowingly but anyone else through that.

A remote Victorian house on the Scottish Highlands upgraded with Alexa-like smart house features seems like an ideal location. Especially for a live-in nanny position that offers a generous salary and a picture-perfect family. Only Rowan discovers, after taking the job, that everything is not as perfect as it seems. Ruth Ware is not new to writing thrillers and she does a great job with this one. I was genuinely spooked out, with biting-my-nails intensity. There could have been more character development, but I chose to read this book for the suspense and that's what I got.

Thank you to NetGalley for the dARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a great book! This book is great for the dark, cool, long evenings on the couch with something to warm your soul, as it will chill you with the beautiful atmospheric surroundings. Scotland is the perfect place for this creepy, creaky house that is infused with untrustworthy technology. The characters that surround the main character aren't any better. It just seems like the main character is very isolated, even though she's surrounded by people. It built the suspense in the right way. You do not know who to trust, as everyone around is very ominous. Especially the surroundings.

The story told in letter format works really well, as the MC is as open about her thoughts and feelings as she can be - writing can be therapeutic in some ways. And then that ending.. it left questions, and it was purposeful, but also frustrating. I need to know what happened.

Lovely writing, story building, and plot twists. It wasn't a big mystery, but I loved how it wasn't that obvious. Truly enjoyable book.

I couldn't put this book down! I think it is Ruth Ware's best! The climax genuinely scared me, and I didn't guess any of the "twists." Chilling and creepy!

I wanted to read this because of the author, but within a few pages, once I found out the premise, I just couldn't do it. I have a small child, and while I used to love books like Room, I just can't stomach books where children are harmed anymore.

As an avid Ruth Ware reader, this is her most addicting book yet. The Turn of the Key has twists and turns with every chapter, leaving the reader wondering if this is truly a ghost story or something more sinister. I could not wait to find out the truth behind the mystery of Heatherbrae House and the people who live there...and who had lived there....

A nanny discovers she got much more than she anticipated in what sounded like the “perfect” job. Between creepy elements in the house and children who won’t listen, the young woman fights her growing anxiety and paranoia until she finds herself in prison. Except she says she’s innocent. Author Ruth Ware offers readers her latest thriller in the mostly successful novel The Turn of the Key.

When Rowan Caine answers the ad to become a live-in nanny for a family in the Scottish Highlands, she has no idea she’ll end up in prison accused of murdering one of her charges. Yet here she sits writing to a lawyer, hoping he’ll take her case. She wasn’t the perfect nanny by a far stretch, but Rowan didn’t kill the child and she needs someone who will listen to her story and help her figure out who did.

She’d answered the ad after getting fed up with her employment in a London nursery. Moving to Scotland from a busy city seemed like the perfect life change, and her meeting with her employer, Sandra Elincourt, sealed the deal for Rowan. She wanted more than ever to live in Heatherbrae, the renovated Victorian smart home that did everything anyone needed with the swipe of a screen. Almost overnight Sandra left Rowan with a toddler and two elementary-aged children to join her husband, Bill, on a business trip.

The learning curve for Rowan was steep: dealing with the temperamental smart home app, the temperamental children, and the temperamental housekeeper who clearly disapproved of her. Stories of the home being haunted by its former inhabitants didn’t help, although the mysterious handyman Jack Grant provided Rowan with a distraction. All of Rowan’s instincts told her that something was off about the situation, but she would never have imagined the circumstances leading to the death of one of the children under her care.

Rowan knows she’s not blameless. She lied to get the job, and she’s held things back from her employers. Yet insists she’s innocent of the murder, and she’s hoping the lawyer will understand her position after hearing her story. She doesn’t want to die for someone else’s crime, and despite the tough time she had dealing with the kids she can’t stand the thought of the unnecessary loss of such a young life.

Author Ruth Ware takes her time building the suspense, which may force readers to reevaluate what they think they might know about standard thrillers. At face value, the novel seems to be a “begin-at-the-end” kind of book with the protagonist leading readers through the “how” and “why.” Yet two shocking revelations at the end of the novel—one spelled out, one implied—will make readers pause and rethink what they’ve read.

The result is an ending that could be too subtle. The killer is revealed point blank, but another part of the story might escape notice. Some readers may not understand Ware’s aim in the closing pages, resulting in confusion or the assumption that she took the easy way out. Some of Rowan’s choices regarding the smart home or the outrageous behavior of the oldest child under her care might make readers wonder about her capability for the job. This point gets explained later in the book, but some readers might miss it due to Ware’s aim for subtlety.

Ware excels in revealing tidbits of information along the way, and here, too, she drops breadcrumbs for her readers to follow. Some of them lead to the most unexpected places. Others won’t reveal anything too startling. The end seems to want to convey the final surprise, but the framing of the story might make some readers miss that last shocking piece of information altogether.

Diehard Ruth Ware fans will enjoy this one. Those new to her work might do better starting with a different book. I recommend readers Borrow The Turn of the Key from their local libraries.

"I am the nanny in the Elincourt case, Mr. Wrexham. And I didn't kill that child."

What it's about: This gothic suspense novel is told in first person via a letter format. The 27-year-old nanny has been remanded to HMP Charnworth (in Scotland) awaiting her murder trial and is trying to get Wrexham to agree to represent her as her solicitor advocate. She's not been happy with her present solicitor, Mr. Gates, as she perceives that he hasn't listened to a word she's said. So she decides to lay out the full story, from the beginning, for Wrexham. She admits to many misdeeds and mistakes during the duration of her employment with the Elincourt family, but insists that she is innocent. Yes, she applied for the position as live-in nanny for the family - Bill and Sandra (the parents, both architects with their own firm necessitating a lot of time away from the home) a 14-year-old daughter, Rhiannon, 8-year-old Maddie, 5-year-old Ellie and the baby, Petra, is 18 months. Despite the nanny's desperation to get the job at the beautiful renovated SMART home, Heatherbrae House, Carn Bridge, things start going wrong almost immediately. Her dream job turned into a nightmare and it ends with one of the children dead. NO SPOILERS.

Why you should read it: I love a slow build gothic suspense novel and this one is most definitely that. As you read about the nanny's experiences, the superstitions and tales of haunting and ghosts, the isolated setting, the sense of menace increases even though it's hard to tell what might be going on. The characters add to the foreboding with the young, handsome handyman, Jack Grant, who just happens to show up when she needs him most. The housekeeper who seems to hate her on sight. The children, who are obstinate and difficult. She's alone and scared. I liked her and felt for her predicament. I believed her story. I wonder if you will too? The writing is excellent and I liked the first person narrator style though the ending came a bit abruptly and was quite surprising. I'm sure that you'll want to discuss this title with friends who have read it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-book ARC to read and review. I've read most of the books written by this author and will definitely be waiting for her next one.

It’s 8:05 am and I’m asking my boss “what is the earliest I can go to lunch?” I must be very hungry, you think but no that’s not it. I’m sleep deprived. I want to escape to my car, push back the seat and take a nap.
Once again Ruth Ware has done me in. I started The Turn of the Key, planning to read for a little while and then turn in for the evening. Wrong. Ware books are a bag of M&Ms. You take one and can’t stop until the candy dish is empty. For Ware’s books, you read the first page and don’t put it down until the book is finished.
Rowan Caine has found a dream job. As a nanny to three adorable girls, she will receive an exorbitant salary, free room and board in a “smart” house that has every bell and whistle imaginable, eight weeks of vacation and more. The Scottish Highlands looks very appealing.
Quickly, the vision clouds. Rowan is immediately left alone with the children. There are malfunctions in the lighting system. There is writing on the walls. Why is there a bed of poisonous plants? Why are the children acting differently? Why? Why?
All of this, as well as her claim of innocence is relayed to her prospective lawyer as Rowan awaits her trial for murder.
Suspenseful to the very end, the question that must be answered is one of guilt. Is it Rowan or if not her then who? The ending doesn’t disappoint. It will lead to discussion with others who have read the novel. The question will be, did you see that end coming?
Do not make the same mistake I did. Start reading well before bedtime or you too will be sleep deprived the next day. I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. #NetGalley #TheTurnoftheKey

Rowan has been working in child care for some time; her current job is at a child care center. When she happens across an ad online for a live-in nannying position for a family with four daughters, it seems too good to be true: high pay with almost no expenses, a room in a stately home in the starkly beautiful Scottish Highlands. Of course, she looks into it. And gets an interview. And ends up taking the position. The mother who hires her warns her she’s had a difficult time keeping nannies to stay on past a few weeks, and some have hinted the house is haunted. But Rowan takes the job, sure it won’t be as bad as that. Little does she know that her story will end much more badly than she could have imagined: with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.

She tells the whole story in a letter to a lawyer she has heard may be able to get her acquitted. She admits to some errors and how they make her look more guilty. But she insists she’s innocent of murder, and she’s afraid because she doesn’t know how that child ended up dead — someone else, very likely someone who was living in or near the house, is guilty. And that means there are precious few suspects: She had to take care of three young girls full time while the parents were away at a work convention, plus the older teen sister who came home from school later in the time she was nannying. There’s a woman from the village who comes in to the house to do some cleaning and a man around Rowan’s age who tackles a variety of jobs and lives in a small apartment right behind the house.

Most scary of all? The house. The parents are architects and made their abode a smart home in the extreme, with everything automated, regulated —and visible on camera. How much can her employers see or control from a distance, while she is home alone with four children? How much that unnerves Rowan is simply paranoia?

The Turn of the Key portrays the unsettled feeling the narrator experiences living in an unfamiliar extra-smart home, hours away from anyone she knows and with no support. Ruth Ware ratchets up the tension just so, and the twist (or two) at the end is devastating. Great stuff. If you’re considering a smart home, read this book first. (Wink.)

Rated: High. There are two dozen or more instances of strong language. Sexual references are fairly minimal, with one sex scene with very few details, and some references to affairs and a male character making some small advances on another character.

The Turn of the Key is the fifth novel by the incomparable Ruth Ware, and it tells the story of a young woman who answers a notice for employment and finds herself travelling down a dark and progressively disturbing path. The advertisement seems too good to be true. The au pair position pays extremely well, is out of the city, comes with access to a car and includes room and board. Sending an application to Heatherbrae House describing herself as Rowan Caine; Supernanny, is the easiest decision she has ever made. Upon traveling there to interview for the job, she finds a gorgeously renovated Victorian home on isolated acres within the remote Scottish moors. The setting is beautiful and the manor a daring blend of old world opulence and charm and new world high tech. Sandra Elincourt, her possible future employer, is warm, friendly and engaging. The dogs are a bit wild but the three young girls – Maddie, Ellie and toddler Petra – seem sweet if a bit clingy towards their mum. She’s warned that teenage Rhiannon can be a bit of a handful and Maddie can have an explosive personality, but these are challenges to be expected in any child minding position. She’s delighted when she’s offered the post and only a little apprehensive about the fact that the last four nannies left under mysterious circumstances. She’s confident she belongs with the Elincourt family.

But the parents leave on a business trip before she’s been there even twenty-four hours – and that after an evening when she had to fend off a pass from head of the family, Bill. And spent half the night awake trying to figure out where the mysterious noises are coming from and why her bedroom is freezing cold. Left alone with the three little girls in the secluded setting, she can’t shake the feeling that there is something very wrong in the house. As time progresses and her discomfort grows, she wonders if her predecessors hadn’t been right after all: the best thing for an Elincourt nanny to do is to get out while they can.

AAR Reviewers Maggie and Shannon read The Turn of the Key and are here to share their thoughts on the novel.

Maggie: I love Ware’s eerie, gothic, atmospheric writing and was immediately drawn to this book based on my experiences with her past books. What drew you to this novel?

Shannon: The Death of Mrs. Westaway was one of my top reads of 2018, so my hopes were high for The Turn of the Key. Her stories are so captivating and spooky without being over the top in their creepiness.

Maggie: True! I have to say this book delivered one twist after another for me. We know from the back blurb that our heroine is in jail awaiting trial for the murder of one of the girls, so the initial pages where she pleads her innocence were to be expected. I wasn’t even surprised when Bill turned out to be a nanny molestor. You hear about that in the news a lot. But I was quite stunned when the parents left a total stranger with their children less than twenty-four hours after meeting her. That’s when I knew that family was going to be seriously damaged and it was a pivotal moment for what I believed throughout the rest of the story. What about you? What was the first shocking moment for you?

Shannon: I was really shocked by the amount of technology in the home. There were literally cameras everywhere, and I think I would have thought twice before agreeing to work under that amount of surveillance. Then, when the parents took off right after Rowan arrived, I knew things were about to get dicey!

Maggie: I agree. My husband loves technology but Happy, the smart home computer was one step away from the creepy robot in the movies that kills everyone.

I love unreliable narrators and that certainly applies to this heroine. What did you think of the nanny?

Shannon: Ruth Ware does unreliable narrators so well! I mean, even though it was clear Rowan was keeping some pretty big secrets from her employers, I still found myself cheering her on. She made her share of mistakes, it’s true, but her actions were perfectly in line with the way the author portrayed her. She’s flawed, but in ways that work with the story.

Maggie: I agree. After that scene with the parents I have to admit that I looked upon the girls with suspicion. No one can grow up in the atmosphere they are clearly being raised in and not have issues. What did you think of the girls?

Shannon: I’m not much of a kid person in real life, and I think this often impacts the way I view child characters in fiction. Petra was pretty cute, but then, that’s pretty much what you’d expect from a toddler. The older three were far more complex, but I think Ellie was my favorite. She seemed to be sweet and impressionable, liking Rowan but still wanting to appear loyal to her older sisters. She was pretty perceptive for a five-year-old too, and I liked some of her exchanges with Rowan.

Maggie: I liked and felt sorry for all of them by the end, but I worried for them, too. I had my doubts that their future would involve anything but an adulthood in therapy.

I adored the way the author handled the setting. The creepy cameras everywhere, and the almost malignant smart home really emphasized just how dangerous a situation everyone is in.

Shannon: I have a huge soft spot for creepy old houses, especially when they’re located out in the country. Then, you add in all the tech stuff, and you get a setting that feels almost like a character in its own right. I found myself wondering what tragedies that old house had witnessed.

Maggie: The book delivers a lot of information at the end, some of which I had already guessed and some that came as a shock. I did feel the author left too many loose threads, though. What did you think?

Shannon: I’m not always a fan of ambiguous endings, but this one actually worked really well for me. We’re left with a few questions, but I think the author dropped several hints throughout the story that helped satisfy my need for things to be tied up neatly. Neat and tidy endings have their place, but I’m happy with the way Ms. Ware chose to end this particular story.

Maggie: Overall this story is a B+ for me. It grabbed my interest from the beginning and never let go, but I was deeply dissatisfied with the ending and the issues that were left unresolved. What did you think?

Shannon: It gets a solid A from me. It’s darkly atmospheric, perfect for curling up with on a stormy night, and I absolutely could not put it down once I started reading. It delivered pretty much everything I want in a thriller.

Ruth Ware is on a roll. The Turn of the Key is a lot of fun; I received it free and early, thanks to Net Galley and Gallery Books.

Our protagonist comes across the job posting almost by accident while web-crawling, looking for something else. It sounds too good to be true, a live-in nanny position with a professional salary and the use of a car. The location is a beautiful home in Scotland, and the children are 3 adorable little girls, along with a middle schooler who’s away at boarding school. But the funny thing is, they haven’t been able to keep anyone in the position.

Rowan is called for an interview, and she stays overnight in the room that will be hers. It’s gorgeous. The bed is sumptuous, and she has a private bathroom, with state-of-the-art everything. The house was originally an historic pile, but it’s been updated with all sorts of smart house features.

This, I think, is what sets this mystery apart from others, because it speaks to an anxiety many of us face today. Everywhere, we are monitored. Cameras keep us and our belongings safe, but we are always watched. We don’t always know whether we are being watched or not; sometimes cameras are tiny and concealed, and sometimes there are drones that come and go. Every time Rowan—who of course gets the job—has a bad moment, either because she has snapped at one of the kids, or because her clothing is stained or disheveled, or because she’s getting ready to take a shower, she wonders if someone is looking at her.

To me the most surprising thing is that she never pushes back. Why doesn’t she ask about the camera in her bedroom? When she is told that she is only getting about a third of her monthly salary, with the rest being held back as a “completion bonus” after one year, she doesn’t bat an eye. At the end we learn of an additional motivating factor that could account for these things, but that factor feels contrived to me and doesn’t add to the story. It actually weakens it, partly because Megan Miranda just published a mystery with similar features.

The ghostly noises that come in the night are augmented by the smart home features, and here I can only bow in admiration. I also appreciate the poison garden, which is wickedly cool.

The red herrings are obvious ones, and I figured out most of the outcome early on. The shocker at the end didn’t seem credible to me. It took me a long time to buy into the format. The beginning is in the form of a letter our protagonist writes from prison to obtain legal help. But Ware is skilled at creating a hypnotic narrative, and by the ten percent mark I forgot about that aspect and focused on the story itself. Despite a predictable outcome or two, I found the ending satisfying.

That said, I love the use of the microphone feature in gmail that gives Rowan’s charge Ellie, the kindergartener, the capacity to send messages; particular the cute little errors (the messages that read “fairy” instead of “very” and so forth) are adorable.

This is a fast read and a deeply absorbing one. It’s available now.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital copy of The Turn of the Key. All opinions are my own.

I've been a little burnt out on thrillers as of lately, so I was really nervous to start The Turn of the Key. I've read a few books by Ware and while I've been impressed every time, I truly think that Ware is at her best. The suspense in this book truly starts from the beginning and stays with you until the last page. I had a heavy feeling in my chest during most of the book and was actually scared for what was to come. I found the characters in this book interesting, even the side characters like Jack. Although I think a lot of avid thriller readers could probably see some of the twists coming, I can honestly say that I didn't expect one of the biggest ones in the novel. I also loved that there was a hint of paranormal elements in this book, as I love anything horror/paranormal related.

I loved this book and could not put it down! I found it to be creepy and suspenseful, two things I need in a good gothic thriller. I have read other books by Ruth Ware but feel she really hit her stride in this one. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

Available now - Rowan stumbles upon her dream job as a nanny - excellent pay, a beautiful setting, and free room and board. But after she is chosen for the position it quickly becomes obvious that it may be too good to be true. The kids' behavior is terrible, the other staff is unfriendly, and the parents are inaccessible. On top of that the place has a sordid past and there are rumors it is haunted. Rowan is forced to admit she is in over her head.

I really liked this new thriller by Ruth Ware. I have read four of her books and I liked them but found them to be so far-fetched that it was distracting. I felt like that wasn't the case in this book. In my opinion, this was the best of her books so far. I really liked the character, the mystery, the "ghosts" in the story, and although it starts off with the main character being pretty unlikeable, I was sympathizing and rooting for her by the end. This book has a creepy feel to it and I stayed up late a couple nights trying to see what would happen. I recommend to others who like thrillers.

"The Turn of the Key" by Ruth Ware is available now! Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for the free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Ok, y'all, this is my third Ruth Ware book. I started with The Woman in Cabin 10, which I enjoyed, but it certainly didn't floor me. I continued with The Death of Mrs. Westaway which I enjoyed a smidge more, but still wasn't blown away. I went into The Turn of the Key hoping that this was the Ruth Ware book that was finally going to knock me on my butt.

I'm happy to report that this book D E L I V E R S! It was atmospheric, it was perfectly creepy, and the ending! Guys, THE ENDING!

This is the story of Rowan Caine, a nanny who is tried of the nursery setting and who stumbles upon an ad for what seems the perfect job. But, when we meet Rowan, a child is dead and she is in prison. This story is told through letters she is writing to a lawyer, pleading her case and explaining why she is innocent. The premise itself is enough to give me chills! I'm a working mom and, no matter how competent my childrens' caretakers are, there's always that small fear that something horrible might happen to them. The way Ruth Ware weaves this story takes it to a new level of terrifying. I absolutely loved the feel of this book. It was Gothic in a modern way and just sucked you in from page one. The pacing was incredibly, the characterization was first rate, and I honestly still can't get over the ending! That was one thing that always niggled in her other books... I enjoyed the whole story until it got to end and I was left with an overwhelming sense of... "Meh." Not so with this book! The end knocked me for a loop and I love her for it!

Anyways... I'm rambling at this point, aren't I? Suffice it to say, I think The Turn of the Key has finally gotten me into the Ruth Ware fan club. I can't wait to read what she comes out with next!

I'm assuming from the title and premise that The Turn of the Key is a retelling of a certain drawn out James novel. Actually, I didn't make the connection until I started reading. Maybe it's because I'm older now, or maybe not, but this one held my interest and didn't drag nearly like I was afraid it might once the connection clicked. Ruth Ware gives us a modern day smart home with all the bells and whistles, yet she still manages to give the story a Gothic feel. There is a lot of the mundane, taking care of kids, everyday stuff to get through, but interspersed throughout the story we get strange sounds, drafts, sinister comments, a rather strange family, and a nanny with secrets. Oh, and it's all wrapped up and tied in a pretty little bow with a completely unreliable narrator in Rowan as she tells the story via letters to a solicitor. Smart house or no, I can't imagine reading this one and not feeling the need to occasionally look over your shoulder as you notice all those little noises that houses make. I will add that this one does take a good amount of suspension of disbelief, especially in this age of everything being on the internet. There were a few too many key elements that just couldn't have happened in this day and age. That would normally be a deal breaker for me, but this time it wasn't. Whether is was the writing, which is quite good, the creepy atmosphere, the secrets, or a combination of it all, I enjoyed the read. I also enjoyed the twists. It does take a while to get there, and I did have one figured out, but I still enjoyed them. I think the final twist will receive mixed reviews with some liking it more than others, but I am firmly in the former category. In the end, unbelievable or not, I found The Turn of the Key hard to put down from the very beginning, and I will be checking out more of this author's work.

The Turn of the Key begins with a nanny named Rowan who is writing to a lawyer from her jail cell after being charged with murdering one of the children in her care. From the very beginning, the reader is aware of what ultimately will happen in this story. The question is how do we get there? Rowan writes her side of the story and pleads her innocence. But if Rowan did not murder the child, who did?

This story is set in a creepy house that is rumored to be haunted. And there is definitely a creepy vibe throughout the book. It's not so much scary as it is unsettling at times. The kind of story that might make you start hearing strange noises if you read it alone in the dark. The story started out with lots of intrigue, as the mysteries surrounding the house and its inhabitants are revealed. The house has a history of death and sorrow, the caretakers appear untrustworthy, and the parents are frequently absent. What is going on? That is the ongoing question. Towards the middle of the book, the pacing slowed down and dragged a bit, and Rowan's wandering thoughts about what is going on grew a little tiresome. But it did ultimately pick up in the end with a few twists and turns to keep you guessing (I guessed some but not all of them!).

I enjoyed this book and would give it 3.5 stars, rounding up to 4 stars. It is similar in style to Ruth Ware's previous books, so if you enjoyed those, I would think you would enjoy this one as well! Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

It was a dark and stormy night........ Well, it was a dark and stormy morning when I finished this edge-of-my-seat, gripping, newest novel by Ruth Ware. Ms. Ware is a master of suspense, a master of twisty turns, and a master of my TBR as I'll read everything she writes! The Turn of the Key is an atmospheric whodunnit, what-the-heck-happened tale with a great twist that was occasionally alluded to throughout, until, WHAM, it hit and left me saying "ooooooooh"! Out today, so any of you suspense lovers RUSH to your nearest bookstore or library and get it!

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware is a mystery/mild thriller by an author whom I had never read, but heard plenty about. She descriptions did not lie. This book was first person narrated, mostly in a series of letters to a prospective attorney by a young woman accused of murder, but believed herself to be innocent. Never sent, but discovered by a construction crew years later, the entire story become clear with the inclusion of a couple of incoming letters, stored with the others. It is a compelling story, written by a young woman who was sensible to her core, and yet was beginning to believe in ghosts, based on the things that were happening to her.

Rowan has applied for and received a job as nanny to a family living in a remote area of Scotland. The salary is extraordinary and the living conditions are a dream. The children are a bit overwhelming but she is coping despite all the strange things that are happening. The parents left almost immediately for work trip leaving Rowan to cope with miserable children and a "smart" house, that is slowly driving her crazy. Then the fourteen year old comes home from school and behaves only as a fourteen year-old, entitled girl can. Rowan has decided to come clean to her charges' mother, but puts it off until tomorrow. By then, a child is dead and Rowan's heart is broken.

The detail is riveting. The few other personalities in the story are complicated and pretty much, unexplained. Ware has written a living nightmare and done it so well that the read will not see the end coming. It is masterfully done and wonderfully malicious, and innocent, at the same time. I suggest you read it. If you are not already a fan of Ruth Ware, you will be. I strongly recommend The Turn of the Key.

I received a free ARC of the Turn of the Key. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are my own. #netgalley #theturnofthekey