Ruth Ware is a modern day Agatha Christie. She has a way of crafting the most masterful of stories and weaving them into a complex mondern day whodunnit. I always try to play the game of finding out the secrets but thanks to Ms Ware's storytelling I am always surprised. If you are looking for a summer read or a late night thriller look no further than The Turn of the Key.

Review will be posted 8/6/19 on my blog: Always With a Book:

Ruth Ware is hands down one of my favorite writers. I love her writing style - gothic thrillers with amazing twists that just pull you in and keep you hooked all the way through. I've read all her books, having been introduced to her at one of my first BookExpo outings - I actually have a signed copy of one of her books!!! Since then, she is a must read and I feel that like a good wine, she seems to get better with each book.


I absolutely loved this book. I loved the way it was set up - as a series of letters from Rowan to her solicitor while she is sitting in prison. Right off the bat that captures your attention...how could it not? Rowan is sitting in prison awaiting trial for the murder of one of her young charges, yet she claims she is innocent. I felt this was such a brilliant way to frame the story...it built up the suspense ever so slowly as we learn what happened that fateful night.


I loved that while we know that someone has been murdered, we don't know who and we don't know how. The build-up is slow and methodical. Rowan admits in her letters that she has made mistakes and there is a hint that there is more to her than meets the eye, so you already get the sense that she is hiding something here...which I loved. It kept me glued to the pages, desperately trying to figure out just what it could be.


I also loved that Heatherbrae House was like a character itself. I'm all about technology, but this smart house was a beast unto itself. There are cameras everywhere that track of everything and an app that controls everything. It gave me nothing but creepy, eerie vibes. Between being totally isolated and having it's own poison garden...it really added to the overall tension and spooky atmosphere of the book.


This book kept me glued to the pages and while I did guess one of the twists, I did not see the ending coming. I loved every minute of the book and think this now might be my new favorite, though I seem to say that after all her books! I highly recommend adding it to your summer reading list...it's a thrilling, addictive, binge-worthy read that you don't want to miss!

I enjoyed The Turn of the Key so much, it was almost "unputdownable." That hasn't happened to me for a while.

Rowan can't believe her good fortune. She's landed a great paying job at a gorgeous house in the Scottish Highlands, away from all the hustle of the city, nannying for three small children. She's been warned that previous nannies didn't last very long, but that doesn't stop her.

It is a difficult situation, given that their mother and father leave on a trip pretty much as soon as Rowan gets there. The children take a while to warm up to her and give her some problems, but nothing she hasn't dealt with before.

What is even more difficult are the strange occurrences around the house. The footsteps she hears above her room at night, even though she's on the top floor. A locked door that she didn't lock. A disappearing key. And the difficulties of the high-tech system for monitoring and controlling everything in the house doesn't help either.

Ware keeps you guessing, throwing out plausible red herrings over and over again. Who wants Rowan out of the picture? It's not what you think. At least it isn't what I thought! I was totally blindsided by several twists. And that just added to the enjoyment.

If I have one complaint it is that I didn't think the technique of the whole story being told through letters written to a lawyer was necessary. It did make for a unique wrap up at the end, I guess, so no biggie.

I enjoyed The Death of Mrs. Westaway, also by Ware, a lot. But The Turn of the Key was even better. Highly recommended to thriller fans.

This thriller is one of the best - a story that will keep you reading late into the night - one that you want to keep reading, but don't want it to end!
Rowan gets her dream job, a live-in nanny in a beautiful house. But Rowan has secrets and the house has a long history and many nannies have come and gone. Rowan is warned by Sandra, the children's mother, that there have been some unusual occurrences in the home, but Rowan desperately wants the job and as she is not superstitious, is certain that she will love being a nanny there. The plot has such an interesting flow and then boom - a twist you just never imagined.

This book was a ride... it made me wonder at lot if it was going to be paranormal or not throughout the reading...
It was good, she left some interesting crumbs for you to gather and that to me is what makes a good thriller.
BUT I feel like the author left all the juicy twists to the end and it took a little while to the book to get interesting.

Wow! I'm a big fan of Ruth Ware titles and this is no exception. I was a little worried that the haunted house aspect would seem tired and cliche, but the "smart house" angle really made it seem fresh.

Highly enjoyable.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reading copy. Much appreciated.

When I started The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware, I felt the beginning of the novel was a bit rough; however, by the end, I had more appreciation of the story layout. If it were possible to elaborate on that without giving away the ending, I would. The story’s narrator has been accused of murder. She tells her story in a letter to a solicitor—in an effort to secure his services. I’m not a huge fan of the letter/diary entries layout, and thankfully, the “letter” quickly turns into a narrative from the accused point of view.

From the start, readers know that the heroine is up to something. The presumption is she is “up to” securing a fantastic-paying job for which she is not quite qualified. As the tension slowly builds, and the main character, Rowan Caine, is developed, readers are presented with a questionable and not-always-likable narrator.

The setting of an isolated estate is perfect for a creepy, gothic mystery. There is quite a lot of focus on the high tech gadgetry added to a historic estate that is set in the middle-of-no-where Scotland. I found the “smart house” more disappointing than a source of tension. It was a bit like the remake of the movie Sleuth—all the smart, artistic, edgy tension was replaced by technology, and for me, the change ruined it.

While the tension builds slowly in the first part of the book, as the story reaches its zenith, the action and emotions take off. It is at this point that the narrator starts telling her truth. The end is a bit nebulous (again, I won’t spoil the read by discussing that further). The reader gets an answer to the mystery that could be satisfying, but it is left so open to interpretation that I’m not sure I got the ending I wanted. Which begs the question, how often is justice really served?

WOW!!! That’s all I can say about this book. I had expected it to be a typical murder mystery but it was anything but. Rowan answers an ad for a live in nanny in a remote area of Scotland. At first it sounds too good to be true. Very good salary, live in smart home, handsome handyman, and working with kids. Luckily she is not scared easily because the last few nannies did not stay long claiming the house was haunted. Rowan is so excited for the job she does not pay too much attention to the stories. She arrives for work in her first day and finds out the parents are leaving the next day for one week and she is in charge of the kids. Not the ideal way to start your job, but she can handle it. Then she starts hearing noises and things go downhill from there.

I had a very hard time putting down this book. It is written from Rowan’s view in letters to a new lawyer while she is in jail. She claims she did not murder the child. However the last section of the book was completely unexpected. I was blown away. This is a definite 5 star read!

Just finished the new Ruth Ware book, Turn of the Key and it is really good. I really enjoyed how she developed the story, I felt that I got to know the main character, until I didn't know her at all. No spoilers here but this is a story of just how deep adornment cuts and to what ends we will go to try and heal that particular hurt. There were many characters in the book that I liked but didn't like the ending that three of them came too, but the story has to wrap up in a believable way and this one certainly does. I always try to figure out how the story will end and eve when one of the mysteries was reveled, I still couldn't figure it out. This is really worth the time to read ! You will enjoy it!

The Death of Mrs. Westaway was one of my favorite novels last year and The Turn of The Key one of my most anticipated reads this year. After reading both, I undoubtedly believe Ruth Ware has found her niche within gothic suspense and in her latest novel, she's perfectly taken one of the greatest gothic whodunits of all time (and one of my favorite books ever), Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, and reimagined it into a modernized, eerie mystery that is just as subtle and sinister.

Only in Ware's book there's no unnamed governess telling the story of unruly charges and envisioned "ghosts" through her written manuscript but instead a woman named Rowan Caine, a young nanny, explaining her story completely in a letter written to the solicitor she hopes will take her case as she waits in prison charged with the murder of one of the children in her care. Only Ware could have pulled off channeling such a masterpiece as The Turn of the Screw but she's an expert at crafting an ominous, atmospheric setting, haunting darkness, enduring eeriness, the paranormal, an unreliable narrator, and other gothic aspects.

The Elincourt family with their four young daughters and the four nannies who have left under mysteries circumstances certainly would have set me running for the hills, but Rowan is determined to take on the job not only because the money is phenomenal but as readers, we just don't know what her motives are at first, and I admit that I didn't have a clue when they were revealed, so what a shock! Even when Rowan is warned that "the ghosts won't like it" (eek, I would have run far away), she comes back to Heatherbrae House, a technologically advanced house that puts Alexa to shame. Everything in the house is run on technology-the lights, locks, appliances, showers, ordering groceries, and cameras monitoring your every move...

Heatherbrae House, the setting for the novel, is indeed atmospheric as it's located in the remote Scottish moors and I could just picture ghosts and specters haunting the redone Victorian country mansion just like it's rumored to be. As soon as Rowen is settled in and is left alone with the girls her first day (!), strange things immediately begin to happen. Is it Happy, the name of the house's technology gone glitchy? Or is something sinister and ghostly afoot? What happened to the other nannies to make them leave? And why is there a poison garden on the grounds?

The novel is full of seething suspense and as Rowen tells her story in her letters, you can feel her terror and tension escalate until the final night when she tells of the events leading to the death of the child. She still maintains her innocence but someone died, so who is to blame?

As always, Ware weaves a deliciously horrifying tale that kept me riveted to the end. My only complaint is that the ending, the last 20%, was a bit rushed and wrapped things up a bit too loosely. I would have liked more answers and less uncertainty in the ending. Yet, it's Ware, so I loved it and wholeheartedly recommend it!

**Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.**

4.5 stars
The Turn of the Key is my new favorite book from Ruth Ware. I really liked the letters to the lawyer writing style. Ruth Ware does an amazing job of creating a creepy atmosphere. This was a page turner and I had a hard time putting it down. Highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley for my early review copy.

Oh, my goodness, you guys. This book... I am a *new* Ruth Ware fan, I had read "The Woman in Cabin 10" a long time ago and didn't register the name of the author at the time. Fast forwarding a couple of years, I read "In a Dark, Dark Wood," and I was absolutely hooked! "The Death of Mrs. Westaway" is on my second-read list, and is the audiobook I listen to every night... I am absolutely in love with Ms. Ware's ability to literally implant you into her novels, making you not only understand the viewpoint of the narrators, but feel their confusion, anger, desperation.
However excited I was for this book, I was still absolutely blown away by how much Ms. Ware's writing has improved and the absolute ability she has to insert you into the lives of her characters. I didn't think that this new novel could be that much "better" than her previous work, but I was wrong.
Without giving much away I loved how Ruth Ware slowly allowed larger glimpses into the lead character's life and her turmoil. The writing was extremely fast-paced and there was never a point in this book where I thought, well, here's a good place to stop. I literally did not want to put it down. A little supernatural activity, some mystery, a very slight amount of romance, and of course, a death make this one of my favorite books of the summer. I highly recommend this book for anyone that is familiar with Ms. Ware's work, or those that haven't yet found her. You will not be disappointed in this one, I promise!
I was provided an ARC of this book by the publisher and have provided a fair and unbiased review.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Gallery Books for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

What a page-turner! I couldn't put this book down. As soon as I began reading, I was hooked. This book was so full of suspense and I had to know what was coming. Ruth Ware really makes the reader wait until the last possible second to find out what's going on and I think that's the main thing that I loved about the book. I didn't even know which child died or how until the last 5% of the book.

The plot twist in this book was far from predictable, which is so refreshing considering many thrillers/mysteries leave too many bread crumbs and I can easily figure out the ending. But not this time. Rowan, the main character and narrator, takes her time explaining everything that happened to her from the minute she stepped into Heatherbrae, so the reader really has to wait in complete suspense until the ending. I thought the supernatural element was perfect in that old house and also served as a good distraction for the reader.

Ware's description of Heatherbrae is perfect. I could picture the entire house. The way she described the Victorian/Modern styles not coming together just right, the way the smart features were so confusing to Rowan, even the bedrooms and the way the grounds looked. I could see it all. I felt the mother, Sandra, could have used a little more depth, but I think she was supposed to be portrayed as naive.

I want to read all of Ruth Ware's books now. This was the first one I read by her and it did not disappoint.

I will post my review to my instagram and blog on Monday, Aug. 5

I just finished reading this book and I am sitting here stunned. WOW! I sure didn't see that coming.

This new book by Ruth Ware has a very dark gothic feel to it. It is set in Scotland in a house that's an old Victorian house in front and a modern stainless steel and glass house in the back, a totally electronic house controlled by an app called Happy. Like all good old Victorian houses it has a history of death and ghosts in the attic. The title and the premise of the book reminded me of Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The book is written by Rowan, the nanny, to a lawyer as she sits in prison charged with murder. She is trying to explain her innocence to him to entice him to take her case. It goes along like a ghost story with the ghosts trying to scare Rowan away. And then the ending smacks you in the face! There are lots of surprises here that I don't want to even hint at so I won't spoil the story Read it. You will love it.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy. This is my honest review. I couldn't leave a bad review for a book that left me with my mouth hanging open like this one did.

This was SOOOO spooky dooky and the atmosphere was absolutely amazing. There were multiple twists at the end and I guessed a couple of them, which I usually suck at, which brought my rating down a bit.
Overall, I loved this & would 10/10 recommend waiting until Spooky Season with some Spooky Songs in the background to read this one.

This was the other highly anticipated book of the year for me and it did not disappoint!

I read the bulk of this book while on vacation so it took me longer than expected to finish, but if you really sat down and dedicated time to it, you’ll finish it in three sittings tops.

The end is heartbreaking and infuriating for different reasons. This book will leave your emotions all over the place!

I read the last 10% on the plane ride home and when I finished I had to wait a couple hours to message someone to talk about it. It may not seem like a big deal, but trust me, it is.

The writing style was different and yet it worked. The whole book is penned in letter form- which was a little irking at first, but I got used to it.

You feel for the main character, in some parts you want to slap her and in others you want to hug her. I also went back and forth with the handsome handyman- read it to find out why 😉.

Ware does a great job at juxtapositioning the old and new and at creating a creepy yet intriguing story to follow.

Again, the ending will leave you with a gazillion questions.

Short review: this is Ruth Ware’s best work- don’t miss it!

Calling all my fellow #nannylife people!! If you love a spooky edge to your books, like Agatha Christie novels, or have ever watched kiddos in your life this is the book for you. It starts off really quickly. I have loved everything by Ruth Ware and The Turn of the Key was no different.

When Rowen Caine answers an ad for a nannying post she thinks she has found the perfect setup. However, things quickly take a turn she never expected and the book begins by her retelling recent events to her lawyer via letters from a prison cell. How did Rowen end up there? What happened to lead to a death of one of the children in her care? She swears she isn't guilty, but if she's not then who is? Set inside what appears to be a modern day haunted house you will find yourself second guessing each character, trying to put together plot lines you aren't sure you should be following and dropping your jaw when you finally get to the end!

5/5 Stars: The Turn of the Key did not disappoint!! Though I would have liked a little more at the end Ruth Ware's telling of this story will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire read. I finished it in about 2 days, because I just couldn't put it down.

I read Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, and In a Dark, Dark Wood
so I was excited for opportunity to read this ARC.

Letters written to lawyer
Go back to young gal seeing an ad for a dream job
Is it too good to be true?

Suspenseful
I could not stop reading!

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. Creepy house, murder mystery, creepy children, all right up my alley. One star off for a bit of a quiet ending, but I've read enough murder mysteries to know that there really are only a certain number of ways to end one of these books, and they just can't all be super-wow-blow-your-mind endings, just not possible.

Reminded me very strongly of a current-setting "Alias Grace," mixed with the feel/vibe of "The Others" - complete with male grounds keeper, curmudgeonly "mornings only" elderly maid, and 3 children, one of which is just out to get the nanny, and the other gets sucked in.

The element of a "Smart Home" gone awry was really something! I don't think I've read that before, and it felt a bit "Black Mirror" - in a good way (Season 1 good). The way homes are being hooked up nowadays, with buttonless doorbells and door cameras to view/respond while away, lights and alarms and appliances adjusted at the call to a robot hub, cameras in the house - all super ripe for creepy doings and errors.

I've taken care of dogs in a house with cameras, and it was the most unnerving thing. Even though the owners tell you they aren't watching while away, they COULD, and that's the point. How do I know they don't? Felt very uncomfortable, and I can only imagine how it would be with these kids to look after.

One note, since we're in the future at the very end, would have been nice to get a verdict for the result of the letters, no? That's one thing "Alias Grace" did a bit better (duh, Margaret Atwood is going to be better than anything, but hear me out) - the trial and the telling of the tale by an unreliable narrator looking back at the events happened concurrently so you could actually get a sense for how the other big part of the tale turned out. But we can't all be Atwood.

The Turn of the Key was a gripping novel I could not put down. It kept me awake at night as the oddities of the house keep my hair standing on end. I loved the style the story was written in, a retelling to a potential lawyer who may take "Rowan's" case. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 only because I had the culprit figured out well before the end of the story. A spine tingling read all should pick up and enjoy.