Member Reviews

I loved this book! It is the story of a young girl who goes to live with a family to take care of their 4:children. There are so many surprises and twists in this story....I loved them all! Rowan is a great lead character, I really felt for her and wanted this all to end well for her. This book is creepy, thrilling, easy to read, haunting, and I didn’t want to put it down! Loved the ending!

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I just finished this book and it was definitely a page-turner! Having just started summer break I could not put the book down, every spare moment I was reading. At first I was a little apprehensive with some of the themes in the book, but that quickly changed as I got further into the book. I was thoroughly surprised continually throughout the book, as the author keeps some good secrets and then sends them out at the most opportune time! I loved Woman in Cabin 10, and this one is just a suspenseful and wonderfully written!

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This story seems so...done. I couldn't get past the poor attempts to replicate The Turn of the Screw. Don't get me wrong--I love Ruth Ware. Just not Ruth Ware trying to write someone else's story.

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Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital ARC of this book. I was very excited when I saw that this book was available on NetGalley for preview. I have enjoyed all the books that Ruth Ware has written, and this new one did not disappoint. As always, I enjoyed the character development in this book as well as the twisty plot. I love books with surprise endings. This book will keep you guessing until the very end.

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Ruth Ware should always be a first-purchase author, especially for collections where thrillers are popular. Another excellent offering.

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Ruth Ware does it again. Read this book in two days. I needed to get to the bottom of Rowan's story. From the time she met the girls, I couldn't out the book down. This borders a supernatural sci fi,but it is not.

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Excellent spooky novel. Think a modern "Jane Eyre" or "Turn of the Screw." Ruth Ware delivers yet again!

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Fantastic book. I was kept in suspense until the end. The story of a young woman looking to get out of her shell and make changes in her life. She moves to a new country in for a job that is to good to be true. As the reader you are taken on a roller coaster with her as she tries to be a nanny to 3 very difficult children that obviously do not want her there. Tragedy strikes and the book is told from the main character’s point of view as she is writing a letter to a lawyer asking for help.

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Ruth Ware gets better and better with each book she writes. I love how in each novel she takes on a different aspect of story, whether it be plot driven, character drive, or atmospheric. This novel reminded me very much of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. Ware does a wonderful job creating a menacing atmosphere that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the end.

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*Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book in return for a fair and honest review.
After not being wowed by The Woman in Cabin 10 last year, I was a little hesitant about trying this one.. It sounded right up my alley though; nanny, house in the woods, etc... Made the right choice and really enjoyed this novel that truly throws the reader a twist at the end. Let's be honest, when you read a lot you are seldom surprised by those "twists", and probably called them back in chapter nine. At least, I do. This one, however, truly caught me by surprise. Great summer read, highly recommended!

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I enjoyed this book. It was a fast-paced thriller with a fairly relatable character. I found some of the content around the house (linked up to be REALLY smart) to be a bit convenient, but I liked the writing and the mystery. The inclusion of the poison garden and the secrets that the main character were hiding were a nice touch. Overall, a nice summer beach-y read!

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I've become a fan of Ruth Ware over the last few years, enjoying her writing style and her first two novels in particular. I wasn't as thrilled with The Lying Game but thought The Death of Mrs. Westaway was more successful. Still, I was excited to get an ARC of The Turn of the Key and was not disappointed.

The novel follows Rowan, a mysterious London-based nanny who is currently in some trouble and writing a letter to a lawyer. The letter -writing felt a bit gimmicky, and much of the time you forget it's even a letter. It's not until the very end that its's clear why this style was chosen. At any rate, Rowan applied for a job in a remote Scotland location. It's clear there is something odd about this situation, but she takes her time revealing it. Once she is there, mysterious and creepy events happen. Is it ghosts? An outside threat? Someone in the family? What happened to get Rowan in such trouble?

As the plot is slowly revealed, tension and a creepy atmosphere are thickly painted on. This was the best part of the story and, I think, something Ruth Ware is very good at. As the ending revealed a series of twists and turns, I was also impressed with my surprise at most of them. They were not obvious, or at least, not until Ware wanted them to be obvious.

So, why only 3 stars? For one, Rowan isn't the most sympathetic character. She's not awful, but nor is she someone I particularly cared about. Her backstory is revealed at the end, making her character development quite thin. Likewise, no one else in the story has much depth at all. There were also plot threads that were never addressed. I could get past this - after all it's a suspense novel, and she got the atmosphere right. However, a couple of the twists, while surprising, end up being completely improbable. This rendered a feeling of "oh please" rather than "oh how disturbing!" which is what the author was going for.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book but it doesn't stand out as one of the best suspense novels I have read - or even one of Ruth Ware's best. The Woman In Cabin 10 still holds that title.

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Another suspenseful page-turner from Ruth Ware, this time a clever modern-day mashup of _The Turn of the Screw_ and _2001_, as brand-new nanny Rowan gets left on her own in an isolated country house that the kids claim is haunted, but which is even more spookily controlled by a "smart" app that also seems to be determined to drive Rowan away.

Being a Ruth Ware book, there are, predictably, several unpredictable plot twists toward the end of the novel. You know something's coming, but Ware does such a good job of leaving crumbs without establishing a clear path that they all feel both surprising and, for the most part, fair.

However, Ware does engage in a bit of a deus-ex-machina "cheat" in conveniently keeping the oldest of the couple's four children--a savvy and snarky teenager--"offstage" at boarding school for much of the novel. This allows Ware to postpone one of the big reveals in a way that does feel a little manipulative.

But overall, this is undoubtedly going to be another bestseller, and for good reason: it's atmospheric and gothic and taps into the reader's anxiety about both the supernatural and the supertechnical.

Many thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review!

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Another winner by Ruth Ware. Full of surprises. Fast paced. Never saw the ending coming.
Really a fine edge of your seat read. Keep them coming, Ms. Ware!

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I've been reading books for so long that it takes a lot to make me gasp audibly. That is what Ruth Ware did with The Turn of the Key. I didn't see the twists coming, and any guesses I made at the beginning of the book were totally off base. I highly recommend this if you enjoyed her first two books, and in general, if you love the mix of thriller and mystery that Ware has become known for.

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Ruth Ware does a fantastic job keeping the reader guessing about whether there are supernatural forces or sinister mortals at work in her novel The Turn of the Key. When Rowan accepts a nanny position at a picture perfect paradise in the remote Scottish Highlands, little does she know that she will be telling her story to a prospective lawyer in a couple months while she awaits her trial for the murder of one of her charges.

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Ruth Ware is a master of the Modern Gothic, and her abilities really shine in this latest novel. It has a slightly darker and more gothic tone than her previous novels, but is equally compelling. I honestly wasn't sure about it at first, but once I started this I could hardly put it down. I loved the way she highlighted the difference between modern technology and traditional gothic within the setting and Heatherbrae House itself. As with her previous novels I couldn't predict the ending, which is on of the many reasons I love Ware's novels. It doesn't come out until August, but if you're a fan of mystery and psychological suspense, you're definitely going to want this one your summer reading list.

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This book kept me interested throughout the whole thing. It was 99% suspense and then ...hurry up wrap everything up in the last 1% of the book. The ending felt so rushed it was like falling or rolling down a hill. It wasn't enough time to process all the information suddenly thrown at you.

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The new nanny, Rowan Caine, has her hands full at Heatherbrae House.

This was my fourth novel by the author and I had to see how this one would compare.

I've read several "nanny" stories and find myself drawn to the whole idea of having someone live in your home and act as a child minder. Rowan gets this "dream" nanny job and finds out that the last several nannies didn't work out.

The house was probably my favorite aspect of the story. It was renovated to be a "smart" home and the owners could spy on all the goings on, turn lights on/off and even ask it to launch an audio book for the children. I kept thinking Alexa controls the day ( no thank you!) Really creepy vibes for sure.

The build-up was quite slow and I wanted more showing than telling and some better developed characters. There is a twist ( and lots of nanny tips), but it really didn't surprise me much at all. The ending was just too rushed with so many loose ends.

I did read it quickly and there is suspense that kept me entertained,

Thanks to NG / Gallery for my copy in exchange for an honest review. Out August 2019
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I think this is a very readable book, but I was not a big fan of the protagonist. Ware does a good job of keeping you interested in what’s going to happen next but, overall, it felt a little convoluted to me..

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