Just finished this book and I am still in shock. The story is told as a letter that Rowan is writing from prison to a solicitor, Mr Wrexham, that she wants to hire because she says that she is innocent of murder. Rowan is unhappy in her current position at a daycare and decides to make a big change and move away to become a live in nanny for a family with 4 daughters. The girls’ parents need to go away for work and Rowan is left in charge of all the children on her 2nd day there. She has her ups and downs with Maddie and Ellie, but Ellie seems to be warming up to her and Petra, the baby is giving her a chance too. Rhiannon is a typical fourteen year old, causing trouble and talking back. She also has help from the handyman Jack and the housekeeper, Jean. Strange things start happening in this very technologically advanced house and Rowan is scared and wondering what is going on and who is responsible for all of the strange occurrences. This book was amazing! I was totally thrown by the ending but loved it. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Rating: 3.5

This is my first Ruth Ware book and I was slightly disappointed by the storyline.

The writing was good and definitely kept me reading, but the big twists weren’t big twists for me. Two secrets that came out I knew within the first 20% of the book, one that came out I didn’t guess BUT it was so anti-climatic and the book ended right after that I just didn’t care. That last secret wasn’t really shocking to me, and I just wanted it to be more.

I would still try another of the author’s book, just wish this one hadn’t been a slight let down for me.

This was my favorite Ruth Ware book so far! I really loved the whole gothic/haunted house feel and I didn't figure out what was going on until the end. Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery/Scott Press for allowing me to read this early in return for an honest review.

Loved. This. Book. I feel like it is so hard to have a good, spooky mystery--without the plot twists being unrealistic or too far into the paranormal. However, Ruth Ware managed to write a classic, spooky, "haunted" house novel, without it being cheesy, too unrealistic, or predictable. The different characters were interesting; there were a variety of different layers and twists; and you never felt like you could expect what was coming.

I definitely recommend this novel for anyone that likes the classic "scary house" trope!

Ruth Ware never, ever disappoints. A nanny working in the Scottish countryside. An old victorian house with a past. A poison garden nearby. Could you ever ask for more? I couldn't stop reading it even after waking from a nightmare; a nightmare influenced by reading the book. Well done.

A fun summer thriller! The novel opens with a letter from a notorious nanny convicted of killing a child to a lawyer she hopes can prove her innocence, Rowan is a child care worker who is ready for a change when she discovers an advertisement for a job as a live-in nanny on a remote Scottish estate. After her interview at the posh house, equipped with the latest smart technology, Rowan envisions her life there! She is not daunted by the fact that the family has run through a course of nannies in the past year. She is sure she has what it takes to thrive in this job. Of course, things do not run as smoothly as she had hoped (because then we wouldn't have a story). The children are not as well-behaved as they initially seemed. The smart technology seems to malfunction at every turn. And the house may well be haunted. I did not find Rowan a particularly likeable character; I found myself yelling at her as she made dumb decisions. And the children included a few "bad seeds." But the twists and turns late in the novel did not disappoint. Readers familiar with The Turn of the Screw will see some parallels. Pick this up for a quick and enjoyable thriller.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Gallery/Scott Press for a free copy for an honest review.
Rowan Caine applies for a live-in nanny post at Heatherbrae House in the Scottish Highlands. She is now writing to her lawyer in prison as the nanny position turned into a nightmare.
I have read all of Ruth Ware's books but I think this one is the best so far. I read it in one sitting as I found it unputdownable. The characters are very believable and the plot is ghostly and unsettling. The surprise ending left me speechless. I find Ruth Ware to be an excellent storyteller and the book was well-written. I look forward to reading her next book and I would highly recommend this book to those who love suspenseful mystery thrillers.

I was so excited to delve into Ruth Ware’s latest book. I recently read how her books are essentially modern gothics, and when I consider this – YES, that is precisely what I’ve enjoyed about them and couldn’t put my finger on. This latest book is I think the most gothic of them yet, and also my favorite so far.

A secluded house, a narrator who seems a little too perfect, and a setting that is an unsettling paradox, a contrast of both Victorian country manor and technologically hooked-up Smart House. Oh, and there are local ‘murmurings’ about this house’s past. Say no more, I was in.

Without saying too much, as it is a mystery/thriller sort of book and those can be so easily spoiled, this is another win from Ware, for me. I enjoyed the remote Scottish setting. I enjoyed her sort of conversational voice, present in all her books, that makes them all so readable for me. There’s a smattering of “today” in them too, like when the protag in this book forgot a book to read and her phone’s died so her Kindle app is inaccessible. Very relatable.

Another thing is the pacing. The book moves along rather quickly, and yet – we know from the first couple pages someone died. But the book stretches on and on, the plot racing towards 100% on my Kindle, and I’m going Oh my god that hasn’t happened, so what IS gonna happen? for the entire duration of reading. That’s an excellent book, keeping you alert and wondering, keeping you flipping towards the end. There were also several plot twists of varying sizes, and I have to say I did not see many of them coming, a rarity as a seasoned mystery reader.

The one thing I will say is, this book did not really work as a believable epistolary. The whole thing is told via letters to a solicitor, and the level of detail required to, well, comprise a complete novel, didn’t ring as true to what you’d sit down and pen to someone. That said, the format lent the ending a lot more OOMPH than it would otherwise read.

A combination of plot coolness and those Gothic vibes, Ware’s reliability as a good storyteller for me, and sheer kept-me-reading-ness adds up to a solid five stars for me.

First of all, just a word of thanks to Scout Press/Simon & Schuster as well as netgalley.com for an advanced copy of this novel for an unbiased review of this novel.

I'll begin by saying, I am a fan of Ruth Ware and her novels. All of them have been decent reads, but a couple of them (In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10) were well-written stories that made you wonder how it would all end. Although The Turn of the Key was, in my opinion, as interesting as Ware's other novels, this book had a great ending that made me shake my head and say "Wow, I wasn't expecting that."

The novel begins with our main character, Rowan, becoming a nanny for three girls in a mansion-type home in Scotland. The parents of the girls have had trouble keeping nannies to stay, and that, along with other unexplained "bumps in the night" make Rowan begin to think the house is haunted. Add this to the fact that the house has been equipped with high-tech lights, cameras, etc., that Rowan isn't sure the parents aren't continually watching her every move.

Ruth Ware does her usual job, as the story continues, of making the main character seem to question herself ("What's going on in the attic?"; "I didn't remember seeing the key behind the washer when I looked before."; etc.). However, what makes Ware an excellent story-teller is how she is able to tie all the loose ends up and gives the reader an ending to both think about later on and to enjoy.

Again, well-written and an enjoyable thriller.

I received an e-ARC of The Turn of the Key from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Rowan Cain is a former nanny, in prison awaiting her murder trial and writing to Mr. Wrexham, a solicitor advocate she is hoping to engage to defend her. She wants to explain the entire story from the beginning, as telling it in pieces has led to misunderstandings with investigators and her assigned advocate.

Rowan wasn't even looking for a job when the advertisement for a nanny post came up in her Google search results, but the ad seemed almost too good to be true. A high paid nanny position caring for four young girls in a beautiful but remote high tech smart house in the Scottish Highlands. She applies for the job and gets an interview and subsequently gets the job. The couple who hires her, the Elincourts, are desperate for a nanny to immediately start as they have recently run through a series of nannies. The job ends up not being what Rowan expected - the Elincourts immediately leave her alone with the girls to attend a conference. That's when the trouble starts - the children are hostile, items appear and disappear, music blasts out of the speakers in the middle of the night, the door bell rings and no one is there, and above Rowan's room is the creak, creak, creak sound of someone pacing back and forth in the dead of night. As the bizarre occurrence stack up, Rowan becomes increasingly on edge.

The Turn of the Key is an engaging, slow-burn of a novel that is part twisty whodunnit and part creepy haunting tale. So often the problem with this genre is that you can see the end coming from a mile away. That was not the case with The Turn of the Key. I recommend this novel for fans of creepy suspense.

I have been a Ruth Ware fan since the beginning, with In a Dark Dark Woods. This new book definitely did not disappoint me. Great plot and storyline. Characters are well written. Will be waiting for Ruth to write another hit book.

This book was interesting to say the least. I am to the point where I will read anything written by Ruth Ware since her books are always entertaining.
This book is about Rowan who is jail for murder. She is writing to a lawyer to try to convince him to represent her. In the letters, we learn that Rowan was a nanny and she began nannying for a rich family in a remote mansion in Scotland.
This book had a lot of good twists and was quite suspenseful, however I feel like the ends weren't tied up properly. I still have a lot of questions about what happened.
It's a good thriller and definitely kept me interested, but I wish there was another chapter or an epilogue to better sort out what happened.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for this ARC, out August 2019!

This is the third book that I've read by Ruth Ware, and I feel like she just keeps getting better. I liked The Woman in Cabin 10, and loved In a Dark, Dark Wood, but The Turn of the Key blows both of them out of the water in my opinion. What begins as a supernatural thriller turns into much, much more and kept me hanging until the last page. I honestly could not put this book down, and when I had to I was just counting the minutes until I could pick it up again. The narration style of this was an interesting one, and I think that it added a lot to the overall story. All of the twists and turns that you expect from Ware are there, and are even more amped up in some cases. I felt a little let down at how the ending wrapped up, but it was also satisfying in a way, and this would be more of a 4.5 for me because of that. I couldn't tell if I was angry or just sad by the end with how everything turned out, but this was truly a ride that thriller fans are going to love.

Another great release from Ruth Ware. This story keeps you guessing until the bitter end, and has you constantly questioning what is real and what is not. A fun, fairly quick read.

This was a solid read. I am not sure how I feel about knowing the ending so soon and I wasn't super attached to the kids but it was creepy in all of the best ways. I do have a love of Ware's writing and her storytelling.

Ruth Ware's The Turn of the key was quite an exciting experience to read. The pace was quick and the suspense was palpable. I found myself not wanting to read this when I was home alone because it was all so very creepy throughout the whole book. The twists were wonderful and not something I figured out immediately. While there were a few details that didn't quite add up I was willing to overlook them because the rest of the book was so suspenseful.

A young, 27 year old woman lives in London and works at Little Nippers. While online looking at something else, she sees an advertisement for a live-in nanny in the isolated Scottish highlands. The money is unbelievable! She decides that she wants this interview very, very much. Without giving anything away, I would say that this is a very spooky, atmospheric read. If you've read the Turn of the Screw, you'll have an idea of the flavor of this book with a modern twist: a smart home. Doors, curtains, shower heads and water temperature, lights are all controlled from a small pad in the room (or from a cell phone or iPad with permissions). There are cameras and speakers everywhere. I finished this the first night my husband was away from home, maybe not the best thing...yikes (but in the best way)!
Thank you, Ruth Ware for the adrenaline!
#Netgalley

Ruth Ware is nothing if not prolific, which always makes me nervous as a reader (Can someone really churn out novels at this pace and keep the quality sufficient? Eek!)

Fortunately, Ware appears to be defying my expectations about overly prolific authors, as her work has for the most part gotten better rather than worse since her first novel was published. I didn’t like The Lying Game, but otherwise Ware’s books have been a case study in honing your craft as your career progresses.

The Turn of the Key is a bit different than Ware’s previous novels. This is modern gothic at its finest, a delight for readers like me who love creepy house/creepy kids/creepy domestic staff tropes. This book had ALL of those along with the stellar pacing and high suspense we’ve come to expect from Ware.

This one was a standout for me among Ware’s work because of the exceptionally rendered high gothic atmosphere. The book also had a good (semi-surprising) solve and employs Ware’s signature gleefully flippant tone, which I find to be a delightful way to lighten a mystery with content that could have become too heavy if handled differently.

Well done as usual, Ms. Ware.

I could not put this book down. But the ending has left me haunted. I may come back and change my stars, but right now I will stick with the three. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced reader copy. I thought the story was excellent.

This is the best book I've read all year! Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. Let me say that I have been anticipating this book for a while, as all of Ruth Ware's books have been amazing, and it did not dissapoint. The idea of a thriller set in a older home with smart home capabilitie is brilliant. Let me say that it had me guessing and I did not expect that ending, at all. It is rare now to read mystery/thrillers where the ending is not obvious but this book was an exception. Well done!