Ruth Ware | TURN OF THE KEY

Plot (via Goodreads):

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.

Review:

I will never let a Ruth Ware book slip out of my sight, but her books are so much more enjoyable for me in the chillier months, so I had to hold onto this one until after Halloween. I am so glad I did. Something about diving into your favorite authors newest tale when the wind is howling outside and a really hot bath is running is something that just brings my hygge-loving heart into a complete and utter frenzy.

So, hoodies are all out, pajamas are on, and the bath is running and I am obsessed with this one within the first few pages. I just love how every single Ware story is completely different than the others and yet you can just tell you're reading a novel by her. Her writing is immersive, dark, and brutally honest and yet atmospheric with a lyrical prose. I cannot get enough of her books and I immediately look forward to what's next as soon as I finish the current read. So, this one like her other tales is atmospheric and just hits the ground running with the suspense. I think with this one, there was something ominous brewing over the entire novel that I couldn't put my finger on until about three quarters of the way in, but to be shrouded in mystery and had this really paranoid feeling that kept me even more immersed than I planned on.

I loved Rowan and the kids and their interactions. For a novel that kind of starts off really dark and has a lot of dark psychological elements and creepy moments, there were some laughs in some of the things that the children did or said and I found Ware wrote children brilliantly. The secondary characters were effective and were all so mysterious in their own ways. I loved this story and found that Ware really stepped it up with the more creepier moments, especially in which children are involved and urban legends kind of tie into things. The story just flowed brilliantly for me and before I knew it, the revelations were coming out and Ware was wrapping things up flawlessly. I loved the final reveal to this one and read it a few times just to make sure that she really went there. This is definitely one of my favorite Ruth Ware tales yet.

Rating: 5/5