Rowan is currently in prison for murdering one of the girls in her care, but she swears she’s innocent. I enjoyed reading a book in this format, and felt it brought some added intrigue to the situation. The Turn of the Key is written as a letter from Rowan to a solicitor she hopes will represent her in her murder trial.I wouldn’t say the book is scary, it’s just got this underlying sense of foreboding like anything could happen at any moment. I was afraid to run across the hall to go to the bathroom at 2 AM. I’d read about a creepy sound and then feel sure I’d just heard that sound in my own house. This book is eerie and dark and tense in a very subtle way that works itself into your very being. Ruth Ware is SO GOOD at the atmospheric, suspenseful feelings.I listened to the audio, and Imogen Church is an amazing narrator.I quickly became very addicted to the story and could not stop myself from reading long into the wee hours of the night. And Riley Sager, author of my favorite creepy building book: Lock Every Door, recommended it to me when I reached out on twitter so I was EXCITED. I really love books set in creepy buildings… and I love them even more if isolation is thrown into the mix, so The Turn of the Key had my name written all over it. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty-at least not of murder. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal.

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 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 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. Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. 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.

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. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss-a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary.

When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. Published by Gallery/Scout Press on August 6, 2019

Ruth ware one by one summary