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.
Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, The Turn of the Key is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.
Book Info: Print length: 337 pages. Publisher: Vintage Digital. Publication Date: 8 Aug 2019. Listening length: 12 hours 15 mins. Narrator: Imogen Church.
My Thoughts:
Having recently read and loved One Perfect Couple (see my review here) I realised I hadn’t read many of Ruth’s books since In A Dark, Dark Wood in 2017 and vowed to correct this oversight by using my audible credit and listening to The Turn of The Key, beautifully narrated by Imogen Church.
Rowan Caine is our narrator and she begins her story from a prison in Scotland. She’s writing to a lawyer to try to get him to represent her in her upcoming trial for murder of a child. Rowan swears she’s innocent, despite the evidence and public opinion and she needs to get the full story in writing to try to prove her innocence.
Rowan slowly begins at the start of this nightmare by detailing all the weeks prior to this awful tragedy which starts when she sees an advert for a live in nanny in a remote house in the Scottish Highlands. With a HUGE salary and 3 young children to look after (the eldest being away at Boarding School), she applies for the job and is delighted when she gets it.
Heatherbrae House is owned by Sandra and Bill Elincourt, successful architects who need a new live in nanny after the 4 previous nannies left rather quickly… (alarm bells anyone?). The Elincourts have turned their home into a state of the art Smart Home with an app that controls EVERYTHING, from the front door and lights to the contents of your fridge, to the heating and temperature of your morning shower. With full CCTV camera’s throughout, this house is watching your every move (still no alarm bells?).
Upon arriving for her first day in her new post, the Elincourts announce they have to leave the next morning for work and won’t be back for at least a week, leaving Rowan in charge of the 3 little girls, 2 rowdy dogs and a house that seems to have a mind of its own.
The narrator slowly retells her side of the story leaving the reader/listener seriously spooked by a series of events, not to mention the children are a bit “odd”, the handyman Jack a bit “friendly”, the housekeeper a bit “nasty” and the Elincourts a bit “weird”.
There are themes of ghosts and the supernatural running throughout the story which give a really uncomfortable and atmospheric edge and there are several characters in the book who were really despicable, especially the oldest daughter who returned from Boarding School and behaved appallingly.
It isn’t until towards the end of the story that we find out what happened on that fateful night, and it’s heart-breaking to read/listen to.
What I initially thought to be a spooky, gothic style tale set in an atmospheric, creepy high tech mansion in the middle of nowhere, turned out to be a very clever psychological thriller which I absolutely did NOT see coming.
Thoroughly enjoyed this and will be reading the rest of Ruth Ware’s back catalogue soon.
