The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense, Gothic noir
Read: 27th July 2020
Published: 2nd April 2020
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
When Rowan comes across the advert, it seems too good to be true: a live-in nanny position, with an extremely generous salary.
What she doesn't know is that she's stepping into a nightmare – one that will end with her in a cell awaiting trial for murder.
She knows she's made mistakes.
But she's not guilty – at least not of murder.
Which means someone else is...
MY REVIEW:
WANTED: Large family seeks experienced live-in nanny.
ABOUT US: We are a busy family of four children, living in a beautiful (but remote!) house in the Highlands. Mum and dad co-run the family architecture practice.
ABOUT YOU: We are seeking an experienced nanny, used to working with children of all ages, from babyhood to teens. You must be practical, unflappable and comfortable looking after children on your own. Excellent references, DB check, first-aid certificate and clean driving licence are a must.
ABOUT THE POST: Mum and dad work mainly from home and during those periods you will have a simple 8 - 5 post, with one night a week babysitting, and weekends off. As far as possible we arrange our schedule so that one parent is always around. However, there are times when we may both need to be away (very occasionally for up to a fortnight), and when this occurs, you will be in loco parentis.
In return, we can offer a highly competitive renumeration package totalling £55,000 per annum (gross, including bonus), use of a car and eight weeks' holiday a year.
Applications to Sandra and Bill Elincourt, Heatherbrae House, Carn Bridge
This is my third book by Ruth Ware so I know how accomplished she is at creating a creepy atmosphere...and THE TURN OF THE KEY did not disappoint. It is a dark and twisted thriller that is both compelling and haunting, pulling me from the first page and had me completely absorbed from start to finish.
Right from the beginning there is an intense sense of foreboding as the story opens with a series of letters written by Rowan Caine to a lawyer she is pleading with to take on her case as she sits in prison awaiting trial for the murder of a child. It is essentially a slow burn (which I don't normally favour) but the tension is palpable and the intensity increases with fervour as the story slowly unfolds. She tells him she is innocent and needs his assistance to help plead her case. The entire book is cleverly told in a series of letters, mostly by Rowan to the lawyer Mr Wexham, as she relates her story by providing a detailed account of her time at Heatherbrae.
Rowan Caine is 30 years old, working as a nanny in a London nursery and flatshares with her friend Rachel. She enjoys her job but is unfulfilled as she was passed over for the promotion she had been hoping for when Rachel left the nursery to travel. When she comes across an ad online seeking a nanny to live in the remote highlands of Scotland, it sounds too good to be true. The house is beautiful, the family lovely and the pay is beyond anything she could imagine. She sends off an application and is both surprised and thrilled to be offered the position.
When she arrives in Carn Bridge and the Gothic Victorian house that is Heatherbrae, Rowan hits the ground running when she learns that Sandra and Bill are leaving the following morning for a week long conference of meetings, leaving her solely in charge of Maddie (8), Ellie (5) and toddler Petra, whose age is not really mentioned but it is alluded to "the terrible twos". The fourth, 14 year old Rhiannon, is away at boarding school in Inverness and comes home at weekends.
However, what she isn't prepared for is the 250 page manifesto manual detailing the children's every routine from dawn till dusk, mealtimes and bedtime, school and play time. She has barely had time to read any of it before she is thrust into control of caring for the three children, which gets off to a rocky start. When their parents leave, Ellie is inconsolable and refuses Rowan's ministrations. Maddie is nowhere to be seen and Petra appears to take a perverse pleasure in flinging porridge and all kinds of food stuffs at her new nanny. Added to that, Rowan must also master the smart panels that control every door, every light, every bathroom and every appliance from coffee to music to heating to cooling as well as the Happy app which allows her to order groceries and monitor the children via camera. Stalkerish, much. Sandra had proudly informed her that their house was a "smart home" but Rowan couldn't help but find it more than a little creepy. She was relieved, however, to find that the utility room door at the back of the house was locked with a traditional brass key.
What Rowan doesn't know is that Heatherbrae has a haunted past. More than one child has met their fate here and it is insinuated that their ghosts, and of one such parent, haunt the hallowed halls of Heatherbrae. And then there are the nannies...several of whom have left suddenly without so much as a word, despite the job paying well.
From the first night, dark and disturbing events begin to take place. Creepy noises could be heard above Rowan's room, despite her being on the top floor. Things going missing. A disturbing drawing found in her bedside drawer with the beginnings of a letter to other nannies from the previous one. Creaking floors, secret attics, ghost stories, mysterious deaths, creepy dolls, runaway nannies. Then the state of the art technology that envelops the house suddenly takes on a life of its own and Rowan has no way of overriding it and restore calm to this creepy house.
Then Rhiannon returns home from school and, whilst she may be ready for the usual teenage angst, nothing can prepare her for the match she meets in the 14 year old.
Told entirely through a series of letters by Rowan herself (bar for the penultimate climax), THE TURN OF THE KEY is a cleverly written tale with an unreliable narrator that the reader must discern is telling the truth or not. Or has she just gone mad? That possibility is alluded to on a few occasions by 8 year old Maddie - "being alone can make you go mad". Rowan insists that she doesn't believe in ghosts but what else is there to explain the strange goings on? Or is she truly going mad? And throughout the entire book, we are left thinking "who is it that Rowan is supposed to have killed"?
There are but a handful of characters in the story. There's Rowan, of course; Jack, handyman-come-driver (who is no groundskeeper Willie); the children, Maddie, Ellie, Petra and Rhiannon; Jean McKenzie, the cleaner who comes in twice a day; and of course, Sandra and Bill Elincourt. But the greatest character of all is Heatherbrae House itself. The Gothic Victorian structure, that Sandra and Bill had gutted and rebuilt complete with state of the art technology to run their home with, is a character in its own right with an atmospheric personality all of its own.
Compelling dark and twisted, THE TURN OF THE KEY has an intense sense of foreboding that creates such an atmosphere, making it an addictive and gripping tale to read. The format was so different and yet so clever, it draws the reader in that you actually feel as if Rowan is writing to you.
THE TURN OF THE KEY has so many layers to it that unravelling all the twists and red herrings thrown in made it one completely addictive read! I can usually guess many twists buried deep within but I didn't see these ones coming! I may have had the odd suspicion but nothing prepared me for their big reveals. And that made the twists even more delicious.
I love how the story is framed within letters to a solicitor. The recounting and retelling of the tale worked so well. Ruth Ware's ability to create such an atmosphere that is so vivid and so hair-raisingly suspenseful that it had me eternally grateful that I didn't live in an entirely "smart home" that was smarter than me. Yes, I have the odd "smart" item here and there...but nothing so creepily on this scale!
Unlike many others, I loved the ending. And usually, I hate vague conclusions with no closure. But in true Ruth Ware style, it is left ambiguous for the reader to form their own opinion...but for me, the outcome was clear. Although part of me wanted more, I also felt it was a clever touch to conclude on. But then, all opinions are relative.
I was immediately immersed within this creepy atmospheric tale and I could not turn the pages quick enough. I thoroughly enjoyed THE TURN OF THE KEY and I would have to say so far, that this is my favourite Ruth Ware book!
I would like to thank #RuthWare, #NetGalley and #RandomHouseUK and #VintagePublishing for an ARC of #TheTurnOfTheKey in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer. She is married with two small children, and In a Dark, Dark Wood is her début thriller.
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