Book Review – The Turn of the Key – Ruth Ware
My Rating – 4 out of 5
Plot Synopsis – Book Review
Rowan Caine is a Nanny, struggling to make it big but with dreams of doing so burning bright within her.
One day, she happens to chance upon an Ad asking for a Live-In Nanny offering an unbelievably good salary at Heatherbrae House in the Scottish Highlands. When she goes for the interview, she’s overwhelmed at the reception she gets, right from the time she debarks from the Train. The house is a luxurious, modern one, though a bit isolated but settled amidst beautiful scenery.
The four children (the eldest teen is away at school at the time) are model ones, cute and obedient. The parents are warm and friendly and seem to like Rowan from the get-go.
Well, when everything seems too good to be true, it probably is…
Rowan gets selected and joins her new post and almost immediately both parents are called away for their respective works. Then, the eerie hauntings begin…. Four Nannies have joined and left in the last 14 months, and one of them has even left a cryptic note.
The “Smart-Home” seems to wake up and play loud music all of a sudden, floorboards creak where there could be nobody, footsteps are heard behind locked doors and it suddenly starts coming apart for Rowan.
The dream job is turning into a nightmare and her only succour comes from the house’s handyman – Jack Grant. But is he who he claims to be?
Then a child is killed and Rowan is arrested. Has her irritations with the weirdly behaving children led her to the dastardly act? Has the eldest daughter’s snooping unearthed some secrets in Rowan’s past? What secrets does the Poison Garden hold?
In trademark suspenseful writing Ruth ware unravells this mystery one string at at a time, no one is who they seem to be, dark secrets come tumbling out as the story hurtles towards a thrilling climax!
Summary – Book Review
It is suspenseful, spooky and mysterious with the House adding its own menace to the ambience. Very well written and the only grouse that maybe found is that the ending leaves a lot more to be desired. But a definite must read!
