Book Review | The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

When Rowan came across an advert for Nanny position, she could not believe this too good to be true opportunity. Next thing she knows, she is hopping on a train to Scotland for the interview, and there she encounters the Heatherbrae House and is mesmerized by the perfect beauty of house, scottish highlands and the Elincourt family. 

But every good thing comes with a price, and Rowan realizes that when she spends more dark and haunted nights in that tech enabled Victorian house. 

Is it truly haunted or it is just an old man’s tale?

Now on remand for a murder she did not commit, Rowan goes back to her whole encounter and tries to reflect upon this very mystery.

MY THOUGHTS

‘The Turn of the Key’ is my first introduction to Ruth Ware and has to be my second or third mystery/thriller of 2019. And I have to say, the best thing about this book, hands down is Ruth’s writing style and the format with which the whole story is being narrated. Her ability to create such atmospheric and creepy scenes with that much clarity makes her a very talented writer in this specific genre (house thriller). I really loved the way she described the house, all polished and advanced on the surface, yet rusty and creepy to the very core.

“There was a strange feeling of split identity too—as though the house was trying hard to be one thing, while Sandra and Bill pulled it relentlessly in the other direction, chopping off limbs, performing open-heart surgery on its dignified old bones, trying to make it into something against its own will—something it was never meant to be, modern and stylish and slick, where it wanted to be solid and self-effacing”

Now as much as I loved the way it was conveyed, this book took a very long time to actually get into exciting parts of the plot. It started out very slow, as we got into the very detailed narration of Rowan’s experience of starting out her job with Elincourt family. Author spent a very large portion of the book with all the descriptions to create a visual story for us to experience. I loved the payoff but getting there was quite slow in some places.

Now coming to the actual ending - I was quite underwhelmed by it. Not because of the ending itself, but rather the abruptness of that ending. The last 10% of the book felt quite rushed and we did not spent much time with all the explanations of what happened. I would have loved to explore that part a little bit.

Overall, I really liked the book, and the short chapters made the book quite easy to read, even when it was slow.

Definitely a great intro to this new author, will be picking her other work for sure!

Did you read any mystery this month? How was it? Let me know in the Comments below!