I almost didn’t pick this up, as I didn’t like “The Woman in Cabin 10” very much. I’m glad I gave this author another chance! It was what I needed this week, frankly. The atmosphere was fantastic, I couldn’t stop turning the pages, and the setting of a “Victorian/modern” home was perfect for me, as I absolutely loathe modern trendy home decor. Cement tabletop? Ew.

Anyway, I hated the excessive cussing and especially the Lord’s name taken in vain, which happened a lot towards the end. There was also a needless fornication scene that made me roll my eyes more than anything. It’s just so unoriginal and tiresome that EVERY BOOK needs this stuff. It could have easily been a kiss, but you just HAVE to put the bit of smut in, or something.

Lots of loose ends at the end, a couple silly details, but goodness was it a fun read. Also, may have to research poison gardens now.

Worth a read, especially if you like haunted house tales, or just need to get lost for a few pleasant hours.

Also of note: I didn’t find Rowan very likeable, but I felt I could relate to her - always a bit of a thrill to read about someone caring for children and being interrupted every thirty seconds WHILE caring for children (and being interrupted every thirty seconds). ( )

Ruth Ware appears to have been inspired by "The Turn of the Screw," a Henry James story about a high-strung governess who may have committed murder. Ware gives it a twenty-first-century spin in her thriller, "The Turn of the Key." Rowan Caine leaves London for a high-paying job as a live-in nanny who will care for three girls, ages eight, five, and eighteen months. Rowan's employers, Bill and Sandra Elincourt, are busy architects whose high-tech smart house (controllable via an app), is located in the Scottish Highlands. It will not take long for the heroine to suspect that she may have accepted this position too hastily.

Ware masterfully creates an unnerving atmosphere that, as the days pass, becomes increasingly unsettling. Rowan's necklace inexplicably vanishes, the electronics in the house go haywire in the middle of the night, and the nanny is kept awake by footsteps that seem to originate from an empty space above her bedroom. Bill and Sandra are away on business, so Rowan is thrown into a distressing situation with little preparation. The kids are irascible if not downright nasty at times, and Rowan is annoyed by the ridiculously complicated instructions that Sandra leaves behind in a two-hundred-and-fifty-page binder.

The author keeps us guessing by throwing in numerous red herrings that may or may not be significant. Poor Rowan is, for the most part, left to her own devices, but at least she receives occasional help from a hunky handyman and a part-time housekeeper. In the concluding chapters, Ware goes overboard with no fewer than five twists that require a sizable suspension of disbelief. Nevertheless, in spite of the finale's implausibility and ambiguity--significant questions remain unanswered--we care about this desperate woman who narrates her story from a jail cell. Ware deserves high marks for her smoothly written prose, lively dialogue, vivid imagination, and a wild ending that few readers will see coming.
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Another phenomenal, twisty tale from Ruth Ware! ( )

sucks ( )

Lots of tension and twists to the very end. ( )