The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

I don’t know if you’ve gotten the memo, but Halloween is now a season and it starts in September. Understandably, this has caused me to move on from my cutesy rom-com reading phase, to diving head first into bone-chilling, skin crawling, monsters lurking in the woods territory. I’m getting ready to start reading The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup (right after I submit this post) and I plan on snatching up The Institute by Stephen King this weekend. Am I ready to have the pants scared off of me? I was born ready.

For the month of September, my book club selected The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware (per my suggestion.)

I’ll be totally honest here; I find Ware’s novels to be either hit or miss. I absolutely loved her first two books, In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10. They were satisfyingly creepy and left me with an anticipatory excitement throughout the entirety of their stories. But The Lying Game and The Death of Mrs. Westaway fell flat. In fact I quit The Death of Mrs. Westaway about three-fourths through, and didn’t get passed the first fifty pages of The Lying Game. However, I believe in redemption, and I was not disappointed this time around.

I have to give Ware props where they’re due. She has a distinctive writing style when it comes to sharing the thoughts and imaginings of her main characters. Ware makes her readers constantly question the reliability of her protagonists. Are they delusional? Are they being framed? Are they psychotic? Are they pathological liars? Half the fun of reading her books is not being 100% sure about buying into the information being presented at face value. The plot of the three I’ve finished kept me guessing until the very end; thankfully The Turn of the Key is up to par with Ware’s former successes.

Rowan Caine is a young Londoner whose stumbled upon a fortuitous opportunity. She’s found an open nannying position for an English family in the Scottish Highlands, with an extremely generous salary. Upon accepting an interview on site, she’s charmed by the picturesque countryside and the renovated mansion decked out in the latest smart technology. Everything Rowan could possibly need or want is right at her finger tips. It’s all almost too good to be true…

In fact, it is too good to be true. After discovering that the nannying position has been abandoned by a plethora predecessors Rowan begins to worry, unsure of what conditions caused them to flee. After hearing stories related to the unfortunate history of the house and the insinuations that it’s haunted, Rowan chalks the former nannies leaving up to paranoia and country superstition. She decides to pay the silliness no mind and accepts the job offer immediately. With very little forewarning Rowan’s employers, Sandra and Bill Elincourt, leave Rowan with her three charges after her first day of training, with the promise of being back in a week or two.

It’s mutiny from the beginning. Maddie, a somber and frankly creepy eight-year-old, makes no secret of her immediate dislike of Rowan. Vindictive and vicious, Maddie does everything within her power to push Rowan over the edge. From spitting in Rowan’s face to deceiving her and tattling to Sandra, Maddie creates a most unwelcoming work environment. Ellie, an angelic looking five-year-old with abandonment issues and a fierce loyalty toward Maddie, is bent on disliking Rowan out of principle. She attempts to mimic her sister’s hateful behavior, making it difficult for Rowan to work her way into Ellie’s good graces.

Additionally, Rowan starts to believe there is something to the rumors of ghosts in the house. In the night, she hears the creaking of a wooden floor…except there are no wooden floors in the house. Unless it’s located behind the mysterious locked door in Rowan’s bedroom. But Rowan isn’t sure if she’s going crazy or if someone or something is messing with her mind.

As Rowan’s own deceptive reasons for coming to the Elincourt estate reveal themselves, a very different kind of scary story materializes. One far more twisted than ghosts and creaking floors in the night….

Ruth, you’ve made your comeback, girl! I LOVED this book. It stays true to Ware’s style of keeping the reader guessing until the very last chapter. Literally, the last chapter is where everything is revealed. Rowan’s not an especially likeable protagonist (there were a few times she freaked out about something Maddie did, and as a teacher I thought This kind of behavior from a child is called Tuesday for me) but the reader begins to understand her more as the book progresses.

Ware’s other two books I highly recommend are:

Hope you enjoy those bumps in the night!

Happy & healthy reading!

Lexi