Content report card
The Turn of the Key parent’s guide: what’s inside
LGBTQ+ themes
What it offers
Educational value
A note for parents
This is a psychological thriller for adults centered on a child's death and a murder trial, not a book for younger readers. The narrative involves emotional abuse, psychological manipulation, negligence leading to a child's death, and the protagonist's morally compromised behavior. While not graphically violent, the dark themes, imprisonment, and focus on culpability make this appropriate only for mature teens and adults who can handle complex moral ambiguity.
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From the publisher
"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway comes Ruth Ware's highly anticipated fifth novel. When she stumbles across the ad, she's looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss-... "From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway comes Ruth Ware's highly anticipated fifth novel. When she stumbles across the ad, she's looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss--a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten--by the luxurious "smart" home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. What she doesn't know is that she's stepping into a nightmare--one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder. Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn't just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn't just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn't even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant. It was everything. She knows she's made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn't always ideal. She's not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she's not guilty--at least not of murder. Which means someone else is. Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware's signature suspenseful style, The Turn of the Key is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time"-- It seems too good to be true: a live-in nanny post, with a staggeringly generous salary. When Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten by the luxurious "smart" home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. What she doesn't know is that she's stepping into a nightmare-- which will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder. Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn't always ideal. She's not innocent, by any means. But she's not guilty-- at least not of murder. -- adapted from jacket
Shelved under
- Unloveable Characters
- Not Diverse Characters
- Weak Character Development
- Plot driven
- A mix driven
- Strong Character Development
- mysterious
- dark
- tense
- sad
- emotional
- Suspense
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ISBN 9781501188770 · Scout Press