The Turn of the Key

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

I know you don’t know me but you have to help me. I didn’t kill anyone.

When Rowan stumbles across the advert, it seems like too good an opportunity to miss: a live-in nanny position, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when she 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 her in a cell awaiting trial for murder.

She knows she’s made mistakes. But she’s not guilty – at least not of murder. Which means someone else is…

'Will hold you captive until the brilliant ending' SHARI LAPENA, author of The Couple Next Door

‘So clever and original . . . Pure suspense, from the first gripping page to the last shocking twist’ ERIN KELLY, author of He Said/She Said

'Creepy, engrossing, and oh-so-hard to put down' JP DELANEY, author of The Girl Before

Full of spellbinding menace, The Turn of the Key is a gripping modern-day haunted house novel.

The addictive psychological thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author Ruth Ware.

Praise for Ruth Ware:

‘Powerfully atmospheric, unguessably twisty…I devoured it’ Louise Candlish, bestselling author of Our House

‘Dark and dramatic...part murder mystery, part family drama, altogether riveting’ A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window

‘One of the best thriller writers around’ Independent

‘Agatha Christie meets The Girl on the Train’ The Sun

‘Dark, unsettling, brilliant’ HEAT

‘Deliciously dark and spooky’ Sunday Mirror

© Ruth Ware 2019 (P) Penguin Audio 2019

Critics Review

So clever and original . . . Pure suspense, from the first gripping page to the last shocking twist
Erin Kelly
Ware tells a cracking tale and, as in her breakout novel In a Dark, Dark Wood, the house itself plays a hugely menacing part in proceedings.
Guardian
An ingenious suspense narrative...Ware pulls out a stunner on the penultimate page that radically alters how we interpret everything that’s come before. I daresay even Henry James would be impressed.
Washington Post
A ghost story for the twenty-first century, a propulsive gothic thriller with characters you’ll really care about. With this book, Ruth Ware proves she’s the true heir to Wilkie Collins. Creepy, engrossing, and oh-so-hard to put down
JP Delaney
Ruth Ware just gets better and better. The Turn of the Key is her most compelling and addictive to date; I read this in a two sitting frenzy, barely able to turn the pages fast enough.
Lisa Jewell, author of The Family Upstairs
Diabolically clever. Twisty and creepy, THE TURN OF THE KEY is Ruth Ware's best book yet. Read with a blanket nearby, because you will get shivers up your spine
The Turn of the Key is a brilliantly crafted, chilling suspense thriller. Clues are seeded through the tale like poisonous plants that you only recognise when it's far too late. Trust no one in this novel except Ruth Ware – she has come up with a totally compelling tale once again
Jane Casey
A masterclass in tension!
Sarah Pinborough
The Turn of the Key is a delicious read — a sympathetic but fallible narrator is accused of a terrible crime. The clever unfolding of her story will hold you captive till the brilliant ending. Vintage Ruth Ware
Shari Lapena
Ware is an accomplished storyteller...compelling... assured neo-Gothic chiller
Irish Times

User Reviews

Book 4.7
Narration 5.0
5.0
5.0
silvie 02/07/2025
5.0
5.0
Hooked from start to finish
Ros7yn 29/09/2022
4.0
5.0
I am a fan of both Ruth Ware and Imogen Church's narration so this book was an easy choice, and one I did not regret! Some of the descriptions and story were so unsettling that I found I had to stop listening when it got dark! The way Imogen Church narrates is so evocative that you feel like you're there watching events unfold.

I was a little disappointed in the ending, but it certainly kept me guessing all the way through!
elleninelle 24/05/2022

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