The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware - August 2020

[Salma]

Ravin wrote: "Just finished it. This book seemed to run like a Shyamalan movie: slow going without a clear focus, and wham, big twist bang in your face, then the end.

Was still enjoyable to go along and see whe..."

Talking about Shyamalan, I'd given up on most of his movies, but just saw Servant on Apple TV- highly recommend!

[Salma]

*****MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*****


So, I agree with a lot of what's been said here. I'd give the book a 4, mostly for voice and language, and yes- I think she did a good job with building suspense. My problem- as everyone else has already mentioned- was that the kids ended up being the culprits...really? That can work- but it has to be done just right. Agatha Christie did it well in one of her books (Ware might have gotten the idea there). The classic movie "The Bad Seed" did it well. Here...no. And the whole thing just seemed so abrupt and just-weird.

But I really loved how she built atmosphere. Rebecca is one of my favorite books, and this house kind of reminded me of a 21st century Manderley :-)

The twist with Rowan being an identity thief was great. Along with Bill being her father (which makes that scene where he comes onto her even more repulsive).

I liked Jack a lot-- until I didn't. I had my suspicions he had a wife/girlfriend when he took Rowan/Rachel out for coffee and the hostess looked at them weird. But the part where he doesn't even call/visit Rowan when she's locked up broke my heart.

I think I'd read another Ware book. But right now, my go-to authors for mysteries are still Tana French and Louise Penny.

[Leena]

I actually guessed Bill would be her father when she tells Rhiannon with utmost certainty that she will not have an affair with him.
But I didn't catch on with the strange look she gets at the cafe. I was actually rooting for a HEA

[sonya]

I’m still reading this on scribd

[Kayla]

I'm at the 25% mark. So far, none of the characters seem to have much of a personality. I feel the only things I know about the main character are her occupation and shower preferences (not too hot!).

Also, not very impressed with the epistolary style.

[Sarah]

Almost done with the book, I'm enjoying it although nothing is overly surprising I have to say. I already can figure out where this one is heading but it's entertaining.

[Eline]

I also didn’t like it. The whole technology explanations of the house where boring and did not help in building the suspension and it felt like 90% of the book was about her taking care of the children. The end also felt really far fetched.

[Lexi]

Could we be a little more careful with using the spoiler tags? Thankfully, I have finished the book, but some of these messages are just flat out spoilers with no warning. It could be pretty disappointing to someone reading the book if that's how they learned the end.

[Sarah]

I just finished the book, I think I would've liked it more if I got an epilogue at the end wrapping up what happened with some of the characters. I also haven't read a thriller in awhile so I didn't catch on to many of the loopholes right away but at the end I found it to be lacking somewhat in explanation. Overall I enjoyed it.

[Leena]

I agree Sarah an epilogue might have put the entire book in perspective and probably help in tying up loose ends.

[Leena]

@Lex I'm sorry our spoilers spoilt your reading experience of this book. Next time around Im going to capitalise Spoiler ahead notification.

[Leena]

happy reading all

[Durgesh]

Just completed the book. The setting felt creepy to me. I am not a horror fan and I was afraid it would turn out to be horror. The suspense, though, built up right to the end, but I didn't like the ending so much. I felt it should have ended in a different way than it did.

[Nadia]

this was my first book by ruth ware that i read and i enjoy this book a lot i finished it yesterday it took me about 2 and a half days to finish it i used scribd to read it and it was so good the last plot twist blew me away because i didn’t see it coming but after i thought about it , it made sense .

[Leena]

Congratulations Nadia and Im glad you liked it.

[Dina1120]

This was a great book, as most of hers are. I can totally see her books as movies as I am reading them.