From Powells.com
Hot new releases and under-the-radar gems for adults and kids.
Staff Pick
Ruth Ware pens a riveting Gothic ghost story set in the Scottish highlands, giving a nod to Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, and ratcheting up the suspense. Rowan desperately wants the nanny position at Heatherbrae, but when she gets it she's not prepared to care for three small children 24/7. And what is going on with the house? Things keep disappearing and reappearing, there are noises coming from the attic, and what about that garden of poison plants? Ware knows how to write herself up to the very edge of the cliff, and then gracefully make her way back again, a talent that is pretty rare. Full of lies, danger, and hauntings, The Turn of the Key will keep you up past your bedtime — racing your way to the end — complete with a few jaw-dropping moments! Loved it! Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Ware's James-like embroidery of the strange and sinister produces a Turn of the Screw with cellphones and Teslas that will enthrall today's readers... it will not disappoint." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"Truly terrifying! Ware perfects her ability to craft atmosphere and sustain tension with each novel." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Ware hits another one out of the park. Fans of hers or anyone with a taste for the disturbing will stay up late devouring this." Library Journal (Starred Review)
Review
"Ware does a good job of creating tension... But above all, Ware skillfully lays the bread crumbs to the novel's satisfying conclusion... [that] leaves readers with one final, haunting question, one that will stay with them long after they turn the last page." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
About the Author
Ruth Ware worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer. She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the #1 The 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. Visit her at RuthWare.com or follow her on Twitter @RuthWareWriter.