The Turn of the Key
Ruth Ware, 2019
Mystery, thriller & crime Contemporary fictionLiterary fiction
A nanny takes a job in a smart house where the children are watched by cameras, and the past refuses to stay quiet.
Feels like serenity. About society.
A page from the book
The line works as a thesis for the epistolary thriller: the narrator’s voice is both evidence and defence.
People do go mad, you know, if you stop them from sleeping for long enough... Ruth Ware.Ruth Ware is the pen name of Ruth Warburton, who also writes YA fantasy under her real name—after days as a waitress, bookseller and press officer.
Books that feel like this
More by Ruth Ware
In a Dark, Dark Wood
Ruth Ware, 2017
In a relentless search for answers, a disgraced journalist finds herself trapped in a sprawling, isolated estate where reality feels fragile.
The Woman in Cabin 10
Ruth Ware, 2016
A travel journalist on a luxury cruise sees a woman go overboard—but no one believes her, and no passenger is missing.
The It Girl
Ruth Ware, 2018
A journalist navigates a toxic literary community where perfect facades crumble into dark secrets. The fragile line between reality and fiction is always paper-thin.
Where to get it
Some of these links earn us a small commission, at no cost to you. It keeps BookFeed free.
Questions readers ask
- What is The Turn of the Key like?
- Feels like serenity. About society.
- What should I read after The Turn of the Key?
- If you liked The Turn of the Key, try The Last Thing He Told Me (Laura Dave), The Housemaid is Watching (Freida McFadden) and Silence (Becca Fitzpatrick).
A taste of the feed
How a tragedy hides inside an ordinary Tuesday.
This is the terrible thing about a tragedy. It isn’t with you every minute. You forget it, and then you remember it again.
The Last Thing He Told Me · Laura Dave
How many forks does it take to make a dinner party feel dangerous?
By the end of this night, if I have not stabbed Suzette with one of these forks, it will only be because I’m not sure which one to use to do it.
The Housemaid is Watching · Freida McFadden
The childhood game you’d play in a place that now frightens you.
I stood at the foot of the sloping bridge, gripping the stone wall for support. I was sure the maybe-officer had seen me, but I moved into the shadows of the trees bowing over the river’s edge anyway. From my peripheral vision, the black water of the Wentworth River glinted. As kids, Vee and I had crouched under this very bridge, catching crawdads from the riverbank by inserting sticks speared with hotdog pieces into the water. The crawdads had fastened their claws to the hotdog, refusing to let go even when we lifted them out of the river and shook them loose in a bucket.
Silence · Becca Fitzpatrick
Read pages from books like this, one at a time
Keep reading in the feed