Praise for Ruth Ware’s instant New York Times bestseller
THE TURN OF THE KEY
Goodreads Choice Awards 2019 Finalist | Starred reviews in Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly | Named one of the best books of the year by Reader’s Digest, the New York Public Library, the Washington Post, Literary Hub, PBS.com, PopSugar, and CrimeReads | Included in HuffPost’s “Best Books to Give as Gifts This Year” and Good Housekeeping’s “Best Books to Give as Gifts This Season” | One of Newsweek’s “Books to Curl Up With This Fall” | One of Buzzfeed’s “13 Thrillers We Couldn’t Stop Thinking About in 2019” | Included in O, The Oprah Magazine’s “23 Chilling Thriller Books That’ll Keep You Turning the Page” | A Library Journal “Essential Title” of 2019
“A superb suspense writer.… Ware is a master at signaling the presence of evil at the most mundane moments.… Ware pulls out a stunner on the penultimate page that radically alters how we interpret everything that’s come before. Brava, Ruth Ware. I daresay even Henry James would be impressed.”
—Fresh Air’s Maureen Corrigan for the Washington Post
“Let’s just say that if you’ve got an Echo, you’re going to unplug it as soon as you finish the book.… What Ware does beautifully is infuse The Turn of the Key with a creepy Gothic sensibility. For all of the novel’s contemporary touches—particularly the house’s malevolent smart technology—she has delivered an old-fashioned horror story, peopled by children with ‘eyes full of malice,’ a dour housekeeper straight out of Rebecca, and an inscrutable handyman.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Ruth Ware—one of our favorite thriller writers—is bringing down the house.… Read it for a fast-paced ride.”
—theSkimm
“This appropriately twisty Turn of the Screw update finds the Woman in Cabin 10 author in her most menacing mode, unfurling a shocking saga of murder and deception.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“A clever and elegant update to [Henry] James’s story.… Surveillance and home technology slot easily into the conventions of horror: They bring the sense that your environment is invaded and controlled from afar, and that you are never quite as alone as you might wish.… The Turn of the Key, and novels like it, point to a new reality. We are all, constantly, haunted.”
—NPR
“Henry James via Black Mirror.… While the ambiguity in James’s masterpiece is ‘ghosts or madness?,’ here it is ‘ghosts or glitch?’ Unlike The Turn of the Screw, however, Ware picks a lane, deploying a satisfyingly dizzying parade of twists and reveals without leaving much unexplained.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB)
“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.”
—Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Time I Lied
“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, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Before
“Pure suspense, from the first gripping page to the last shocking twist.”
—Erin Kelly, bestselling author of He Said/She Said
“Ruth Ware has been called the Agatha Christie of our generation.… The Turn of the Key is a great read. You’re going to enjoy it very much.”
—#1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci for his “Hot Beach Reads: Guilty Pleasures, Popular Books” pick as part of the Today show’s “Best Summer Reads of 2019, according to Top Authors” segment
“If you’ve never spent a long weekend devouring a Ruth Ware thriller on a hammock, this is the summer to start. Her fifth novel, The Turn of the Key, is set in the Scottish Highlands and is as compulsively readable as you would expect a Ware book to be.”
—CBS Watch! Magazine
“Chilling.”
—Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
“Readers, you’ll want to sleep with the lights on (and your Alexa off) after reading this spooky tale from Ruth Ware.”
—Bookish
“All of Ruth Ware’s books have been creepy and deeply mysterious, in other words… awesome! But I think this might be her best one yet.”
—Get Literary
“The Turn of the Key is a brilliantly crafted, chilling suspense thriller. Clues are seeded through the tale like poisonous plants that you only recognize 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, award-winning author of The Burning
“Superb as expected.… Lovely echoes of Turn of the Screw in a contemporary thriller. A master class in tension.”
—Sarah Pinborough, New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes
“Ware’s mastery of the traditional mystery merged with the twisty psychological thriller never fails to impress!”
—Literary Hub
“A classically spooky thriller involving a potentially murderous nanny and a smart house gone wrong in the Scottish Highlands. Ruth Ware is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author, and her fans are legion and loyal.”
—Vox
“Truly terrifying! Ware perfects her ability to craft atmosphere and sustain tension with each novel.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Over the course of four explosive novels—In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway—Ware has established herself as one of the best mystery writers working today, and her streak remains unbroken with this, her fifth novel.”
—B&N Reads
“In Ware’s latest book, The Turn of the Key, she delivers a novel full of twisted tension that will have readers looking at technology a little bit differently.… It solidifies her spot among the greats.”
—Bustle
“Are you attached to your Alexa? Do you control various aspects of your home from your smartphone? Prepare to be creeped out. Ruth Ware’s latest thriller, The Turn of the Key, tells the story of a nanny in a smart home that turns downright harrowing.”
—Bookish
“Breathlessly atmospheric, The Turn of the Key is a deliciously creepy mystery.… Ware’s twist on a classic is sure to be a hit for fans of psychological thrillers.”
—Shelf Awareness
“Straddling the line between horror and thriller, this novel will delight fans of both genres.”
—BookPage
“Ware cleverly puts a high-tech spin on [The Turn of the Screw’s] gothic foundations of spellbinding menace set in a remote cavernous mansion with mysterious locked doors and a spooky garden.… Ware’s James-like embroidery of the strange and sinister produces a Turn of the Screw with cell phones and Teslas that will enthrall today’s readers.… It will not disappoint.”
—Booklist, starred 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.”