Mystery Annotation: The Turn of the Key - Week 7

 

Author: Ruth Ware 

Title: The Turn of the Key 

Genre: Mystery 

Publication Date: May 12, 2020 

Number of Pages: 384 

Geographical Setting: Scottish Highlands, British Isle, Scotland 

Time Period:  21^st Century

Series (If applicable): No 

Plot Summary:

“I am the nanny in the Elincourt case, Mr. Wrexham. And I didn’t kill that child.” A modern day twist on a classic, Ware has done it again and continued her reign as the modern Agatha Christie with The Turn of the Key.

Rowan Caine wasn’t looking for a job as a live-in nanny, until she stumbled across the ad:

WANTED

LARGE FAMILY SEEKS EXPERIENCED LIVE IN NANNY.

COMPETITIVE SALARY, USE OF CAR, EIGHT WEEKS HOLIDAY A YEAR.

HEATHERBRAE HOUSE, CARN. BRIDGE.

Heatherbrae House. A beautiful home, outfitted with all the modern conveniences, a luxurious smart home with a picture-perfect family and a beautiful location: the Scottish Highlands. It was perfect. Except for the rumors and superstitions regarding Heatherbrae House… Writing to her lawyer from prison, Rowan recounts the events that led to her incarceration and takes readers through an eerie, spinetingling journey that ended with a child dead and Rowan herself in prison, awaiting trial for a crime she swears she didn’t commit. From the constant surveillance to the malfunctioning technology that wakes the household in the middle of the night with booming music to the doorknob in the attic that mysteriously turns on its own, and of course, the children, who are not as they seem.

Too late, Rowan realizes she has made a mistake in accepting the position and that her behavior towards the children was not always the best or ideal. She’s certainly not innocent, and she’s not guilty of murder, but someone certainly is…

Subject Headings: 

Murder – Fiction, Fiction – Suspense, Mystery, Secrets, Women murder suspects – Fiction, Social isolation – mystery

Appeal Factors of this book: 

·         Fast paced and intensifying – events unfold rapidly, moving the reader quickly through the story and gradually build in momentum throughout the story, resulting in a gripping conclusion

·         Atmospheric – these books evoke the story’s setting, whether it’s a gothic mansion or small Midwestern town

·         Intricately plotted – these books have intricate, complicated, or elaborate storylines, often involving multiple plots or numerous narrative twists and turns

3 terms that best describe this book:

·         Compelling

·         Suspenseful

·         Spine tingling

Similar Authors and Works (why are they similar?): 

Some of these recommendations came from Goodreads and NoveList. Finding non-fiction works and authors was a bit more difficult than I had originally anticipated but I’m hopeful these will suffice! The relevant fiction works and authors are similar in that they possess the same spine tingling, edge of your seat thrill and suspense found in Ware’s standalone novels. Authors like Riley Sager use intelligent but flawed female characters who are drawn into psychologically demanding dramas, and feature narrators who are unreliable and plots filled with surprising twists and turns.

3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors 

1.    1. Little Girl Lost: The True Story of the Vandling Murder by Tammy Mal

The small town of Vandling is thrust into one of the most ‘intense’ police investigations after 9-year-old Mae Barrett disappears and is later found dead, beaten and mutilated, her throat slashed, her face unrecognizable. Her murder and subsequent disposal shocked the town and held them hostage by fear. Despite not having DNA, computers, or modern forensics, police found themselves a potential killer in 13-year-old Myron Semunchick. He was the image of an all-American boy, but he was also a killer, and he almost got away with it… until he became the youngest person ever to be charged with first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

1.    2. How Now, Butterfly?: A Memoir of Murder, Survival, and Transformation by Charity Lee and Brian Whitney 

A story of a true survivor, Charity takes readers on a journey through intense grief at the loss of her four-year-old daughter, Ella, who was murdered at the hands of her brother, 13-year-old Paris. She takes us through trying to understand why her son would have done something so horrific and questions how she could have missed the signs that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

3.    3.    The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani

The Perfect Nanny is the translated to English version of the French novel, Chanson Douce, based on a true story of a woman who decides to return to work after having children and finds Louise, a woman both she and her husband think is absolutely perfect. But as Louise, Myriam, and her husband become more dependent on one another, other feelings arise, threatening to shatter their idyllic lives forever.

3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors 

1.    1.    Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Jules Larson has just taken a job as an apartment sitter for one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings, the Bartholomew. Ready to leave the past behind, Jules gets to know the other residents and staff and finds herself drawn to another apartment sitter, Ingrid, who confides in Jules that not all is what it seems as the Bartholomew and beneath it lies a dark and menacing history. When Ingrid goes missing, Jules discovers that she is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew and that there is a killer with a sinister motive on the loose. Racing against the clock, Jules must unmask a killer and expose the Bartholomew’s hidden past before her temporary status becomes more permanent.

2.    2.    The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

An 1898 horror novella written by Henry James that inspired Ware’s modern take with The Turn of the Key. A young woman acting as a governess to two very odd children takes a job at a haunted estate where things are not all that they seem. Fiendish creatures seek the children, to corrupt their bodies, possess their minds, and own their souls. Even scarier? The children want these creatures just as badly.

3.  3.    Daisy Darker by Alice Feeny  

A modern twist on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None … Daisy Darker’s family has managed to avoid each other for years – until Nana’s 80th birthday party. Back together again on a tiny, desolate island and with the tide coming in, the family finds themselves cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. As a storm brews and draws near, Nana is found dead and with each passing hour, another family member joins her on the other side. Each member of the Darker family must face their past and present in order to discover who is bumping them off before all is revealed.