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  • Published: 8 August 2019
  • ISBN: 9781473568211
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 12 hr 16 min
  • Narrator: Imogen Church
  • RRP: $24.99

The Turn of the Key

From the author of The It Girl, read a gripping psychological thriller that will leave you wanting more




Full of spellbinding menace, The Turn of the Key is a gripping modern-day haunted house thriller from international bestseller Ruth Ware.

Brought to you by Penguin.

'Will hold you captive until the brilliant ending' SHARI LAPENA, author of The Couple Next Door
‘So clever and original . . . Pure suspense, from the first gripping page to the last shocking twist’ ERIN KELLY, author of He Said/She Said

I know you don’t know me but you have to help me. I didn’t kill anyone.

When Rowan stumbles across the advert, it seems like too good an opportunity to miss: a live-in nanny position, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when she 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 her in a cell awaiting trial for murder.

She knows she’s made mistakes. But she’s not guilty – at least not of murder. Which means someone else is…

'Creepy, engrossing, and oh-so-hard to put down' JP DELANEY, author of The Girl Before

Full of spellbinding menace, The Turn of the Key is a gripping modern-day haunted house novel.

Pre-order this addictive new psychological thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author Ruth Ware today.


Praise for Ruth Ware:

‘Powerfully atmospheric, unguessably twisty…I devoured it’ Louise Candlish, bestselling author of Our House

‘Dark and dramatic...part murder mystery, part family drama, altogether riveting’ A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window

‘One of the best thriller writers around’ Independent

‘Agatha Christie meets The Girl on the TrainThe Sun

‘Dark, unsettling, brilliant’ HEAT

‘Deliciously dark and spooky’ Sunday Mirror

  • Published: 8 August 2019
  • ISBN: 9781473568211
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 12 hr 16 min
  • Narrator: Imogen Church
  • RRP: $24.99

About the author

Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs Westaway and The Turn of the Key have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times. Her books have been optioned for TV and film and she is published in more than 40 languages. Ruth lives near Brighton with her family.

Visit ruthware.com to find out more.

Also by Ruth Ware

See all

Praise for The Turn of the Key

So clever and original . . . Pure suspense, from the first gripping page to the last shocking twist

Erin Kelly

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

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

The Turn of the Key is a brilliantly crafted, chilling suspense thriller. Clues are seeded through the tale like poisonous plants that you only recognise 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

A masterclass in tension!

Sarah Pinborough

The Turn of the Key is a delicious read — a sympathetic but fallible narrator is accused of a terrible crime. The clever unfolding of her story will hold you captive till the brilliant ending. Vintage Ruth Ware

Shari Lapena

[Ruth Ware is] an adroit practitioner in the art of psychological suspense . . . Thoughtful and provocative

Barry Forshaw

A superior slice of ghostly suspense

Red Online

Ware tells a cracking tale and, as in her breakout novel In a Dark, Dark Wood, the house itself plays a hugely menacing part in proceedings.

Guardian

Ware is an accomplished storyteller...compelling... assured neo-Gothic chiller

Irish Times

Eerie and tense, this left me so spooked that I slept with the lights on!

Nina Pottell, Prima

An ingenious suspense narrative...Ware pulls out a stunner on the penultimate page that radically alters how we interpret everything that’s come before. I daresay even Henry James would be impressed.

Washington Post

Turn of the Key is a cracking read that kept me glued until the final page

UK Press Sydication

Creepily suspense-packed

Janet McKechnie, Peterborough Evening Telegraph

There’s been something of a gothic revival in crime fiction recently… This elegant thriller skilfully updates the genre

John Williams, Mail on Sunday

Fabulously tense and spooky

Deirdre O'Brien, Best

Ruth Ware just gets better and better. The Turn of the Key is her most compelling and addictive to date; I read this in a two sitting frenzy, barely able to turn the pages fast enough.

Lisa Jewell, author of The Family Upstairs

An elegant and suspenseful Gothic chiller

Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday, *Books of the Year*

The Turn of the Key is a cracking read

Paul Donnelley, Daily Mirror

A page-turner… The Turn of the Key is at turns spooky, gothic and a compelling family drama. It’s also tightly-plotted throughout… propelled by a likeable protagonist and cleverly created feeling of unease

Alastair Mabbott, Herald

Prepare to feel suspense from the first gripping page to the last shocking twist

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