The Turn of the Key

hm so... the whole book was great until the ending and the little plot twists before the big plot twist. They weren't needed at all and take away from the story.

I didn't like the end or any of the plot twists but i still am rating this 4 stars because of the writing, characters, setting and just everything until the last 50 pages.

This book had me sweating and i had to close the book so many times because it was making me sooo nervous. I definitely want to read more books from this author!

This was fun and compelling in an easy-reading kind of way. Just what I was in the mood for - far from Literary Fiction, you know there's going to be a twist or two, (and there's enough information to figure some stuff out and feel smart), and compulsively readable. I even got the audiobook so I could read while doing other stuff. The narrator is fantastic!

One thing I really liked was the protagonist wasn't just making bad decisions for no reason, or because she's an alcoholic or something. She's being deprived of sleep, which is a very relatable reason for not having all brain cells functioning! Also, she realizes when something is creeping her out at 3am, but she can't really TELL anyone or call the police, because those 3am fears sound very explicable and unthreatening when described in words to someone who wasn't there.

I will say I found the very end to be a letdown. It didn't really deliver on the twisty turny, mysterious and spine-tingling setup, for me. I figured out The Big Twist at about 45% of the way in, so that revelation didn't have a huge kick for me, and the final answers about who did what were just kind of sad, rather than thrilling or deliciously Gothic.

Still, it was a lot of fun getting there!

I really, really enjoyed this. I listened to it on audiobook and the narrator did a lovely job.

This book was well written, at times creepy, and had a bit of a mystery as you knew part of the ending when you begin reading (the main character is now in jail for killing a child she nannies for) but you don't know how that ending came about or if Rowan is innocent or not as she claims:

I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending but am giving it a solid 4 stars for now, though I may come back and bump it up to a 5 in the next day or two if I'm feeling that way.

Edit: about a month later still sitting solidly at a 4 star. The very, very ending with what happened to the main character just could have been better for me.