Listen free for 30 days

  • The Turn of the Key

  • Written by: Ruth Ware
  • Narrated by: Imogen Church
  • Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (810 ratings)

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Turn of the Key cover art

The Turn of the Key

Written by: Ruth Ware
Narrated by: Imogen Church
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $35.08

Buy Now for $35.08

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

From the number one New York Times best-selling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway comes Ruth Ware’s highly anticipated fifth novel.

When Rowan stumbles across an ad for a live-in nanny, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss - with a staggeringly generous salary. And when she arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten - by the luxurious "smart" house fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.

What Rowan doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare - one that will end with a child dead and Rowan in prison awaiting trial for murder.

Writing to her lawyer from prison, Rowan struggles to explain the unravelling events that have led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the children, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant.

It was everything.

Rowan knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty - at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

©2019 Ruth Ware (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

What listeners say about The Turn of the Key

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    467
  • 4 Stars
    242
  • 3 Stars
    73
  • 2 Stars
    19
  • 1 Stars
    9
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    588
  • 4 Stars
    95
  • 3 Stars
    27
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    409
  • 4 Stars
    192
  • 3 Stars
    79
  • 2 Stars
    25
  • 1 Stars
    14

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good nail biting read

Well, this was much different then what I expected of the book from the sample...but in a good way. Intriguing and suspenseful. The slow burn of the writers style leaves your imagination guessing what will happen next. Thumbs up. Church is a Great voice actor! Will look for more books she’s narrated and more from this author too.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not her best

I’m a huge Ruth Ware fan, but this is not her best novel. I found it very repetitive - to the point of annoyance. I understand that she was trying to build the suspense throughout the novel, but it felt like there wasn’t enough of a story to keep the reader interested. The whole climax came in the last chapter - some of which the reader will guess and the rest just doesn’t play as the big bombshell of an ending you feel promised. At least that’s how I felt... Especially in comparison with The Woman in Cabin 10 or In a Dark Dark Wood.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I’m sorry but...

This was one of the most boring novels I’ve ever ‘read’. There is no climax was very anticlimactic. I found the whole story to be completely senseless.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

God, this is so boring

What a waste of a credit. The book is non-stop droning. Absolutely horrible. I can’t stay focused for more than a minute and lose consciousnesses every time. When I wake, I swear it’s the exact same spot I left off at. Please end!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

Not her best work. The story is weak and the ending seemed like grasping to wrap up a dismal plot.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Hardly memorable

I enjoyed this book when I read it (listened to it), but a month or two later, as I go to write this review, I had no memory of it. I truly drew a blank. Of course, once I read the book summary, it came back to me, and I remembered the storyline. There were surprises and twists and turns I did not see coming, so it was good in that respect, but my lack of recollection afterwards tells me that it wasn't compelling enough to engage me on a deeper level. Even for fiction, I want to be moved in some way, to be made to think, to ponder the lessons long afterward.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Elli beyond her years!

How is it possible a 5 year old Elli can be way beyond her years!!?,

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
  • JJM
  • 2020-07-23

GOOD STORY

The story was good but it was soooo slow, and drawn out. Repetitive in every chapter and could have been much more suspenseful had it not gone on for 10 hours. The ending was a surprise but diluted by the fact that you had to listen to endless repeats of thoughts, emotions and everything said in the previous chapter. The narration was good, she did a great job with the material she had to work with.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well done all around!

Great characters, great narration, great ending... plan to purchase another from this author...loved it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

a pretty good page turner

I am familiar with Ware and I liked the turns and twists of the book. I am reading heavier stuff, but this was a good break in between.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful