Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

9 reviews

marissasa's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I wanted to like this book because it had an interesting premise, taking the classic "new nanny takes on live-in babysitting job for young kids at a rich family's estate but things turn weird and the house might be haunted" storyline and giving it a modern, tech surveillance twist. However, it was really boring in execution and didn't really make me want to keep reading to find out what happened next. That is a baseline requirement for any mystery or thriller in my eyes, so this book really missed the mark for me. Some of the story details and reveals also didn't feel like they added anything meaningful to the book because the characters involved weren't featured much or didn't feel like there was any buildup to them that made them impactful. This is a book that I've immediately forgotten about and holds no lasting impression in my memory.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Sexual content, Blood, and Sexual harassment

greatexpectations77's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was quite creepy, and I appreciated all of the tension and mystery that Ms. Ware built up over the course of the book. But I didn't feel like the resolution was fully satisfying. It was like a friend telling you how incredibly delicious a restaurant is for lots of hours, and then you show up there and all they have is toast. Like, does this technically fulfill the need? Yeah, but you feel disappointed that the build-up didn't lead to a huge ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent and Murder

rorikae's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

'The Turn of the Key' by Ruth Ware is a thriller with an interesting premise but that I ultimately wanted more from. 
The story is told through a letter that the protagonist, Rowan, is writing to her barrister from jail. A girl in her care has died and the crime has been pinned on her. But Rowan has a story to tell that she believes will exonerate her. 
I really liked that this story was told through letters though this was really only relevant in the beginning and ending as the majority of this narrative is one giant letter that takes up 95% of the book and thus feels more like simple 1st person narration. 
Ware does a good job of injecting the creepier elements of the story so that the reader questions what is really happening right alongside Rowan. This creeping sense of dread grows slowly as the narrative progresses. I do think that a little bit more could have been done with the atmosphere and it did leave me with questions based on a side story that was touched on but never fully resolved. It wasn't crucial to the main plot but I would have liked a bit more closure on that part. The story also hints at Rowan's fate but doesn't fully spell it out without enough details for me to be sure what happened. 
The ultimate truth of the story as it came out was a bit disappointing and I had hoped for more though that is definitely based on my personal preferences for thriller stories. I also don't love Rowan as a character and found her ultimately fairly unlikable and thus hard to root for. 
Though I would be interested to read another book by Ware since I think she does a good job with atmosphere, I would go into it with hesitations since this story wasn't as gripping as I would have hoped for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity

hannas_ink_prints's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Koukuttava ja välillä kylmiäväreitä aiheuttava teos, jossa oli myös surullisia piirteitä. Välillä tuntui että juonta oli turhasti pitkitetty ja tarina haahuili, mutta parhaimmillaan hyytävä thrilleri, joka sitou lukijansa äärelleen. Kompleksinen päähahmo oli myös plussaa, sillä Rowan oli mukava piristys aina kaikkien puhtoisten ja oikeudenmukaisten sankaritarien jälkeen. Hänen hahmonsa tuntuu aidolta vaikka ajoittain turhankin naivilta, siihen nähden kuinka kokenut hoitaja tämä muka on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, and Classism

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The futuristic gothic novel I didn’t know I needed. Every moment was infused with stress and dread, I could not put it down. The red herrings kept me guessing and I had no idea how it would end even up to the last page. This is my 5th Ruth Ware book and probably my favourite. All I can say is WOWEE and smart homes are an absolute no for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Alcohol

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Stalking, and Classism

mallory10100's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

wow this was a great read. bought it because i love the haunting of bly manor and knew that it’s based on a book called the turn of the screw, and there were so many similarities with the show it was fun. so many great twists at the end that i definitely didn’t see coming!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Infidelity, Excrement, Dementia, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

i loved this book homophobia TW is there bc the author uses the F slur for cigarettes because she’s british

astareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child death and Infidelity

cp_frey's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I have a hard time with this one. I finished it in mere days because it felt so fast paced to me. However,

I also found myself utterly disgusted by the trope of “evil child”. I understand the hurt the child is feeling, and perhaps evil tricks but murder? No. Feels like a cheap cop-out. If the child is gonna be “evil”

then I’m going to need more than this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Bullying and Emotional abuse

Minor: Sexual content