Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Turn of the Key

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

27 reviews

bessadams's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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crabcake28's review

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emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

While listening to this book I continuously thought I knew exactly what was going on. I thought I had predicted it all from the beginning. Even when I had thought I may be off a bit I still believed I knew where the book was going to be headed with the plot twist. It wasn’t until the last three minutes of the audiobook that I felt like I had been gutted by the realization of what was really going on. Sure I had guessed some of it but everything flipped on its head directly at the end and I felt myself fighting tears over how tragic it all was. Even now as I write this trying to think of my complaints over the book, I really don’t have any. Even though at times I felt it all seemed ridiculous and the main character was reacting too much over too little, I realize the entire book does an amazing job of showing hurt people and the way they’re trying to cope with what has happened to them. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten so emotional over characters in a book and I wish I could keep reading and hear a happy ending for them.

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marissasa's review against another edition

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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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amanda884's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I listened to the audiobook and I thought the narrator was excellent. The pacing for this book was so slow and it built up to a very anticlimactic end

Having it be one of the kids was so predictable but you can’t make me believe 1. An elementary age child can convincingly fake a haunting 2. A five year old could write that letter.

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seforana's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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chicitytyty's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

If I were nanny in this house I would have gotten the hell our night one. It isn’t until later in the book do we discover some of the motivation behind what seems like nonsensical decision making.

That made it difficult to side with Rowan as things around her seemed to descend into madness. At each turn I yelled at her to leave, to call someone, and each time I was disappointed when she continued on her path.

The final 10 pages or so of this book tied it together. It made all the disparate pieces fall into place and left me with a sense of gloom and despair that these horror/thrillers can tend to do.

All in all a good read but I want to consume some of the material based on the original story “A Turn of the Screw” and it’s Netflix adaptation “Bly Manor” to make better comparisons.

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pershie13's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Let me start off by saying this: Oh. My. Gosh. I read The Woman in Cabin 10 a few years ago and still remember some of the uneasy feelings it gave me as a read, but this book took that to another level. I was questioning everyone and everything along with the main character, and I felt such deep emotions of unease and confusion as I tried to solve the mystery as I was reading. I don't think I have ever read a book that stirred up so many different emotions from start to finish, and I am not in the least bit surprised by how much I liked this book. The creepiness of the tech and surveillance was relatable as someone who tends to be afraid of the dark side of technology, and I found myself telling the main character to get the heck out of there pretty much from the start. The plot twist in the last hundred pages was truly shocking, and I love how Ruth Ware brought the whole book together in the end. The last couple pages definitely left me asking questions, and I did not expect the book to end the way it did. This is one of the best books I have read this year - or even ever - and definitely one of the most thrilling! An automatic 5-star read!

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noxygens's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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sparetimebibliophile's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

5.0

This was a thrilling read and more than once my heart was racing. It’s been a while since that’s happened to me with a thriller! I loved the twist in this and thought it was beautifully done, although I felt the ending was very abrupt. It leaves you with an open question at the end that will likely haunt me for a while!

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sophiemar's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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