Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Turn of the Key

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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daepyonimst's review against another edition

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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? Yes

2.5

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katymat18's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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alyvia_jeane's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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ajay913's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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mainereading's review against another edition

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dark 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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I've watched a few movies based on the original novella, and I was really excited to pick this up. Surprisingly enough, I haven't read the original novella yet and I really need to! I liked this book, and I ended up reading it in one sitting. It was a wild read with an interesting twist. Some of the characters had me ticked off. A couple of the kids were spoiled little brats that should have been disciplined and the men in this book were trash. Overall, I liked this book but I didn’t love it and I really wanted to love it.

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