A review by nglofile
The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
4.0
4.5 stars. Even though there was little to surprise, the journey is everything - especially when Imogen Church is reading the tale.
Ruth Ware is often aligned with psychological suspense contemporaries such as Paula Hawkins and Gilly Macmillan, but she seems truly to have found her métier in a flavor variation of that genre that embraces more overtly gothic sensibilities. Her forte is creating atmosphere saturated with dread, the deliciously creepy, and the claustrophic paranoia that leaves both character and reader increasingly unhinged. In this book she begins with Henry James' iconic The Turn of the Screw and then recasts it in a remote home with smart technology run amok (cameras everywhere, appliances and door locks controlled by app). Even so, classic elements such as creaking footsteps and items that move from where they were last set play just as integral a part in the coiling tension.
The success of the story relies heavily on the blurring of what is real and what is imagined. Is something truly insidious at work? Are there reasonable explanations? Even if the reader is confident that a gaslighting campaign is underway, the questions of who and why have multiple possibilities that only complicate any one interpretation of events. Archetype characters of the handyman and the housekeeper add to the uncertainties, as does the book's originating structure: Rowan is writing from prison to beg the assistance of a prominent lawyer because she is charged with the death of one of the children.
audiobook note: Narrator Imogen Church expertly conveys the increasingly fraying, not-entirely-reliable, desperate sensibilities of Ware's heroine. Her performance choices aren't showy in the sense of dramatically different character voices; instead controlled changes such as a dropped register, a tightening of tone, a barely evident tremor, or an elongated delivery sell every ominous beat. I have the highest expectation each time I sync up a Church/Ware collaboration, and it is the narrative prowess that never disappoints. As has now become the norm in these pairings, my rating assessment of the book is much more favorable because of the medium by which I experience it.
Ruth Ware is often aligned with psychological suspense contemporaries such as Paula Hawkins and Gilly Macmillan, but she seems truly to have found her métier in a flavor variation of that genre that embraces more overtly gothic sensibilities. Her forte is creating atmosphere saturated with dread, the deliciously creepy, and the claustrophic paranoia that leaves both character and reader increasingly unhinged. In this book she begins with Henry James' iconic The Turn of the Screw and then recasts it in a remote home with smart technology run amok (cameras everywhere, appliances and door locks controlled by app). Even so, classic elements such as creaking footsteps and items that move from where they were last set play just as integral a part in the coiling tension.
The success of the story relies heavily on the blurring of what is real and what is imagined. Is something truly insidious at work? Are there reasonable explanations? Even if the reader is confident that a gaslighting campaign is underway, the questions of who and why have multiple possibilities that only complicate any one interpretation of events. Archetype characters of the handyman and the housekeeper add to the uncertainties, as does the book's originating structure: Rowan is writing from prison to beg the assistance of a prominent lawyer because she is charged with the death of one of the children.
audiobook note: Narrator Imogen Church expertly conveys the increasingly fraying, not-entirely-reliable, desperate sensibilities of Ware's heroine. Her performance choices aren't showy in the sense of dramatically different character voices; instead controlled changes such as a dropped register, a tightening of tone, a barely evident tremor, or an elongated delivery sell every ominous beat. I have the highest expectation each time I sync up a Church/Ware collaboration, and it is the narrative prowess that never disappoints. As has now become the norm in these pairings, my rating assessment of the book is much more favorable because of the medium by which I experience it.