"The Turn of the Key" - Book Review -

“The Turn of the Key”

Written by Ruth Ware

Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

The Turn of the Key is the fifth novel in Ruth Ware’s repertoire, another incredibly enjoyable entry into the psychological thriller subgenre. Reminding many readers of The Turn of the Screw, The Others, and the many gothic works of Daphne Du Maurier, this novel tells the story of a nanny who quickly realizes her job is more than she bargained for. In this story, we are introduced to Rowan through her written letters to a lawyer as she waits in prison for her trial. She protests her innocence, that she did not ‘kill that child’. Her secrets unfold in her letters, as she tells the lawyer the tale of her time at Heatherbrae House.

I do believe that most of Ruth Ware’s novels are best consumed without much information, so I will attempt to keep this review vague and concise. Rowan meets her employers, Sandra and Bill, who have two little daughters and a rebellious and rude teen daughter. Rowan finds solace in her colleague, the caretaker Jack. Rowan’s main motivation through her letters is to absolve herself and prove her innocence, but she starts to unveil secrets that make her the more suspicious.

Another central conflict is the fear of Heatherbrae House. The legendary owner is a man whose young daughter died after ingesting berries from the house’s poison garden!! Also, there is a locked door in Rowan’s bedroom, which she feels a draft coming from. Why does she hear footsteps at night?

My final thoughts on this are that I enjoyed the plot, characters, and the mystery. The final ending was unpredictable, but I personally did not love it. I felt halfhearted about it, since I felt the mystery was cleverly planned. For what it’s worth, I think that my enjoyment of this story was heightened by Imogen Church’s brilliant narration. Her creativity with her voice work is worth awarding.

In conclusion, I loved it. It will not cement itself as my first favorite of Ruth Ware’s, but I do plan to purchase a print copy and keep in my collection. I highly recommend her work and think it to be a higher caliber than other mystery thrillers. She is a favorite author of mine, and I cannot wait to read her next novel.

"Sleep"

"Sleep"
Written by C.L. Taylor
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

"Sleep" is a psychological thriller, that draws from the legendary Agatha Christie to create a well-plotted and thorough mystery. As I have read from Taylor before, I was eager to jump into this. One of my favorite types of thrillers consists of a small group of people in an isolated setting with the suspicion that one of the group members may have sinister intentions.

After a horrific car accident, Anna Willis is healing. She has found it incredibly hard to forgive herself for driving the car, although the accident was not entirely her fault. After breaking up with her boyfriend, Anna moves to a small island in Scotland, to work in an inn, which she will offer hospitality to tourists. The first weekend of the job, seven tourists come and fill up the inn, as an impending storm looms over the inn.

Anna and the owner, David, prepare for cozy indoor activities and fast walks before the storm hits. They meet the guests: Joe, Christina, Fiona, Trevor, and Malcolm, Melanie, and Katie of the Ward family. Some guests are more suspicious than others, and some are just flat out bizarre. The author, Taylor, creates a compelling and atmospheric setting, using strange characters as great tools to build the mystery.

Told in multiple perspectives, we also see the story through other characters' eyes. This appealing technique allows suspicion to be cast on other smaller characters, such as Mohammed, Alex, and Steve.

There are many great elements to this story that create a good book. However, there are some that did bring the book down a bit in my mind. I was first highly impressed with how Taylor creates a very realistic protagonist. Her main fear is not being forgiven, as well as the guilt that she holds from the accident. Additionally, there's a fantastically created red herring, with a brilliant pay-off. Lastly, I just did not enjoy the final reveal. The climax proved effective, but the true villain seemed a bit flat. I did enjoy the final motive and past of the villain, but I would have preferred a few more hints as the story progressed.

In conclusion, I rated this book at four stars out of five. I did enjoy this very well, but the small elements that I disliked did count enough for me to like it less. I absolutely recommend this to fans of Ruth Ware, who is my favorite claustrophobic setting modern writer.

I received an advance review edition of this novel, in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to Avon Harper Collins for the opportunity.

"The Death of Mrs. Westaway"

“The Death of Mrs. Westaway”
Written by Ruth Ware
Review written by Diana Iozzia


“The Death of Mrs. Westaway” was an entertaining, soapy thriller. Enhanced by dramatic scenes and a creepy location, there was still an interesting mystery afoot. I’ve read every book by Ruth Ware so far, so I was eager to read her newest. However, I feel that Ruth Ware writes a book that stands out, then her next is just washed out, and then the pattern continues. “Mrs. Westaway” is a tamer thriller to me, rather than action scene after another. As always, Ware creates a story that begs you to think more about the characters than what meets the eye.

Before explaining the synopsis, I have to mention the successful writing patterns that stand through in each of her stories. Ruth Ware creates very atmospheric and vivid locations and her stories just billow out and build around them, similar to an early railroad town. Her settings are absolutely majestic, whether they are a regal cruise liner or a dingy, crumbling pier. We breathe the air the characters do. In addition, Ware’s introductions always engross me. I find myself catapulted into her stories ala Alice plummeting into Wonderland.

“Mrs. Westaway” is a very simplistic plot with very simplistic characters. Congruent to many other psychological thrillers, we have a death in a very tightly knit family which is far from connected on the inside. To be a fly on the wall in this house. We also have outsider Hal (female) who has mistakenly been included in the inheritance. She makes herself to one of my favorite areas in England (Penzance, Cornwall) and meets the family who she will be pretending to be a part of. This makes for an interesting plot. I often enjoy books that have characters return to their hometown or first home full of secrets. For example, this book reminded me of "The Haunting of Hill House", the "Flowers in the Attic" series, "Roanoke Girls", "Sharp Objects", and "The Missing Years".

However, proceeding Hal’s journey to Cornwall, we are introduced to her pathetic job as a tarot card reader on a pier in Brighton. Hal is struggling for money in every sense of poverty. We are shown how she tricks the customers into believing their fortune, but Hal claims she is not doing it maliciously. She just really needs the money. The full introduction before we arrive in Cornwall is 80 pages! 80 pages of Hal getting harassed by debt collectors, eating soggy fish and chips, fooling innocent people, complaining about her family past, and just being plain miserable. This is easily the worst aspect of the book. I understand to create a character who would commit fraud, you need to create reasons why she would want to. However, this was too slow and too unnecessary. I felt that a majority of this could have been cut down. We would have understood her plight within 30 pages. Desperation is not difficult to comprehend.

After Hal arrives at the Trespassen House (was that name really the only thing Ware could come up with?), she begins to melt into the family. We see in her mixed batch of ‘relatives’ how the family is more gilded than golden. Her eccentric ‘relatives’ and the unsettling housekeeper leave Hal feeling more trapped than excited. She also begins to unravel the mystery of why she was mistaken for a relative and who she really is.

The conclusion of this story was not unpredictable. I’m sure that some readers may figure out the mystery ahead of time, but I did not find myself deducing and sleuthing my way through the story. There weren’t many red herrings, but I was certainly curious to see how the mystery would unpack. I felt very satisfied with the ending, especially with the true villain revealed. I thought this character was a good choice, and I felt made sense for the mystery. In addition, the actual climax was very creepy and delicious. I could also imagine that some readers might think this book was a tad unrealistic in certain areas, but I enjoyed the ride. I fully recommend this book, but please try to get past the 81st page. I think it’s worth it.

"Let Me Lie"

 “Let Me Lie”

Written by Clare Mackintosh

 

          As a person who frequents charity shops, thrift stores, library sales, and many independent book stores, I’ve come across Clare Mackintosh’s name many times. I’ve looked at her books on shelves, considered many times. When I was offered the chance to read her newest book as an advanced reader’s copy, I was very thrilled.

          “Let Me Lie” is a very complex plot, but it begins when a new mother, Anna Johnson, receives mail that seems to insinuate her late parents were murdered, rather than dead by committing suicide. Anna becomes terrified and entangled in this plot, working with Murray, a little old soon-to-be retired police officer.

          See, the great thing about this book is the amount of plot twists and turns. However, this also makes for a really hard line to tread while writing a review. Clare Mackintosh includes about four to five main plot twists. Some of them are surprising, some of them are easy to figure out as the book progresses. I always think that a good mystery lets you find out who can be behind it all, before the main character realizes. This is situational irony, but Mackintosh does a bit more foreshadowing than I would like.

          I liked the characters. The narrative style is very interesting, as it follows four different perspectives, Anna, Murray, and I can’t really tell you who the other perspectives follow. Mainly because they change when you realize more information and it would spoil a bit of the plot. I would recommend if you do not want to be spoiled in reading my review, you should probably not read any further.

          Spoilers now. Anna Johnson is an interesting and likeable character. All too often, the narrator or main character of a psychological thriller can be unlikeable. Think, Amy Dunne of Gone Girl, Rachel of Girl on The Train, (the widow’s name from The Widow. I can’t remember, it’s been at least 8 months since I’ve read it). We also wonder for a bit of time if Mark, Anna’s husband, could possibly be in on it. I have to say there are some great red herrings in this book. Is that person involved, who could actually be behind this? I was very happy that the main person I was concerned about was not actually involved in this suspenseful plot.

          Can I also just say how often I’ve read psychological thrillers where the main characters are Mark, Anna, Claire, Tom? If you’re writing an English psychological thriller, pick something else. I haven’t heard of a recent psychological thriller with a main character named Adam, or Jacob, or Thelonious. I might be a bit cynical, but if I read too many of these books in this genre, I won’t be able to decipher characters, sooner or later.

          I have quite a few points to make that are full of spoilers, so like I said, pleeeease don’t read on if you’re wary of spoilers. I always tab my pages with Sticky Notes or bookmarks, so I will be looking now to see the points that I wanted to make sure were said in my review.

          The plot progresses as expected for a larger psychological thriller. I think that the extra bits about Anna’s life or Murray’s home life are interesting, but sometimes, they feel a bit extraneous. Murray’s wife suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder. I know not much of this disorder, but his wife’s storyline is a bit clichéd for my liking. Murray’s plot line makes sense and is necessary to the plot, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed it less if his perspective was not included.

          The narrative is separated into three parts, similar to the three act play structure. At the end of part one, we receive a huge shock, whoa, how on Earth did that play out? (It’s really not that shocking, we knew it was happening, but Anna did not, of course). Because we receive perspectives of the villains, we know exactly how each plan is going to be executed. It’s as if we knew the janitor was scaring people away from the school in a werewolf costume the whole time, and now we’re waiting to see how Scooby Doo is going to find that out. I think if we only had Anna’s perspective throughout this story, it would have been more effective, shocking, and compelling. I would definitely have enjoyed it more, because I am not the type of person to enjoy knowing the villains’ intentions the whole time. I like finding out everything as a shock at the end.

          As a few of the plot twists go, I was okay with some of the reveals, but some of them just seemed extraneous and unnecessary. We find out near the end exactly how everything has occurred, and who are the people behind it all. However, did we have to sit through 150 pages incorrectly wondering how one of the villains is going to come destroy Anna? The bogeyman isn’t so scary when you find out why he’s creeping around. I don’t enjoy reading psychological thrillers where I’m believing something for a large portion of time, and BAM the spoiler is that it’s something else entirely. It feels like a cheap cop out of a plot twist. In addition, we have two little end bits to wrap up Mark’s story and Murray’s story. Murray’s story wrap-up is very expected, but I don’t think it was necessary for this book. A separate book on Borderline Personality Disorder maybe, but it felt like the season finale of “Degrassi” or another teen soap. Mark’s story ending makes a lot of sense for the book, I just wish we cared a little more about him the entire way. I remember reading a psychological thriller over the Christmas break, and I just found myself loving the main love interest, so much that I didn’t really care what happened to the main character. Will her life come to a crazy crashing halt? Nah, just the husband matters. Mark would have been a much more interesting character if Anna involved him in the story.

          Finally, I thoroughly enjoyed the last 75 pages or so. Once the climax began, it just kept going through a high-speed car chase, a crazy showdown in an apartment building. The first 2/3^rds of the book weren’t hard to put down, but the last act was. And the best part of the book, the family pet was not murdered. (Why does this always happen in psychological thrillers? Not cool!)

          Last page, I mean come on already, we’re finished up. No cliffhanger wanted or needed, thank you though.

* I received an advanced reader’s copy for reviewing purposes. *

"The Couple Next Door"

"The Couple Next Door" 
Written by Shari Lapena
Review written by Diana Iozzia



I have very mixed feelings about this book. I borrowed it from the library, read it last night, and finished it five minutes ago. This book is very complex with many different characters, lies, and plot twists. Are they all fantastic? Well, you see my rating out of five. I enjoyed this for the fast, intriguing pace, but this was predictable. And repetitive. And by the last few pages, the final plot twist just felt normal to me. It's similar to a bag of Halloween candy for me. You eat all of the boring ones first, and by the time you get to your favorite candy, it's really great. Then, you have three more and it doesn't feel special anymore.

Anne and Marco visited their neighbors for a little birthday dinner, leaving their six month-old daughter, Cora, asleep in her crib. They return, she's gone. Wow. I think the best part of this book is the investigation completed by Detective Rasbach. It's very reminiscent of the detectives Boney and Gilpin from "Gone Girl" or the actual crime story of Laci and Scott Peterson. I enjoyed that Detective Rasbach was very thorough and investigated all of the right people, places, and events. It bugs me in books when the detectives aren't that thorough, and they may make mistakes. Rasbach was just the right level of intelligent, where he didn't figure out the entire plot magically.

This book is very well-written, but the story wasn't as impressive as I hoped it to be. We have the scary truth of the kidnapping told to us half-way through, which I appreciated, but it wasn't interesting. The people involved in the kidnapping were very obvious. The eventual main villain in the book wasn't as obvious, but yet again, this wasn't a great reveal. I think I need to stay away from psychological thrillers involving kidnappings of children, because they don't interested me as greatly as other p.t. crimes. I also think this book had a little of a tendency to bite off more than it could chew. Which I don't say lightly. I wasn't impressed by the side characters, I mainly only felt sympathetic towards the women characters, and Anne's dissociative identity disorder seemed all too convenient for the plot and twists. Lastly, I do recommend this, but I just felt a little disappointed. I would definitely read another novel by Shari Lapena in the future. I'll check out "A Stranger in the House" and report back.

"The Lying Game"

“The Lying Game”

Written by Ruth Ware

Review written by Diana Iozzia

           

            As a fan of Ruth Ware, I found it only fitting to pick up her third book, the brand-new “The Lying Game”. I thoroughly enjoyed “In a Dark, Dark Wood”, but a relative unfortunately gave away my copy, so I couldn’t look back on it, and compare. Over the summer, I read “The Woman in Cabin 10” in a span of maybe three hours. I wasn’t expecting to breeze through “The Lying Game” so quickly, since it was a significantly larger book. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately, so I took my time reading this, but I relatively enjoyed it.

            This book felt very similar to both other books by Ruth Ware, but it also really reminded me of “Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn. In both, the main character returns to a very important place in their child hood, Camille returns to her hometown, and in this book, Isa returns to the town in which she went to boarding school. Isa Wilde returns to Salten, England to meet with her three friends after years of being apart, because a body washes up on the Salten Beach. Naturally, you soon realize that the four friends, Isa and Thea, Kate, and Fatima are involved.

            Isa is a very arrogant and aggressive character, but in the beginning of the book, you only see her as a really protective mother of her little Freya. She’s certainly not a likable character, which is often Ruth Ware’s signature. Isa lies to Owen, who is honestly the sweetest husband and character Ware has written so far. He’s absolutely loving and cute, and he does not deserve any of the BS that Isa puts him through. Regardless, we jump back into the boarding school days, which I really enjoyed reading. Something about being a middle class, American public-school kid always made me long for boarding school. To be fair, the exposure I had was the Blue is For Nightmares series and Harry Potter to blame. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Isa’s younger narrative, of the girls being rascals and jumping out their window at night.

            Of course, we have to jump back to the complicated friendships of these girls. Kate, the guarded, isolated artist. Fatima, the lovely but concerned NHS worker. Thea, the alcoholic and possibly anorexic woman, I don’t even know what she did as a job. And then Isa, our main nuisance. As I mentioned, before the half-way point, I relatively liked Isa, until she started being cruel and dishonest to her husband. Yes, and “almost cheating” is still repulsive and terrible. Isa just isn’t a great character. Smoking and then breast-feeding, taking Freya to a crowded pub. She’s so concerned one second, then forgetting actual mothering skills the next.

            I like that this book does have quite a few bits of foreshadowing, and it doesn’t reach the last chapter to figure out everything. You have a pretty good idea what’s going on from about half-way through, which I appreciated. I liked that Ware’s “In a Dark, Dark Wood” was a bit final chapter plot-twisty, but I couldn’t stand the reveal in “The Woman in Cabin 10”. Personally, “Cabin 10” is one of my least favorite mysteries I’ve read this far. But anyway, back to “The Lying Game”. The reveal throughout this book takes a while to unfold, which I appreciated and didn’t appreciate. It wasn’t that great of a reveal, what happened to the body, who helped kill the person, and why. I mean, if you’re up for *possible* pedophilia, incest, murder, suicide, heroin, and other stuff, go for it… However, if for some reason I had been spoiled the ending prematurely, I wouldn’t have read the book anyway, if that helps you understand.

            In conclusion, I liked this, and I didn’t like this. It played out beautifully in my mind. I could picture every scene, every character flawlessly. I think this would be a fantastic film. That being said, Ware’s first book would also be a great film. Something about these psychological thrillers, you know. I would rate this as maybe a 3.75. Almost a four, but not quite. The dialogue and narrative were fantastic, but you had frequent moments that shouted, “No, in no way is this possible or realistic”. Lots of red herrings, lots of almost red herrings, where you are kind of right, but not exactly. I would recommend this to people who enjoy Gillian Flynn and B.A. Paris!

"The Woman in Cabin 10"

"The Woman In Cabin 10"
Written by Ruth Ware
Review written by Diana Iozzia



"The Woman in Cabin 10" was a good read, but in no way is this my newest favorite psychological thriller. This book starts out with a burglary for poor Lo Blacklock. As she's recovering, she's invited to cover and report upon a beautiful, glamorous cruise. This book unfolds like a game of "Clue" as if written by a writer inspired by Agatha Christie. Who was the woman pushed over the balcony into the water? Who pushed her?

There is a handful of guests upon this cruise, reporters, businessmen, and the hosts. Naturally, everyone becomes a suspect. However, all too quickly, the book becomes predictable and it is quite obvious how the book will unfold. I guessed the plot solution, before I had even finished the first half. I'm not sure if that is how Ruth Ware would like it to be, but I am not one to enjoy a book with a surprise twist that twists only half way into the book. The last half was the solution to the problem and the twist, but it was a poor solution. It felt very similar to an episode of Law and Order, where you know who the villain(s) are, and then you can predict how the villains will be stopped. It felt very procedural, and I was not as pleased as I was when I read Ware's first novel, "In a Dark, Dark Wood".

As I mentioned, this plays out like an Agatha Christie rip, and it wasn't too pleasing. I like the setting of a cruise, but hardly any of the glamor is there. Practically the entire time, Lo is drunk or hungover or tired or nervous or uncomfortable. Or she's flirting with her ex, and then fighting with her ex. This feels very soap opera like to me.

In conclusion, I liked the book, but I equally disliked it.

* I purchased my own copy of this book. *