By: Freida McFadden
Narrators: Leslie Howard, Danny Montooth
Dreamscape Select
ISBN: 9781728296210
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: 02/06/2024
Format: e-book & audio
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC) (ALC)
A mind-bending, psychological thriller from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Housemaid!
Lesson #1: trust no one
Eve has a good life. She gets up each day, gets a kiss from her husband Nate, and heads off to teach math at the local high school. All is as it should be. Except…
Last year, Caseham High was rocked by a scandal, with one student, Addie, at its center. And this year, Eve is dismayed to find the girl in her class.
Addie can’t be trusted. She lies. She hurts people. She destroys lives. At least, that’s what everyone says.
But nobody knows the real Addie. Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her. And Addie will do anything to keep it quiet.
From the New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a story of twisting secrets and long-awaited revenge.
My Review
The queen of thrills is back following The Coworker with her latest dazzling wild standalone game of cat-and-mouse psychological thriller, THE TEACHER. If you are a fan of the author, like millions of others like myself, you drop everything when you see a Freida McFadden new book.
Holy Moly! She shocks, she surprises, she entertains.
With her wildly imaginative mind, she dazzles her fans again. You can expect deceit, revenge, secrets, unreliable narrators, and a roller coaster MIND-BENDING adventure.
The author grips you from the Prologue with the opening line: "Digging a grave is hard work." So we know we have a dead body, we assume, or why dig a grave?
Right? Maybe...
There is a lot of drama between students and teachers at the local high school. Meet math teacher Eve Bennett, age 30, married to older hunky hubby, and fellow teacher Nate Bennett. He has always fancied himself a poet. They teach at Caseham High School.
Eve knows she is out of her league with Nate, but she is younger ✔ and loves designer shoes, 👠especially Jimmy Choo stiletto pumps, Christian Louboutins, and Louis Vuitton. So she has good taste and loves high heels since she is only foot two. She is OBSESSED with shoes and stashes them away from her hubby's prying eyes. You must have some outlet with a hubby like Nate.
Plus, Eve likes the shoe salesman, Jay, at Simons's (wink, wink), if you know what I mean. 😉
Her hubby talks about filling the house with children, but she is unsure they will achieve that on their current intimacy schedule. Three kisses per day, sex once a month, and Nate is always the one who drives (the car that is).
Told from alternating tension-filled POVs: Eve (wife/teacher) and Addie (16-year-old student). Eve is concerned when she learns that Addie Severson, a student who allegedly had an affair with a math teacher, Art, who resigned the year earlier —is now in one of her classes.
Of course, Addie says nothing happened, but her classmates bully her, and the staff does not know who is telling the truth. Then the worst happens: Addie is also in Nate's class, and they bond over poetry. He even invites her to join Reflections, the poetry magazine meeting.
Eve has a terrible feeling about this girl. Let the games begin...
Addie also has a BIG problem. Kenzie Montgomery is the most popular and beautiful girl in their junior class. She is a bully, and no one ever stands up to Kenzie. She ruins Addie's everyday life.
Addie is excited her English teacher (Nate) loves Poe as much as she does. Addie is a troubled girl and the daughter of an abusive alcoholic who finally drank himself to death. Addie never accused Art of anything, but his reputation was ruined. She used to hang out with Hudson, but now he is one of the popular kids.
Things heat up. Demands are made. Fear, lies, secrets, and anxieties rise to the surface, gaslighting at its finest. Infatuations. Obsessions. Affairs. Addictions.
The author keeps you glued to the pages with the triangle tension of Addie, Nate, and Eve. Addie is trying to get over a scandal and bullying. Meanwhile, Eve has to deal with her marriage problems. TRUST NO ONE.
Freida's star power shines with each book and her signature style of fast-paced storytelling, dark humor, witty characters, short chapters, and the unexpected TWISTS and jaw drops! That final twist is Killer!
Holy Cannoli, THE TEACHER has it all! You will laugh out loud as you go back and forth with love/hate, waiting for the final ball drop and knife twist. I always love her Epilogues! Please do not take this one too seriously; it is FF and meant for fun and wow factors.
As always, THE TEACHER is highly entertaining, standout, a clever plot, humor—and blurs the lines between right and wrong. Another winner by the queen of thrills! Wickedly delicious.
Be sure to get some sleep before starting. You will not be able to put it down. I finished up at 5 am. I would love to see Eva in future books and check up on her shoes! I cannot wait for The Housemaid is Watching, coming June 11, 2024!
I read the e-book and listened to the audiobook narrated by the fabulous Leslie Howard and Danny Montooth for a highly entertaining listening experience. You will laugh out loud. I always buy her audiobooks and adore Leslie!
Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, Dreamscape Select, and NetGalley for the gifted, advanced digital reading review copy and advanced listening copy for an honest opinion. #CoverLove
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Feb 6, 2024
My Rating: 5 Stars
Praise
"Secrets are everywhere in this sparkling narrative that moves like a Japanese bullet train, offering plenty of surprises along the way."
― First Clue
"The superb latest from McFadden...frequent rug-pulling will thrill readers who’ve initially pinned the story as run-of-the-mill domestic suspense. [The Teacher] rivets." ― Publishers Weekly
About the Author
New York Times, Amazon Charts, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. Freida’s work has been selected as one of Amazon Editors’ best books of the year, and she is a winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for best paperback. Her novels have been translated into over 30 languages.
Freida lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.
To hear Freida talk more about herself in the third person, visit her website: https://www.freidamcfadden.com/
