The Teacher

Well, Freidan McFadden, pleased to finally meet you. This is the first full-length novel that I’ve read by you. For the first half I was alternately sticking my finger down my throat and rolling my eyes, wanting to shake Addy, a high school nubmnut, until she finally could see what was going on with her teacher. That high school dingbat acted just like….well… like a high school dingbat. First she gets the school’s favorite teacher ousted because he felt sorry for her after her father died. He tutored her in math, invited her and her mother to dinners with him and his wife, and occasionally gave her a lift home from school. Rumors abounded after Addy was caught stalking his house, and the teacher was soon out of a job. No good show more deed goes unpunished.

Going back to school after that was torture, she was bullied by Miss Popularity, the Leader of the Pack. To make things worse, her best friend, abandoned her when his conscience wouldn’t let him forget helping cover up her role in her father’s death. On top of all that, she hates her new Math Teacher, Mrs. Bennet.

Poor Addy, she has no friends and no one to talk to, when along comes her English teacher, Mr. Bennet. Nethanial Bennet (Nate), the school’s Mr. Super Hunky teacher, who suddenly takes an interest in this hot mess of a teenager. Nate is sympathetic and takes poor Addy under his wing. So what if he’s an old man of 40(!) and she’s only Sixteen. They are soulmates. Both love poetry, in particular, Poe. ….and that’s when the nausea sets in – that grooming!...that poetry (Nate’s and Addy’s)!..., auggggh!

No sacred cows here, but soon the nausea is replaced by a healthy dose of humor. An unsatisfied wife, (ten years younger than her skinflint of a husband) with a penchant for Louis Vuitton stilettos, finds satisfaction with an equally lusty shoe salesman who is happy to oblige. A narcissistic husband, gaslights his wife, while he diddles his students. For a smart cookie the wife was pretty blind. She, if anyone, should have seen what was going on.

There are several attempted murders, much bad poetry, and plenty of backstage jiggy.

The prologue keeps you guessing throughout and the epilogue was great, especially for those who like loose ends neatly tied up in a bow before closing the book.

McFadden rocks! She keeps the reader engaged and guessing throughout, and while I did catch on faster than Mrs. Bennet as to the obvious, I was surprised and delighted with the ending.

BTW this is one of fifteen McFadden books always available in audio on Hoopla!, if your library subscribes. I mention it because otherwise, if you don't have KU for ebook, it might take up to half a year to get a copy from your local library. McFadden is just that popular...and now I know why. show less

First and foremost, I loved how uncomfy this book made me feel. Going into it I didn't know it was going to have a teacher/student relationship. (TBH I looked up nothing about this book before I started reading it, I was on a thriller roll.) So let me tell you I was SURPRISED when that little development happened. However, even though i was deeply uncomfortable reading that section the author managed to portray the teenage emotions SOOOO WELL. I couldn't help sympathizing with the student and her inability to see the situation for what it really was. Couldn't help yelling in my head "you poor thing, NOOOOO" every time she rationalized something that was extremely wrong.

Also it took me way too long to realize that the first chapter had show more no name attached to it so you don't actually know who was getting murdered. show less

A totally over-the-top hot mess of a psychological drama and thriller.

A young married couple are teachers at a local high school. Nate teaches English and Eve's subject is math. It's the start of a new school year, and Eve is dismayed to find that one of her students, Addie Severson, was the cause of a scandal that had resulted in the firing of a faculty member. That girl is trouble. But is she the only problem at Caseham High?

Oh, the story here is beyond explaining without giving away all the spoilers and twists. Suffice to say that every single character is repressible and deplorable in his/her own way. This has every trigger from pedophilia, sexual abuse, grooming, alcoholism, academic dishonesty, murder, bullying...and just for fun, show more the author tossed in a shoe fetish.

As the narrative progresses, plot holes develop that will make you just shake your head. I both listened to the audio version (excellent voice narrators by the way) and read along with the e-book ARC. The reader is tantalized by the entertainment and shock value alone, always wondering what in the world these unbelievable characters will do or say next. The climax and conclusion were off the charts nuts and the final twist was one that almost made me throw my kindle at the wall.

Should you read it? Well, it is fast paced and keeps you hooked because you just can't wrap your head around all that is going on. But the subject matter might offend many with the whole cliche of inappropriate student and teacher relationships in the worst ways possible.

I received an ARC compliments of the publisher and got the audiobook from my local library. show less

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 involving a student-teacher affair, with one student, Addie, at its center. But Eve knows there is far more to these ugly rumors than meets the eye. 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.
Early into the story, we learn that Eve is miserable and really does hate her husband. She's having an affair with an show more employee at her shoe store. Speaking of shoes, Eve does love her shoes...she's addicted to purchasing them and hides them from her husband. I hated Eve!!!

Then there's Addie. To call her a "troubled student" would be the understatement of the century. Addie's father had recently died, so we are told that that's why she latched onto her last teacher. Nate isn't aware that Addie is "trouble going somewhere to happen", so he quickly becomes "closer" to her than he ever should have. They begin an inappropriate relationship after Nate gives her a poem that he said he had written for her. I now hate Addie and Nate!!!

Things soon begin to spiral out of control, and here is where I found the story to begin to take an unbelievable "how could these supposedly ADULTS be so STUPID" twist"! If even possible, Addie becomes more and more obsessed with Nate. She demands more time with him than he can or should, give her. She then shows up at his house. Eve catches her and tells Nate. DUH!... Nate becomes upset with her, and they have a huge fight. Addie again shows up, this time to talk to Eve. Addie tells Eve that she wants her to leave Nate. Eve tells her, "no-way Jose", and tells Addie that she needs to get this idea that there even IS a relationship, out of her head. Addie gets angry and hits Eve with an iron skillet and believes that she has killed her. We soon learn that Eve isn't actually dead, but by that point, Nate had been called and was soon making plans, with Addie, to hide Eve's body.

Eve begins to regain consciousness, and Nate quickly decides that he really doesn't want her to live. After all, she had made demands of him that he really didn't at all, care for. Nate chokes her until she is no longer breathing, Addie returns, and they take up their plan to bury her.... now comes another unbelievable plan from this "supposed to be", adult...he actually thinks that burying her in an abandoned pumpkin patch is a grand idea. After the 'deed is done", Nate talks Addie into staying at the pumpkin patch in hopes that she will "take the fall" if and when, the body is found. Addie has other ideas about that, calls a friend and goes home. Here's where the whole story takes another dive into the bizarre "Loony Tunes" universe. Nate goes to the police and files a "missing person" report. Afterwards he goes home and soon begins to have unexplained weird things begin to happen. Shoes keep turning up everywhere in the house...in the shower...in the kitchen...in the garage. Then we have a raven that comes into the house. Our Nate is not the "brightest bulb in the chandelier"...but he finally realizes that... READY FOR IT?? EVE WASN'T EVER ACTUALLY DEAD!! Here is where I gave a rousing cheer and the book went up to 1.5 stars instead of the 1, lonely star, that I was, to this point, planning on. Eve now buries Nate... ALIVE...yelp... in the same hole he had tried to bury her in previously. Three big loud cheers for Eve. Would it be too much to ask for Addie to join him???

TWO POSIBLE SPOILERS...but just as ridiculous as the rest of the book.
There were two plot twists in the end. "Number one": Eve had been Nate's student in high school. Their relationship started the same as his and Addie's had. Exactly the same, including the very same poem. "Number two": the man Eve was seeing and buying shoes from at her shoe store, was actually a friend of Addie's, AND... he was still in high school. So... both Eve and Nate were having inappropriate relationships with two high school students, only Eve didn't know it.

I found, and read, some other reviews for this book on several different sites, so I already know that I am diffidently in the 2% of folks that didn't find this absolutely Pulitzer Prize winning material. This author has done SO much better. show less

Addie, a high school junior, has some problems. Her dad had died last year, and when a teacher tried to console and help her, some parents got the wrong idea that something nefarious was going on. It wasn’t, but the teacher was forced to leave the school. This year, Addie is shunned by her peers and treated warily by teachers. All except for her English teacher, Nate, who just happens to be married to her math teacher, Eve. Eve and Nate are not the happily married couple they appear to be to others. They each find happiness outside their marriage, Eve with her expensive shoes and handsome shoe salesman, and Nate with the adoring young Addie. In this tale, the youth are capable of great evil, and the adults who should protect and show more nurture instead corrupt and destroy. This book is repulsive on so many levels: adultery, pedophilia, murder, obsessions, complicity to commit murder, unlawful entry, and concealing crimes. Secrets, of course, are plentiful in this tale. It is a fairly quick read, and compelling in its suspense. The ending, though, was so contrived that even after reading it, I thought that the author couldn’t possibly have meant that. But she did. Are there any likable characters in this book? Maybe the principal who barely makes an appearance and Addie’s mother, a hard-working nurse who is seldom in the story. If you like thrillers just for the suspense without much else, this book may appeal to you. But if you need to have at least one character that you could admire, this is a book you should skip. show less

there's no way i can talk about this book without giving away major spoilers, so spoiler warning from now on. the irony of me reading this book after just finishing a safeguarding course is WILD!! this definitely read a lot darker than some of her other books i've previously read, both in tone and in subject matter, but i found it such an interesting commentary on the cycle of abuse (especially in an educational setting) and double standards. i didn't love the whole idea of eve turning out not to be dead, and so it transpired she had been buried alive (and arguably nate as well?!), but i did think the twist around jay / hudson being THE SAME PERSON was genius, as looking back there were clues, that because of assumptions we, as the show more audience made, overlooked. -1 star for the burying alive, but otherwise, this was so gripping!! show less

Ok Ms. Freida, let's have a chat because what in the world, where are you coming up with this stuff that it's like crack, LOL. Just when I thought The Housemaid had me hooked, this book, LIKE Oh My Freaking Goodness I am at a lost for words trying to describe this so the next person can hopefully enjoy this as much as I just did.
Now, this is what I call a Thriller/mystery.. you want drama, this book delivered, you want a messed up plot that has you yelling at the book obscene amount of curse words this book delivered!! I started last night and finished soon as I got home from work because I needed to finish it. This book is truly a chef's kiss to Thriller/mystery books every where.
Some things I admit I saw coming but even when I seen show more it coming it still got me, if that makes sense. This was just so freaking fantastic. If you have not read this but love a good mystery/thriller do not hesitate to read.
This was awesomely well written and I will forever recommend this book. show less