Tag: Samantha Downing

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Teddy Crutcher has won Teacher of the Year at the esteemed Belmont Academy, home to the best and brightest. He says his wife couldn’t be more proud—though no one has seen her in a while. Teddy really can’t be bothered with the death of a school parent that’s looking more and more like murder or the student digging a little too deep into Teddy’s personal life. His main focus is on pushing these kids to their full academic potential. All he wants is for his colleagues—and the endlessly meddlesome parents—to stay out of his way. It’s really too bad that sometimes excellence can come at such a high cost.

Teddy’s character was interesting for sure. It was kind of nice to get that insight into his brain and they way that he thinks. He is quite a petty person and he goes the extra mile for slights that any normal person would probably overlook. His aspiration to be the principal wasn’t really mentioned throughout the majority of the plotline so it was definitely a surprise to see that that was his end goal. I don’t quite understand why he didn’t mention to anyone that he was separated from his wife either. I think that is a very easy lie to uncover so what would be the point?

I didn’t develop any connection with Zach. Sure he added dimension to the storyline and was able to ultimately figure out what Teddy was up to even though he didn’t have any proof. I would of liked to get Courtney’s perspective though, her thoughts on her mother before she was killed and then whilst she was in jail. I feel like so much more happens to Courtney than Zach and I think if we could of had both point of views I would of been way more invested and interested!

Sonia bless her was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was over the top and was a little too invested in Belmont and the accolades being a part of the ‘family’ gave her but other than just getting on Teddy’s nerves she was harmless I feel. After his first failed attempt on her life I thought he would give up and she would be safe but the fact that she wasn’t overlooked in his plans really upped the stakes.

I really enjoyed the fact that Fallon makes an appearance and we find out more about what happened to her after Teddy receives her emails. I think what he did to her without any proof was horrible but after finding out what she did when she was at Belmont it made me feel less sorry for her. Which makes sense why she still isn’t over what happened and ends up back at Belmont hellbent on revenge.

Overall this was just ok for me. I appreciated the fact that no character was safe and we didn’t definitively know who was behind it until quite a fair way into the plot. I just wasn’t drawn in to the book as much as what I thought I would be. Even though it’s a relatively short novel it took me three days to finish it when I could of easily done it in one. This tells me I was able to put it down and the urge wasn’t there for me to pick it back up straight away and find out what happens. I think the ending was justified and I was ultimately satisfied!

⭐️3/5 stars Unlike anything I’ve ever read before!