For Your Own Good
Fiction
Berkley
July 20, 2021
Hardcover
384
Purchased
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.
My review:
Oh my, this author has reeled me in again! While her last story centered on a road trip gone wrong, this one takes place in a prestigious private high school. Both of these themes are not ones that I tend to gravitate towards, but I've now decided that this author can take me anywhere she likes and I will follow along. What I loved the most about this book was that none of the characters were likable, therefore you could picture any one of them committing some nasty deeds. Since Teddy is the main protagonist in this story, let's first concentrate on him. He was everything you could want in a villain. You knew from the very beginning that he would throw anyone under the bus because he has such a high opinion of himself, he is after all FINALLY teacher of the year. His mantra is that he is doing everything for his students, for their own good. I loved the way Teddy's character was written, his rationale for his crimes was so interesting to hear about from his skewed viewpoint. Even though we know from the beginning that Teddy is a despicable person, as the story progresses it becomes clear that he isn't the only one. There are a lot of characters in this book, and we hear from the perspective of most of them in various quick chapters. This really moves the story along since it plays out as told through the eyes of all the surrounding players. There were quite a few twists and turns that were well placed. I'm not sure that the last one was quite as impactful as in the author's previous book (He Started It), but I did enjoy the ending overall. I'm still not sure why anyone was eating at the school by the end of the book, but that would be my only head scratcher as far as nit picky details are concerned.
A fast paced mystery/thriller with a dark academia vibe, this one has characters you won't soon forget. Also, you probably won't look at your Keurig coffee or a glass of milk in the same way again 🙂
