A review by chapterchatswithcaroline
The Teacher by Freida McFadden

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“Digging a grave is hard work.” is the opening line of Author Freida McFadden The Teacher & a line that i m sure will not leave my mind any time soon. It’s this line that kept me on the edge of my seat & what kept me moving forward.

The Teacher follows a simple plot of an relationship between a teacher and his student, where the student is totally convinced that the connection she shares with her teacher is something out of this world & they are soulmate for life & that they are willing to do anything to be together. But all that is in jeopardy, when another teacher threatens to expose them & bring their affair to light, which in turn would ruin their lives & career forever, if they don’t stop her from going to the principal.

The book is divided into 3 parts and the chapters alternate between the three main characters (Eve, Addie & Nate), telling us the story from 3 perspectives. The plot was intriguing, fast paced & managed to keep me hooked for majority of the books. Though, there were certain times in the book, where I thought the writing got a bit repetitive (with Kenzie‘s constant bullying and Eve’s obsession  with shoes). As for the suspense part, I found it to be very predictable. After 25 to 30 chapters in, I totally had a clue of who was behind all the façade and in which direction the story was headed. 

The second part of the book though, was the part I enjoyed the most because it saw some major twists & turns & also kept me second guessing myself but this was all short lived because the third part was just so unrealistic (or should I say filmy) as compared to the rest of the book. Even the epilogue also kind of felt silly to me. The author also tried to throw in some horror aspects in the end which didn’t do much for me atleast.

The book also sees some notorious characters who have hidden secrets, compulsive obsession with a certain hobby, bullying and mental illnesses.At the end, all I can say is that the story is full of sexual offenders and child predators. So be warned with its contents before you dive into this one because you are in for a lot of triggers. 

There were also some elements in the book that went unanswered like, “was there really something between Mr. Tuttle and Addie? Or was it just a rumour?” And due to which the book felt a bit incomplete. According, to me the author should write up something like a prequel to this main story.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book apart from all its shortcomings and will surely recommend this book to readers who love fast paced psychological thrillers.
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