Fans of Downing’s previous thrillers, My Lovely Wife and He Started It, will find a lot to love about For Your Own Good as she brings the same dark humour and tone to this story, this time set in an elite private school.
This is not a “whodunit” mystery as we meet our quirky, (and honestly fun to read) villain quite early on, and he has no hesitation in letting the reader in on what he is doing and what his “reasons” are for his actions. The tension and suspense in this story are built into the reader wondering if he is ever going to be caught, how he is going to be caught, and just how far he might go before that happens.
Teddy Crutcher is the Teacher of the Year at Belmont Academy and certainly wants to see students succeed. At least, he wants to see students succeed that he has determined should succeed. So, if he needs to help things along, and maybe cause, or prevent, other things from happening, well, surely he knows best…right?
All of the characters at Belmont Academy are well drawn and unique, but the students are most often the focus of the story. These teenagers are never left as just one-dimensional rich kids at a fancy prep school. These are multi-layered young people with complicated lives, thoughts, problems, goals, and allegiances. Downing has drawn these characters so well, for my own personal reading it sets a whole new standard for characterisation of teenagers.
As fans of her work have seen before, Downing can most certainly prolong the suspense and tension! With excellent pacing and smooth, well timed movement between the different characters in the story, she keeps the reader fully engaged and fascinated, waiting for the next twist this story will take. Samantha Downing has made For Your Own Good almost impossible to put down!
For Your Own Good is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
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.
USA Today bestselling author Samantha Downing is back with her latest sneaky thriller set at a prestigious private school—complete with interfering parents, overeager students, and one teacher who just wants to teach them all a lesson…
