Member Reviews
Received an early copy of The Teacher via NetGalley. Freida McFadden does it again! The twists don’t fail to surprise the reader. The epilogue is fantastic. So glad I am not a student nor a teacher. Eager to read again when I received my preordered copy. A must read! 👠🍎⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!
Everyone hates Addie because she got sweet Mr. Tuttle fired for the high school when nothing really happened. Troubled teen Addie is trying to survive high school after the death of her drunk father. Her best friend, Hudson, won’t talk to her and the most popular girl in school hates her guts. Her only saving grace is her hot English teacher, Nate, who is annoyingly married to her mean math teacher, Eve. Things begin to quickly spiral out of control, but everything is not as it seems by a long shot.
I am currently obsessed with Freida McFadden books. Murder mystery dramas is the genre McFadden seems to write, with psychotic characters and crazy plot twists flying left and right, McFadden takes me on a wild ride every single time! The pacing is fast and writing easy to read. Her characters are manipulative and conniving. She always writes the first two-thirds of the book from certain characters POV, and then she will suddenly swap to the other person’s POV at the end of the story. Such a fun set up for the plot and to see the story for multiple perspectives.
I highly recommend this quick, fun read, dripping with manipulation and saturated with drama to any murder mystery fan and even for those who haven’t read one before!
Frieda McFadden's The Teacher was phenomenal! This story of a married set of teachers intertwined with the drama of teaching high school is an instant page turner. Each time I thought I figured things out, I was wrong!!! Freida's writing is a gift. I enjoyed The Teacher and even the lack of sleep because I continually said "okay, just one more chapter" after each chapter. 5 Stars!
As usual Freida sucked me in again. I couldn’t put this one down. The plot is sure to ruffle some feathers especially with her twists and surprise ending. I loved it. I like how the obsession of shoes in this one wasn’t as over done as the turtles in one of her past books. The shoes played a great part throughout the book too. I’m still laughing about the ending and dying about how she threw that twist in. Shaking my head….Well done Freida. 👏🏻
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5936092202
Freida’s books are always enjoyable, and easy to follow as you often navigate through multiple points of view. The Teacher could be triggering for some readers, but the way the author handles a serious issue makes the reader feel very satisfied, knowing that revenge was served well.
As is typical with Freida’s style, the ending left me with my jaw on the floor and wondering, “what in the crazy heck just happened??” I spent a few minutes thinking back through the book and wondering how in the world I never thought of this scenario playing out as it did!
The Teacher was a slow burn, with a nice steady build up to THAT ending that punches you in the gut. After reading the epilogue, I finally let out the breath that I didn’t realize I was holding….
Eve and Nate both teach at the local high school, and they seem like a typical married couple. Addie is a troubled student with a past, and happens to be in both teachers' classes this year. Beneath the surface of Eve and Nate's marriage lurks an abundance of secrets and Addie is only going to make things more complicated.
Buckle up for this twisty new psychological thriller by the one and only Freida McFadden!
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an ARC. I love Ms. McFadden’s writing and this one was a gem. Her books are all so different but have the same great readability and suspense. This one started a little slow but I was soon caught up in the story . As usual to avoid spoilers, there isn’t much I can say except get your copy and start reading!
Fantastic suspense thriller! All of the great characteristics that make a wonderful thriller! The reader will be taken on a twisty dark path and the ending will leave you speechless!
The Teacher
by Freida McFadden
FEb.6, 2024
Poisoned Pen Press
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I'm not sure what it is about McFAdden but she keeps my attention in every book she has written.
This one is no different. Two teachers have secrets to hide which could ruin their careers.
This book was great and I will recommend it highly.
5 stars
I read this way quicker than I thought I would. I simply couldn’t put it down. This is my third Freida McFadden novel and I’ve got to say…it’s my favorite one thus far!
The Teacher chronicles the life of Eve, a high school math teacher and her charming husband Nate, who works as an english teacher at the same school. Addie, a shy and damaged teenager with a deadly reputation finds herself a student of both Eve and Nate, thrusting them all into a messy web of sex, lies, and murder.
Having read a couple of the authors other books, and relatively enjoying them, I thought I knew what to expect with this one. I was wrong.
The Teacher grabs you and doesn’t let go until the last page. Freida McFadden’s writing is quick and to the point. Her characters are complex and brutal, making you wonder who the protagonist is, and her plot twists always leave you speechless. The twists i actually didn’t see coming, which was very enjoyable to read.
I look forward to hearing more people talk about this in the future and seeing what more Freida has in store!
A huge thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
OK! Well, definitely read this in one setting so that’s saying something. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be a fly on the wall while two teachers endure marriage issues, work and school trouble to the highest degree, shoe addiction, and Edgar Allen Poe, you’ve found the right book. I can safely say that this read is up there with some of my favorite Freida books — the characters are likable until they’re not, the drama is insane, and the shoes are so expensive it’ll make your head spin. If you’re wondering whether or not this read is worth your time, I’d say so.
I love reading a book by an author when I know that I'm never going to guess the ending. Freida ALWAYS has a twist that is unexpected and once again she tricked me! Is someone cheating, stalking or compulsively lying? I guess you will need to read The Teacher to find out? Of course, you won't be sorry!
If the summary of this makes your skin crawl, just wait. It gets worse.
I have enjoyed everything I have read by Freida and this was no different. This story, while troubling, has you experience the complete gamut of feelings. The characters are so believable and easily relatable that every one of them leaves a mark.
Without spoiling the tale, when you come to the end you still didn't see it all coming. Highly recommend especially for those who have read others of hers.
Ok, so Freida McFadden is a SUPER popular psychological thriller author, and since I occasionally like that genre (it's a love it or hate it situation for me), I thought I'd check her newest one out! And while I totally get the appeal for fans of folks who are fans of Lisa Jewell, Megan Miranda, J.P. Delaney or other, similar authors, this just didn't do it for me. While it was a very easy book to read, I thought all the "twists" were very transparently telegraphed - I knew what was going down long before it happened. The only "twist" that I didn't see coming was in the epilogue, and that's because it made absolutely no sense and created several plot holes. It soured me further on a book I already didn't like. I don't love thrillers that are based around adults having sex with teenagers as a matter of personal preference and feel pretty comfy saying that that dynamic wasn't handled well here. The epilogue definitely confirmed my feelings about the book being poorly plotted. Anyway, if this thing hasn't gone to print, maybe 86 that epilogue.
TLDR: This was not my thing at all, but fans of Lisa Jewell, Megan Miranda or McFadden's other books will likely find a lot to like here and I'd recommend it to folks who can't get enough of the genre. 1 star - I didn't like it.
Thanks to Netgalley and Hollywood Upstairs Press for the eARC, which I received for an unbiased review. The Teacher will be available on 06 February.
This book was a wild roller coaster that you can only expect from Freida. I had zero idea what was going to happen next up until the very last page. I had to go back and read the last few pages more than once to make sure that I hadn't imagined what I just read. Great job as always!
Any book I finish in one sitting I think deserves a 3 from me but other than that this book did not wow me like previous McFadden ones have. I think it mainly can be due to my comfortability with one of the main themes of the plot, which in that case other people will probably like this book a lot more, however, this felt more like a domestic suspense to me for a majority of the book until the last 30ish pages where I began feeling like it was a thriller/mystery. The twists in the end still caught me off guard though however of the books I’ve read by McFadden, this is one of the weaker ones for me.
The Teacher by Freida McFadden is a story of twisted secrets and revenge coming out in February. The teacher referred to in the title could be Eve Bennett or her husband Nate in this psychological thriller set in Caseham High School where she teaches math and he teaches English. She’s a tough-as-nails, take-charge teacher while he uses his charm and intelligence to become the most popular teacher at Caseham, especially now that Art Tuttle was fired for messing around with his student Addie Severson.
Eve believes her marriage is on the rocks as Nate’s affection for her has grown cold. To fulfill the needs that are not being met at home, she indulges in shopping for stiletto heels and having an affair with the shoe salesman. Since both are married, they confine their relationship to the shoe storeroom once a week.
While Eve loves teaching math, she does not love seeing Addie’s name on her class list. Eve knows from the Tuttle scandal that Addie cannot be trusted, she lies, she hurts people, and she destroys lives. Worse, Addie struggles in math, having engaged Mr. Tuttle for some tutoring.
Addie has not been able to live down the scandal of the previous school year, and she knows returning to Caseham is going to be tough. No one befriends her, and one student in particular bullies Addie openly. School is a living hell for Addie but when Nate encourages her poetry writing in his English class, she finds some satisfaction. She even joins the poetry magazine that Nate supervises, providing just the right circumstances for the student and her teacher to enter a forbidden relationship.
When Eve encounters Addie and Nick alone in his classroom, she snaps some photos. What if she exposes Addie’s part in a doomed student-teacher scandal? How will Nate’s career survive? His marriage?
Freida McFadden, a writer who uses this pseudonym, writes psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. A brain injury doctor, she self-published her first book on Amazon in 2013. Best known for her book The Housemaid, she lives with her family in a house overlooking an ocean.
My review will be posted on Goodreads starting December 12, 2023.
I would like to thank Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.
There are 2 teachers involved in this storyline. Wasn't sure which one had more secrets to.hide. Then throw in a teenage girl with a troubled past and a murder and you have a book that keeps you guessing til the end. .
Thank you net galley for this ARC.
Being a teenager is challenging, especially for Addie. She was involved in a scandal the previous year, and you hear more of her secrets throughout the story. Eve is a tough teacher, and she does not want to let Addie off easy in any aspect. You will feel shocked and even appalled with new secrets being revealed while hearing Addie and Eve's stories. You will also get a look at Eve's marriage with her attractive husband Nate, a teacher that everyone is left wondering why someone like him could be with someone like Eve. It is grueling to decide who to trust throughout this book. I kept switching from feeling bad for one character and then on to another. Near the end of the book, I thought I had already read the most shocking twist, until I got to the epilogue. The epilogue made my jaw drop in disbelief.
Popcorn and Plot Holes
The Teacher is an over-the-top thriller about two high school teachers whose entanglement with a troubled student results in murder.
Told through the POVs of a Math teacher, Eve; Nate, an English Teacher; and their student, Addie, none of the three are particularly likable. Eve’s chapters are the most interesting; she has some spunk, except when she acts like an idiot over her shoe collection. Nate is a douchey scumbag. Addie is whiny, and she sounds much younger than a 16-year-old. She does not feel authentic. The three have zero depth.
The plot is basic and relies on many twists. I guessed most of them, but the last one was surprisingly good. In addition to the twists, there are a lot of plot holes.
As the plot develops, the stupidity of the three characters grows. I couldn't take them much more in the end, and I had to suspend my disbelief multiple times, especially concerning the outcome of the Pumpkin Patch. However, the final twist is a good one and bumped my review up a star.
There is also the inclusion of some poems, which are laughable, but the author’s note explains that McFadden wanted to include intentionally bad ones.
This makes for a good, mindless read when you are craving something over-the-top and a little ridiculous.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press.