A Quiet Teacher

Thank you for the opportunity to read this advance copy of A Quiet Teacher by Adam Obebanji. I was drawn to the book by the title - being a teacher myself I was intrigued- even more so when I read the blurb. Greg Abimbola teaches at a prestigious Pittsburgh school and leads a seemingly peaceful and tranquil existence. Page by page, Greg’s secrets are revealed and it would appear Greg has many other talents apart from teaching Russian and French... Fantastic book that I would highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the copy of The Quiet Teacher. The characters are so well drawn and you will either love them or hate them because they are so distinct. I loved the contemporary story that unfolded slowly and the lovely writing kept me reading, even though I wasn’t sure where it was going. I was a little taken aback by some of the racial epithets, but they did (sadly) fit the characters who uttered them. If you’re looking for a great mystery you should read this book! 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

A really enjoyable, well paced mystery read that kept me guessing all the way through to the end. A quick and easy read.

Engaging, Energetic…
What secrets are being kept by the seemingly innocuous, quiet and contained modern languages teacher Greg Abimbola? When a wealthy parent is murdered on the prestigious school premises everything and everyone come under scrutiny but Greg does his best to remain hidden - that is, until a good friend is arrested for murder. The time has now come for Greg to come out of the shadows, albeit reluctantly, revealing himself and his very bad past. A spy thriller come contemporary mystery with a well crafted cast of characters and an engaging, energetic and intriguing storyline.

There are some writers who never do the same thing twice. Two books is probably not enough to say there is a pattern, but it was a surprise to find the follow up to Adam Oyebanji’s space opera debut Braking Day is a contemporary murder mystery with a bit of spy thriller thrown in for good measure. A Quiet Teacher is an amateur detective mystery set in an exclusive Pittsburgh school, where the detective has more than one skeleton in his closet and plenty of good reasons not to get involved.
The cold open of A Quiet Teacher is not the murder itself. Rather, the book opens on a man running from some pursuers, who seem to have tortured him, by jumping into the harbour in Djibouti. Cut to the present day and Greg Abimbola is teaching Russian to entitled teenagers in Calderhill Academy, a high end Pittsburgh secondary school. He is also being hauled over the coals by one of the more vocal mothers at the school for daring to give her daughter a B in Russian. It is that mother who will the next morning, be found stabbed in the school’s maintenance room. Greg, who can’t seem to help himself, agrees to help Andrea, one of the school maintenance workers who has been accused of the murder, clear her name. In doing so he calls on an old contact and brings himself to the attention of Morosov, the GRU agent who he escaped from three years before and who is bent on revenge.
This is a strange amalgam of two genres. The murder mystery itself is fairly standard but well handled. There are plenty of suspects, well placed clues and a clever reveal. Along the way, Oyerbanji gets to explore issues of class, racism, entitlement, ambition (of parents for their children) and sexuality. The spy thriller element adds an interesting layer to Greg’s story, gives him some insight through a hacker that he might not otherwise be able to get but it does not really impinge or interact with the main story. It is almost there just to give Oyerbanji a bit more to work with in Greg’s character.
Through his background, which is really only lightly sketched out Abimbola seems to at least have some interrogation skills and connections that give him the capacity to work on this murder. As one of only two Black teachers at the school, Abimbola also has to deal with casual and systemic racism. He has plenty of secrets, including a repressed sexuality which is the element that is dealt with in a fairly heavy handed way as it conflicts with his seemingly deep faith.
In the end, Oyerbanji manages to keep all of his balls in the air. This is an engaging mystery with a fascinating, conflicted but versatile main character. And while it may be that Oyerbanji will pivot again to something completely different there is still more to discover about Greg, his history and his world, and the door has been left open for more.

Part Murder mystery and part spy thriller this book has a bit of everything and it held my attention right from the very first page.
Greg Abimbola is a teacher in a private school in Pittsburgh in the USA. He teaches Russian and other modern languages at the school. However it becomes apparent early on that he has secrets although the reader is not quite sure in what direction the secrets will lead. He seems to be British but speaks fluent Russian, Latin and French which makes him difficult to categorise.
When a murder occurs on the school premises and the police arrest someone with whom Greg is friendly he makes a decision to help prove her innocence. This unfortunately leads to his past finding a way to catch up with him.
The fact that Greg is black means that has suffered casual racism both through his job in the school and also in his previous career. Some of the words used in the novel were very upsetting but they were obviously a necessary part of the plot and emphasised that racism is present the world over.
I really liked the mystery aspect of the book- I was as eager as Greg to find the murderer but I was also enjoying trying to piece together the clues to his past and work out why someone with his specialist skill set was a teacher in a school.
I thought that this book was both entertaining and cleverly plotted which meant I raced through it in a couple of days. I’d definitely be happy to read more about the life of Greg in the future should the author decide to write a sequel.
Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for my advance copy.

Greg Abimbola is the sun of a Russian mother in Nigerian father. He lives in Pittsburgh and teaches foreign languages at an elite private high school that routinely gets kids in to Ivy League colleges he also is harboring a big secret. When he shows up to school Monday morning it’s one thing after another the heat is off the principal wants to see him and when he goes to her office Lindsay DeKalb is in there yelling at her. She is the mother of Victoria and isn’t his biggest fan either and on the way out of principal Ellis’s office she lets him know in racist and hateful terms. He blows it off with his cool manner but the next day when she is found murdered in the janitors room the next day, he doesn’t know what to think. There were a lot of people at the school that dislike this tyrant of a woman starting with the chemistry teacher, but it’s the assistant janitor Maria who gets brought into the station. When she asked Greg to help her investigate who the murderer is he’s reluctant but ultimately agrees to do it and is it finding a murderer wasn’t a big enough Task but he also has someone from his past coming to try and make him a murder victim as well. I really liked Greg and thought him to be a great character and the chemistry teacher made me laugh but I do think Morozov used too many racial slurs I get that you want the character to be authentic but that was just entirely too much. Having said that I would definitely read another book by this author and about this teacher. I found a charming all except the horrible racial slurs. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

The murder of a parent on the campus where Greg teaches- a parent who has complained about him-opens a can of worms in this unusual blending of espionage and mystery,. Greg fled Africa, fled from his Russian handler, and thought he had a safe haven teaching Russian at the Calderhill Academy. Wrong. His past comes roaring back. No spoilers from me because readers should experience the revelations and twists on their own. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Well crafted and interesting read.

I read Braking Day by Adam Oyebanji, an excellent sci fi, and was curious to read this thriller. It's a well plotted and gripping story and I think Mr Adam Oyebanji will surprise us with other great stories.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I attended the virtual library journal day of dialog this past fall and the author was a presenter. I fell in love with him and his discussion of this book. I'm grateful for the opportunity to read the quiet teacher. Thank you for the advanced reader copy.