The Teacher by Freida McFadden

The Teacher focuses on Eve, who has a stable husband named Nate, and their lives as teachers at the school, Caseham High. Last year, the school was rocked by a scandal involving a student-teacher affair, with one student, Addie, at its centre. But Eve knows there is far more to these rumours than meets the eye. Addie can’t be trusted as she lies and hurts people, according to gossip anyway, but nobody knows the real Addie.

This is only my second McFadden book after The Housemaid, and it is intriguing from the start. The dual perspectives alternating in each chapter is a favourite style of mine, with each chapter ending on a mini cliffhanger making me want to keep reading. It’s very easy to read and kept my attention throughout.

In terms of the plot, the book reminded me of My Dark Vanessa, but The Teacher didn’t tackle the issues of sexual abuse, especially in the teacher-student context, as deeply. These topics are uncomfortable to read, and apart from a small part with Addie and Kenzie, there’s not much discussion around this issue in general, which I found disappointing, as it instead focused on the thriller aspect of the plot. I eventually found all the main characters unlikable, so I didn’t feel as invested as I’d usually like with a book. I do find McFadden’s writing very similar to Colleen Hoover’s in the sense that there are always some plot holes and some of the writing/character development can feel a little weak, but ultimately, it’s made up by a gripping premise that keeps the book going.

There were lots of twists until the very end, and I didn’t see the ending coming, so that was fun and refreshing to read. I also really enjoyed reading the afterword of the book, as it confirmed the answer to a question I had immediately after finishing the book.

This is a fast-paced thriller that I read in 2 days, and it confirmed for me that McFadden’s books are good filler reads in between my heavier books. It’s not the best thriller I’ve read, but I am looking forward to reading more of McFadden’s books.

3/5 stars