Title: For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
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…
Teddy Crutcher has won Teacher of the Year at the prestigious 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 a few mysterious deaths on campus that’re looking more and more like murder or the student digging a little too deep into Teddy’s personal life. His main focus is 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. If not, well, they’ll get what they deserve.
It’s really too bad that sometimes excellence can come at such a high cost.
Review:
For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing is a devious mystery that is darkly entertaining.
Teddy Crutcher is finally Teacher of the Year at the prestigious prep school where he has worked for several years. He has an overly inflated opinion of himself that sometimes rubs his students and fellow teachers the wrong way. Teddy has decided to bring student Zack Ward down a peg or three and he is resentful when Zack’s parents come to their son’s defense. For his part, Zack detests Teddy but he gives in to his parents’ pressure to request the extra credit assignment to bring up his grade. Meanwhile, Teddy’s dislike of a fellow teacher takes a dangerous turn when someone unexpectedly dies. Unfortunately, a student’ he likes becomes the prime suspect and Teddy just has to try to divert attention away from her and then someone else ends up dead. The walls really begin to close in when someone from Teddy’s past seizes the opportunity to exact some well deserved revenge on him.
Belmont Academy is the perfect setting for this intriguing and deliciously fun mystery. Teddy is nursing plenty of resentments that he does not hesitate to act upon. Once he decides he needs to teach someone a lesson, he creatively (and cruelly) devises a plan that he relentlessly follows much to that person’s detriment. When bodies begin piling up at the prep school, Zach begins to suspect Teddy is the most likely culprit. What happens next is a bit of a comedy of errors when his path crosses with someone else who has their own reasons for destroying Teddy. What will happen to Zach after he inadvertently gets caught up in another person’s plan to teach Teddy a rather diabolical lesson?
For Your Own Good is a zany mystery with a clever plot and interesting characters. The storyline unfolds at a brisk pace as Teddy sets a plan in motion that results in very unexpected consequences. The students are well-developed and they are typical, albeit extremely privileged, teenagers. Teddy is an over-the-top, crazy character that leaves readers on tenterhooks as he puts one outrageous plan after another in motion. Old and new fans of Samantha Downing are sure to enjoy this outstanding mystery.
