Category Archives: Samantha Downing

July 23, 2021 · 12:01 am

Review: For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing

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.

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Filed under Berkley, Contemporary, For Your Own Good, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Samantha Downing, Suspense

April 29, 2020 · 11:58 pm

Review: He Started It by Samantha Downing

Title: He Started It by Samantha Downing
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 400 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

From the twisted mind behind mega hit My Lovely Wife comes the story of a family—not unlike your own—just with a few more violent tendencies thrown in….

Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan haven’t all been together in years. And for very good reasons—we’ll get to those later. But when their wealthy grandfather dies and leaves a cryptic final message in his wake, the siblings and their respective partners must come together for a cross-country road trip to fulfill his final wish and—more importantly—secure their inheritance.

But time with your family can be tough. It is for everyone.

It’s even harder when you’re all keeping secrets and trying to forget a memory, a missing person, an act of revenge, the man in the black truck who won’t stop following your car—and especially when at least one of you is a killer and there’s a body in the trunk. Just to name a few reasons.

But money is a powerful motivator. It is for everyone.

Review:

He Started It by Samantha Downing is a fiendishly twisted domestic mystery.

Beth Morgan has a devilish sense of humor as she, her husband Felix, sister Portia, brother Eddie and sister-in-law Krista set out on road trip in order to inherit their grandfather’s fortune. They must follow the same path as their ill-fated trip with him twenty years earlier.  Visiting the same horrible tourist spots as before, Beth muses on the increasingly tense trip in both the past and present.

Beth is becoming more and more irritated with her siblings and husband as they spend long hours together in each other’s company. She is also internet stalking an unknown person and hints at her own past misdeeds. Beth’s frustration with Felix turns to amusement as she toys with him after an unexpected discovery. As they re-create their earlier trip, she remembers new details from the earlier journey that are as shocking as they are revealing.

Although he did not initially plan on bringing his wife with them, newly married Eddie and Krista are blissfully happy. But as the days pass, Krista becomes very disillusioned with Eddie and she is very unhappy with their tourist stops. After one particularly stressful day, Krista returns home after an argument with Eddie. But why is not answering anyone’s texts?

Baby of the family Portia is a bit spoiled and spends the trip drinking heavily. She is cagey about her life in New Orleans but Beth knows more about her sister’s profession that Portia thinks. She was only six years old during the first excursion so how much does Portia remember about that fateful trip?

He Started It is an entertaining, darkly humorous mystery with a unique plot and a love to hate cast of characters. Beth is a slyly clever narrator who is pragmatic and somewhat unsentimental. The storyline is compelling and full of unanticipated twists and turns. With stunning revelations, Samantha Downing builds the tension to a fever pitch as the novel comes an abrupt and frustratingly ambiguous conclusion.

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Filed under Berkley, Contemporary, He Started It, Mystery, Rated B, Review, Samantha Downing, Suspense

March 25, 2019 · 11:57 pm

Review: My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

Title: My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 378 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this wildly compulsive debut thriller about a couple whose fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting…

Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We’re your neighbors, the parents of your kid’s friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have our secrets to keeping a marriage alive.

Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.

Review:

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing is a diabolically twisted and absolutely riveting mystery.

Millicent and her unnamed husband (who is also narrates this clever story) are parents to fourteen year old Rory and thirteen year old Jenna.  Living in an upscale neighborhood, she is a realtor and he is a tennis instructor at the country club. After fifteen years of marriage, the marriage has become a little stale and humdrum.  However, Millicent and her hubby have come upon just the thing to liven things up: murder.

Opening with the narrator hunting for their next victim, he is shocked when their previous victim’s body has just been discovered. Even more stunning is the revelation that she was held captive and tortured before being murdered.  This was not part of their plan since he and Millicent have been able to keep their, umm, hobby undetected by hiding their victim’s bodies. Well, Millicent has decided to take their murders to a whole new level without informing her husband and partner in crime.

Millicent’s deviation from their plan has very unexpected consequences for their family. Rory is unaffected as he figures out ways to keep his extracurricular activities undetected.  Jenna, on the other hand, is terrified that a serial killer is on the loose.  Her father begins to realize his and Millicent’s unorthodox attempt to spice up their marriage does not exist in a vacuum. He is beginning to feel a bit remorseful, but will this be enough to put an end to their murderous shenanigans?

My Lovely Wife is a wickedly devious and delightfully entertaining mystery.  This intricately plotted novel is fast-paced with a surprisingly likable narrator (crazy, right?!). Millicent is the alpha in the marriage and she manages their household with an iron fist. Rory is a smart young man who has the upper hand with his father for far too long. Jenna’s fear is absolutely heartbreaking but she has a steel backbone. With fiendishly clever twists and turns,  Samantha Downing brings this novel to an incredibly satisfying conclusion that is soooo chilling! I highly recommend this fiendishly warped yet oh so mesmerizing mystery to fans of the genres.

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Filed under Berkley, Contemporary, My Lovely Wife, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Samantha Downing, Suspense