George Woodbury was a respected man in the wealthy suburban community that his grandfather had built. He was a popular teacher at the local private school where he had once disarmed a shooter intent on killing an employee. After that incident he was chosen Teacher of The Year every year. George had "family money" and served on several local boards. He and his WASP family were well respected in their town.

So it came as a complete surprise when George was arrested for "sexual misconduct with 4 minors and the attempted rape of a minor". The alleged activities took place while he was a chaperone on the school ski trip.

No one in the Woodbury family, which included Sadie, a 17 year senior at the school, Joan, his wife who was a nursing supervisor at a local hospital and their older son Andrew , a lawyer in NYC, could not believe the charges. George was by all accounts, an exemplary father and husband. Yet there were 4 different young girls who had made the allegations.

George was imprisoned without parole for almost a year while awaiting trial. Sadie became a pariah in the school and lost most of her friends. She eventually moved to the house of her boyfriend Jimmy, to avoid the media camped outside the Woodbury home. Joan took an extended break from her hospital job while trying to help with George's defense.

As the various family members supported George with phone calls and visits in prison, they also began to uncover many secrets about him.

I found this book interesting and read it quickly. However I felt that the ending was unsatisfactory.

Made for TV movie type story of a respected teacher accused of sexual misconduct with students. Writing and story started out okay but got worse as the book wore on.. Don't recommend.

I must admit that I found this book extremely predictable and derivative. I had looked forward to reading this, especially because of my background in education, despite this, I found this dull full of stereotypical characters.

I could find nothing exciting or interesting in this novel. Despite the fact that it deals with a topic that is certainly often in the news, Whittal fails to bring anything new to the table. The use of a potential school shooting at the start seems artificial and unconnected.

This really was a major disappointment.

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