First off a big thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of The Teacher!

The book starts of by giving us a POV in each a teacher Eve Bennet who is married to another teacher Nate Bennet and their student Addie. We get to follow along as Addie's life interweaves with her teachers both past and present. Keep in mind you are uncomfortable reading, but you just can not put the book down and need to follow along as see what happens next.
The plot is suspenseful and addictive. The twist are fun, I did not see the last one coming at all. I let out a gasp when I finished this book. I will definitely be recommending this book to others!
This is a book where you don't want to say much and give anything away. I would recommend going in blind and not knowing much.

I really enjoyed this book and was hooked from the first page to the very last line!

The book follows Eve and Addie. Eve is a high school math. Addie is a high school junior who had a rough sophomore year and is being bullied by pretty much everyone.

I loved the alternating view points and I had no idea what to expect next, down to the very last chapter!

This was my first Freida and I will definitely be reading a lot more!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall Review (spoilers)

I am addicted to thrillers, especially multiple POV thrillers where the characters are not likable but you understand their motivation. This book was very difficult to read due to the topic itself, but I feel like it was very well written and you get a glimpse into the brainwashing that the victims of predators go through. While most of the plot twist were predictable, they didn’t feel overdone. It also felt like something that could happen in real life. I will say if you have a tender heart, avoid this book because it did make me angry for Addie and sad for Eve. The ending is top tier though. Screw Nate tho.

Plot Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Genre: fiction, thriller, mystery

Trigger Warnings: pedophilia, sexual relationship with a minor (not described in detail).

Freida McFadden has done it again! She manages to find a way to blow her readers away with the ending. So many twists happened in this book that I really did not see that ending. I went into the book blind not knowing what it was about and when I started reading it, I was so grossed out by the teacher student relationship storyline but Freida does what she does best and writes a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat and you can't help but continue to turn the page to see what happens next. This was a five star read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free ebook ARC of The Teacher. This review is my honest opinion. I had never read anything by Freida McFadden and thus didn't know what to expect going in, but I was captivated from page one! I highly recommend this book to fans of thriller/suspense/murder fiction.

The prologue provides a great hook and setup without specifying which character is narrating it. After that, the story bounces back and forth between the teacher and the high school student. I liked how the mystery was delivered in breadcrumbs along the way, with clear concerns from the different point of view characters. Ultimately, it does land in controversial territory and some readers may be sensitive to the topics/issues, but I thought it was a wonderful read.

Wow this book was great. In this book you follow our three main characters Eve and Nate who are husband and wife and work at the same high school, and a student at the school named Addie who has a troubling past and was involved in a scandal, just go into this book knowing this and it will blow you away, I highly recommend this mystery thriller. There were so many twists in this book, but the ending was insane you think the book was wrapping up but no she throws another twist at you. I do recommend searching and looking into trigger warnings! The reason it wasn't a full 5 stars is because it did take me some time to get into the first 40 ish percent of the book, but then all of a sudden, I was hooked and just felt myself not wanting to put the book down.

The teacher is an extremely fast paced thriller that continues to keep you guessing all the way through the epilogue. I thought I had the twists guessed and knew who suspect number one was but I was wrong more ways than one. I could not put this one down and had to know how it ended to see if I was on to something. The revelation in the epilogue was jaw dropping which is Freida's specialty I have noticed!

The book follows three major players, Addie who is a 16 year old junior in high school who has a seemingly dark past. She is referred to as a very "troubled" girl who we learn at the beginning is the reason a previous teacher was fired but we aren't sure why and get bread crumbs to that history as we read. Then you have Eve, Addie's math teacher, who is married to Nate, Addie's English teacher who also runs the school paper where she publishes her poems on. A couple other notable characters, Kenzie who bullies Addie and Hudson who is Addie's ex best friend but we aren't sure what happened with that friendship. The prologue sets up a scene that we are trying to get to the bottom of and it's a scene in a POV of who's we do not know. Through out the book we are trying to solve multiple mysteries, what happened between Addie and the teacher that got fired because of her, why are her and Hudson not friends, what is up with Eve and Nate and their very lackluster marriage.

Overall I enjoyed this read and would recommend to anyone who loves an easy quick paced suspense. My only complaint would be that there are a couple plot holes I am still not sure of and the storylines/twists were a bit far fetched and a tad unbelievable.

What a wild ride! Freida does it again with this fast paced, twisty story that takes place in the halls of a high school. From the first page this book is action packed and is a very quick read. The main character is relatable and I was invested in her storyline. The end has a double twist that screams Freida and will make you gasp!! I immediately had to message friends to discuss the ending! Thank you @netgalley and @sourcebooks for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!

Frieda does it again 😅 I wasn’t digging the story at first (check trigger warnings) but as the story evolved, she sucked me in, as always. And in Frieda fashion, she threw in yet ANOTHER twist right at the end for shits and giggles and it was epic. Devoured in less than 2 days. #netgalley

A gripping prologue that fell apart for me shortly after.

To be honest, I almost dnf'd this book multiple times due to it surrounding the grooming of children. I understand that the author specifically called out the age of consent was 16 in the state and a driving force of this book is the ability of her to be easily influenced, but aging her up even to 18 would have made this slightly more bearable.
As someone who doesn't like a storyline surrounding infidelity that was another strike (seeing as it was a constant focus), and then the odd fixation on shoes often took me about of the story.

In addition to the weird fixation on shoes, some of the dialogue between Addie and Nathaniel was uncomfortable and even with is motivation being to influence her, it felt very out of character for someone that age. I also found the characters unlikable and struggled to get past the fact that Addie clearly had mental health issues and they were just constantly discussed and brushed under the rug.

I pushed forward because I hoped there was going to be a plot twist that would not have made any of the above acceptable, but at least more understandable...but I was wrong. Not only was the ending (for the most part) predictable, but the one random "twist" near the end made me me angrier.


Overall, this just wasn't for me and I know I will be in the minority on this. If the reader can get past the above and has enjoyed Freida's books, maybe they find it more enjoyable.

This is my first Freida McFadden book and whoowee it was a ride! Freida's writing is fast paced and easy to engage with. The story flows effortlessly and makes her book fly by quickly. I read this entire book in one sitting, and then ran to my husband to try and explain every detail and plot twist! I am in love with her stories and cannot wait to read another!

Eve is unhappy in her seemingly boring hum drum marriage. She is a math teacher and sees things for their logic and reason. Her husband Nate is an English teacher. They have a seemingly perfect life and perfect relationship.

Addie has had a rough year. After a misunderstanding got another teacher let go the year before, Addie finds herself being bullied and shunned by the rest of the school. Including her former best friend. But Addie has secrets. Secrets she will do anything to keep. She can't be trusted. When her secrets are being threatened, what will she do to keep them?

This book is definitely a page turner! Had me hooked from the very start. Every time I thought I had it figured out I turned out to be wrong. Even though some parts did feel far fetched and a bit unbelievable, this book did not disappoint. The end had me SHOCKED I did not see that coming. Will definitely keep recommending Freida McFadden books! Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this before it’s officially out!

Oh my God, this book was so good! Just a great story with lots of actually plausible twists and turns. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love everything she writes! Devoured this in less than a day. I really love the cover art for this one, too.

Awesome as always. The Teacher is gripping the seat of your pants and twists and turns! Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

Frieda McFadden always gets me out of a reading slump. Her books are fast paced, interesting, and always keep me guessing - The Teacher is all of these things. I finished it in less than 24 hours because it was just that good. There were some parts that made me uncomfortable (trigger warnings for sa). It truly would have been a 5 star read for me had it not been for the epilogue - I was SO disappointed with that epilogue. Other than that, it was a great read!

At this point, I have read the majority of Frieda’s books, and as i’m less shocked and thrilled each time, it leads me to wonder if it’s the books themselves, or myself, as the reader, who is getting used to the authors quirks and stylistic choices. For this book, it was a bit of both. This being that I guessed the main plot twist, but only because I know how Frieda writes and how she chooses to dictate character movements. I found that I was addicted to the book, racing to finish to find out the plot twist, just to be left unsatisfied. Not to say this wasn’t an enjoyable read, however, with these books, I am always looking for a quick read filled with shock and suspense, and didn’t feel it with this one. This also felt uncomfortable to read, just because of some of the content matter, although not graphic, it felt disturbing to read about sexual discourse between a child and a teacher, when this book is categorized as a thriller. This isn’t the authors direct fault, however some trigger warnings or info at the end of the book to give information on how this can be solved or equipped for in real life would maybe be better. I have no real complaints for this book, other than it just fell flat.

When a student-teacher affair rocks the school, what is the fallout? Did it really happen? What about the student who is still in the school? What happens to the school in the aftermath? Will the secrets eventually come out?

The gasp I gusped at the twist I never saw coming! Freida McFadden is a master at writing engaging bingeable thrillers and this one might be the best yet. The main characters each have major flaws and interests that make them feel fully dimensional. I found myself both loathing and rooting for some characters while they made decisions. Nothing is quite as it seems in this story set in a high school which made it fun to guess how things would turn out. I really loved the multiple point of views we get to experience as a reader as well. There wasn't a single character I was not interested in hearing more from as the story developed. There is part of the storyline that made me uncomfortable to read as a mom of two girls (Trigger warning: about grooming,) but I tried to focus on figuring out who was murdered, how, and why instead. With multiple twists and an ending that is challenging to predict, this is definitely a page turner that will help anyone get out of a reading slump if they find themselves in one.

Thank you so much Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this advanced reader's copy!!

The teacher review

Per usual with a Frieda McFadden book I gobbled this one up!! It was so fast paced and filled with unlikeable characters I had no idea where this book was going or what going to happen next!

While a lot of stuff in this book made me feel icky I was not expecting things to end the way they did and for me that’s a must in a thriller book! And what a shocking ending twist I certainly didn’t see coming!

If you want a thriller you can’t put down and just have to know what happens next, this is the one for you!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this e arc and a chance to read this book! It’s available February 6th!