The Teacher by Freida McFadden

The same friend that recommended The Crash by Freida McFadden actually recommended The Teacher first. I chose to read The Crash first because of the winter vibe and isolated field. But The Teacher had a solid hook that was worthy of putting in on my reading stack. A student ostracized after an incident during the last school year gets entangled in a pair of married teachers’ troubled marriage which leads the reader down psychological twists that will keep you second-guessing until the end.

If you read my review of The Crash, I was highly annoyed by the main female characters inventing crazy backstories for other characters and assuming the worst based on appearances when there was no real evidence to back up these assumptions. McFadden has the same trope in The Teacher, but to me, it is much more realistic. These characters are running in different social circles; it is a high school situation where there are age differences and power dynamics at play that would lead people to suspect the worst from the other character. And it was a much more gradual situation as opposed to such immediate assumptions in The Crash based on traumatic events.

The Teacher starts strong, beginning with a body being buried. Can’t beat a hook like that. But what really drew me in was the characters, each with their own set of secrets and lies. I was questioning the outcome and who the body was at the beginning for a long time. McFadden is a master of the unreliable narrator, and in this book, we get two: Eve, the seemingly put-together math teacher with a shoe addiction and a passionless marriage, and Addie, the troubled student at the center of a scandal. The dual perspectives are key, as they force the reader to constantly shift allegiances and question who is truly telling the truth.

The Characters: A Web of Lies and Secrets

The story alternates between the perspectives of Eve and Addie, and McFadden does a brilliant job of making you question everything you think you know. Eve’s husband, Nate, is the handsome and popular English teacher, and from the outside, they seem like the perfect couple. Immediately, I didn’t trust Nate. He’s too perfect, and of course, there are the complaints from Eve about Nate and their relationship. Her internal monologue reveals a deep dissatisfaction and a simmering resentment that makes her actions both shocking and, in a strange way, understandable. As the story unfolds, we see the cracks in their relationship and the dark secrets they’re both hiding. 

We spend a lot of time on Eve’s obsession with expensive shoes. Honestly, I am not sure what that is supposed to represent about her psychology. My guess is that she wants to feel grown up but feels stuck at the age when she met Nate and has trouble getting past that. That analysis will become clear after the spoilers. Or have you already guessed what is happening with Nate? Her obsession even extends to having an affair with a shoe salesman, who turns out to be connected to the story the whole time. This is the twist I didn’t see coming.

Addie is a character you can’t help but feel for, even as you question her motives. She’s been ostracized by her peers and teachers after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a teacher the year before. She is now drawn to Nate, who seems to be the only one who understands her. But is he really the caring teacher he appears to be, or is there something more sinister at play? Her vulnerability is palpable, and it’s this vulnerability that makes her a perfect target.

Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead!

Okay, if you haven’t read the book, I’d stop here. Go read it, and then come back, because we need to talk about these twists.

The most anticipated reveal was that Nate, the charming English teacher, is not just a cheater but a manipulative predator. We eventually discover he has a pattern of preying on vulnerable students, and Addie is his next target. This wasn’t a huge shock, as McFadden lays the groundwork for his sleaziness pretty well.

The “incident” from last year wasn’t Addie having an affair with a teacher, although her actions led to that common belief. The truth was that she pushed her drunk father down the stairs, accidentally killing him. This caused a rift between her and her best friend at the time, where she acted in a way that got a teacher pushed out because of rumors that he slept with a student. Meanwhile, Nate has been sleeping with a student the whole time and is a full-on predator. McFadden eventually switches to Nate’s point of view so we see how full of himself he really is. A smug bastard who goes after high schoolers.

There is a confrontation between Addie and Eve in which Addie hits Eve, believing she has killed her. Nate arrives on the scene to manage the situation and ends up strangling Eve. He convinces Addie that they must bury her, and this is where the timeline connects with the beginning of the book.

Now this is where I think the twists might go a little bit too far. After getting hit in the head with an object by Addie and then being strangled by Nate, Eve is still alive. Queue eye roll. She wakes up half-buried in a grave and survives to execute her revenge on Nate. Which was highly satisfying.

The last twist in the book, which I alluded to earlier, was that the shoe salesman was Addie’s best friend, a high school student. Was Eve trying to recapture her lost high school experiences that Nate stole.

Final Thoughts: A Must-Read for Thriller Fans

My take on McFadden based on the two books, she likes to have justified killings where the murderers are sympathetic and get away with it. Not only get away with it but seem totally ok psychologically with what they have done.

If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers with shocking twists and complex characters, then you need to read The Teacher. It’s a fast-paced, suspenseful, and utterly addictive read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

For those of you who have read it, what was your reaction to the final twist? Did you see all the twists coming? Share your thoughts in the comments below!