Book Review: FOR YOUR OWN GOOD by Samantha Downing

FOR YOUR OWN GOOD by Samantha Downing

Berkley; 7/20/21

CBTB Rating: 5/5

The Verdict: wickedly fun psychological suspense

Love a suspense novel set in the world of academia? Love books featuring villainous protagonists? Samantha Downing’s brand-new, wickedly fun suspense novel FOR YOUR OWN GOOD is the summer read for you. Enter the world of Belmont Academy: a prestigious prep school with a track record of excellence… and a pesky history of its community members dropping dead under suspicious circumstances. Could a killer be at work within the halls of Belmont Academy? Centering around a teacher who is willing to do anything – and I mean anything – to help his students and his school succeed, FOR YOUR OWN GOOD is a deliciously twisted, highly readable suspense novel that takes readers on a surprisingly playful journey into the mind of an antihero with psychopathic tendencies. Pick this book up for its academic setting, stay for its irresistible characters and wildly entertaining, dark-yet-fun reading experience. In FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, Samantha Downing has proven herself once again to be the queen of the thriller with plenty of darkness and an attitude that never takes itself too seriously—an irresistible combination that makes FOR YOUR OWN GOOD a summer 2021 must-read.  

Plot Details:

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.

I simply can’t resist crime books with academic settings, and I relished every moment spent in the world of Samantha Downing’s prep school novel FOR YOUR OWN GOOD—a standout blend of academic appeal, zany character development, and wickedly fun thriller plotting. In FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, readers are granted an exclusive glimpse into the inner workings of Belmont Academy, a prestigious prep school that prides itself on its standard of excellence. And within these hallowed halls, no one at Belmont Academy is more committed to that excellence than Teddy Crutcher, award winning teacher and likely psychopath. Teddy, you see, knows exactly what is best for his students, and for his school—and he will do whatever it takes to bring that vision to fruition. So what if others have to pay the price? No cost is too high for Teddy, not when it comes to extracting the kind of excellence from his school, and from his pupils, that he knows them to be capable of. When a Belmont Academy community member is found dead under suspicious circumstances, tensions and suspicions begin to rise on campus, quickly tarnishing the school’s sterling reputation. And when a beloved student is subsequently arrested under suspicion of involvement in the crime, another student attempts to investigate and clear her name… and in the process, begins to suspect that his spiteful teacher Teddy might be the real villain. As the body count at Belmont—now known on social media as #HomicideHigh—begins to rise, the race to unmask a killer in the school’s midst becomes more and more urgent. FOR YOUR OWN GOOD is not a “whodunnit” but rather a delicious blend of a “whydunnit” and a “howdunnit.” From very early on in this book, our story’s killer is unmasked, and Downing spends the majority of this irresistible suspense tale not investigating who is behind the crimes, but rather delving into the motivations and very clever methods that drives our story’s killer. I won’t spoil anything, but I’ll just say this: you might think twice about using a single-serve coffee maker after you read this book.

FOR YOUR OWN GOOD captures readers’ attention from page one: from this book’s very first chapter, Downing lays out the key qualities of her newest novel that give it its deliciously dark and wickedly fun edge. In our story’s opening scene, readers are placed immediately into the Belmont Academy classroom of Teddy Crutcher, English teacher, as he meets with the father of one of his students to discuss a recent paper this student submitted to Teddy. Zach Ward has always been a straight-A student, and when he receives a B+ on an assignment for Teddy’s course, Zach’s father is incensed. After all, junior year is everything to college admissions counselors. Isn’t there something Zach can do to bring his grade up? Through this very brief yet highly memorable interaction, Downing puts Teddy’s casual cruelty and utter confidence in his own goals and methods on full display. Teddy, you see, knows exactly how important Zach’s junior year grades are—and that’s exactly why he’s determined to punish him with a B+, but he’s not punishing Zach for mediocre schoolwork. Teddy is disgusted by the privileged, elite family that Zach comes from, and, therefore, views it as his responsibility to teach the boy a lesson through whatever means necessary—in this case, with a blow to Zach’s GPA. Samantha Downing injects this brief encounter with enough humor, shock value, and dark undercurrents to immediately capture the reader’s attention, and set them on the path to uncovering just what kind of person Teddy Crutcher is. The short version: Teddy is the kind of person you would hate to encounter in real life yet can’t tear yourself away from on the page. Vindictive, spiteful, cunning, devious… and also quirky, hilarious, and sometimes even a bit sympathetic, Teddy is the kind of zany, vividly-drawn character that readers have come to know and love in a Samantha Downing thriller. High school is stressful under the best of circumstances, but add in a teacher like Teddy, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster—the kind of disaster that will keep readers riveted.

In tone and content, FOR YOUR OWN GOOD harkens back to Samantha Downing’s breakout debut My Lovely Wife. Downing has perfected the thriller that manages to be both dark and wryly funny all at once. A pitch-perfect blend of sinister plot and never-taking-itself-too-seriously attitude define Downing’s work, and they come together seamlessly in her newest suspense novel. Like My Lovely Wife, FOR YOUR OWN GOOD is a thriller that centers around truly dark acts: Belmont Academy community members are dropping like flies, dying under highly suspicious circumstances, and their killer seems to be getting away with it. Sounds like a dark story, right? It is, but the reading experience here somehow manages to remain light and playful, even while describing truly devious and twisted acts. Short chapters move FOR YOUR OWN GOOD along at a brisk clip, and Downing expertly weaves secondary voices into and out of the story at just the right moments to keep readers on their toes. And when it comes to dark humor, you really can’t beat Teddy, our story’s devious and oddly endearing antihero. Readers are immersed in Teddy’s twisted worldview in this book with such authenticity that you might even find yourself feeling sympathetic for Teddy every now and again. Add in the irresistible prep school setting, a cast of competitive characters, and an ever-increasing count of dead bodies being found on campus, and you’ve got the recipe for a wildly entertaining summer read. FOR YOUR OWN GOOD will without a doubt be one of my favorite books of 2021. I loved this book’s villainous protagonist, its deep-dive into the competitive world of private high schools, and its deliciously zany, darkly humorous tone. High school can be rough (to say the least), but just be thankful that you didn’t have a teacher like Teddy.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions my own. 

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Book Details:

 Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (July 20, 2021)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593100972

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593100974

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