The Teacher's Secret by Lauren North
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 27th March 2024
Published: 23rd February 2024
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
On an ordinary Friday afternoon, popular teacher Mrs Walker and her eight-year-old son leave the school playground. But they never make it home…
Being called in as a substitute teacher to replace a missing teacher – and mother – is the hardest job I’ve ever done. Cate Walker should still be here, in the role she loves. Her son Archie should be sitting in class with his friends. But instead they've disappeared and nobody has heard from them since…
At drop-off and pick-up, the other parents are hunched together anxiously. I can see the confusion in their children’s faces. The whole village is full of whispered rumours: that Archie and Cate will never be found, that someone else will soon be next… and that Cate's charismatic husband, Oliver – our headteacher – is involved.
After the chilling way Oliver looked at me on my first morning, the thought makes my blood turn to ice. I'm determined to uncover what’s really happened to Cate and Archie, especially after I find photos in Cate’s classroom cupboard that change everything…
Then an anonymous note turns up threatening me. My home is broken into while I sleep. I know the longer I stay at this school, the more danger I’m in.
But whoever’s trying to scare me doesn’t know who I am – or why I’m really here.
Or just how far I’ll go to expose the truth…
An absolutely gripping psychological thriller, where no one is who they seem, that will get your heart pounding! Perfect for fans of addictive page-turners like The Housemaid, The Family Across the Street and The Family Upstairs.
MY THOUGHTS:
It's just another normal Friday afternoon in the little village of Leedham Vale. Parents arrive at the school to collect their little lovelies for the weekend. But for teacher Cate Walker and her 8 year old son Archie it's the day they vanish from the streets on their way home...never to reach their destination.
Almost at once, head teacher and husband Oliver believes this little disappearing act to be another one of Cate's little manipulative games and thinks nothing of it and goes about his business. But when she hasn't returned by Saturday he reports them both as missing. But Cate's disappearance leaves a void in the school that needs filling.
Enter Lexi Mills. Substitute teacher with secrets of her own takes it upon herself to begin investigating the disappearance of mother and child whilst also looking into Oliver. Surely there is more to him than meets the eye. But as the days drag into a week and then two weeks, everyone is frantic for news and wondering what really happened to Cate and Archie that Friday afternoon.
And then a body is found...
This is a slow burn of a thriller that had potential but also a feeling of not quite reaching it. It held my attention enough to the end but I felt it dragged out and I was awaiting the ending so I could find out what really happened. And everything was tied up nicely and made a lot of sense by the end but I think it was just a little too convoluted for my tastes.
I would like to thank #LaurenNorth, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheTeachersSecret in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Lauren studied psychology before moving to London where she lived and worked for many years. She now lives with her family in the Suffolk countryside.
Social media links:
Wesbite | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
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