Teacher's Pet by Richie Tankersley Cusick

 

It's a shame that Tankersley Cusick didn't write more adult horror because she has such an amazing style and I feel like when she tries to sanitize it for her young adult audience, so much of the vitals are lost. I mean, when you compare this book to the magnificence of BLOOD ROOTS, it's almost like apples and oranges.

That said, across all her works, this author does many things that I love. Her attention to atmosphere is truly incredible and reminiscent of those old gothic novels from the 60s and 70s that are all towering castles and mist-tossed moors. She also understands my (that's right, me, personally-- obviously this author writes for MEEEEE alone) personal need for villainous love interests, because her books always offer not one, but at least TWO suspicious hot guys. And best of all, she just has some really wonderful passages of writing, whether it's descriptions of nature, wistful meditations on human emotion, or obsessive teen passion.

At first I thought this book would get a much higher rating from me. he heroine, Kate, is a high school student on her way to a writing retreat with her teacher. Right away, though, things are weird. She's greeted at the train by an ominous dude who immediately tries to warn her away. Then there's another ominous dude who claims to be the brother of the famous writer who headlined this retreat, and he starts talking about how important fear is, how it's such a necessary drive, and just generally skeeving everyone out, but because he's hot it's ok. And then there's the way-too-friendly teen cook who is Kate's accomplice but maybe also an assailant. Who is the bad guy and who is the good guy? I guess you'll just have to find out.

What ended up making this a bit of a slog for me was how circular it all felt. I felt like in my favorite YA Cusick book, HELP WANTED, there were some really chilling scenes and some really impressively colorful characters. But that was a different teen horror imprint and maybe Point Horror wants their authors to reel it in, because this felt reeled in. The ending was ridiculous, in the way that some of those 70s and 80s teen slasher movies could be ridiculous (I'm thinking of one in particular), and I found myself rolling my eyes a little at the drama of it all. Also, there's a girl in here named Tawney who's also working in the kitchen and I think she's supposed to be developmentally disabled, but she also ends up being the butt of a lot of jokes. WHOOPS. HI 90S. DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE.

So overall, this was kind of eh. I mostly just skimmed it to read her interactions with the suspicious (but hot) guys and to get to the actual passages with creepy horror. You could definitely give this one a miss.

2.5 out of 5 stars