Fast paced and edge of your seat thriller.
Fantastic page turner with lots of twists to keep you on your toes and to stop you from putting it down.
A variety of different characters, some of which not very likeable and most definitely kept you glued to the story and their life’s.
Highly recommend.

For Your Own Good was a very interesting read. It had you wanting to keep going, to read on to find out what happens next, which is great for any story! I gave it 4 stars because there were some parts of the story, which I won’t divulge because of spoilers, that I found a little too hard to believe/accept. These parts worked well enough in the story being told however, so they don’t detract away from it and I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Fast paced and gripping
More murders than an Agatha Christie
Good characters, plenty of twists and turns
even though you know who did it
You have to read until the end

Thank you netgalley, Samantha Dowling and Penguin Michael Joseph

I really enjoyed ‘My Lovely Wife’ by the this author so I was really looking forward to this one. Well it was all that I hoped, another well written book that had me rushing through the pages in anticipation. This really is a story that has more than its share of twists and turns. Great characters, clever plot and so well written.

Everyone thinks Teddy Crutcher is an exceptional teacher, in fact he has an award to prove it. Teddy won Teacher of the Year at the prestigious Belmont Academy and he is quick to tell people how proud his wife is, yet no-one has seen her in a while. In fact Teddy is not the nice guy everyone thinks, he has many traits but all of them bad, a liar, selfish, arrogant and so many more. Teddy is such a good character but he is not the only one in this really enjoyable book.

And then when people start dying the book gets even better. Fast paced, well written, great characters and exciting plot.

I would like to thank both Net Galley and Michael Joseph UK for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very interesting read from Samantha Downing, it felt more YA than her other books, and whilst I loved the story line, the intrigue (did I guess a lot of it? No) I felt that there was a spark that was missing compared to her previous two books. That doesn't meant that I didn't really enjoy reading it and sped through it, just I've come to expect a little more from her and so was a little disappointed.

The book is centered at a private high school where perfection is the bare minimum that is expected. And in this bubbling pot of stress and anxiety there's a murder. Or several murders in fact. And some additional poisionings for good measure. And the great thing is, frm early on you know who the murderer is, it's not being hidden from you, but the lies and the complexity and the webs that are spun around it are. What I did really like about this book is that, it's a little like the TV Succession, everyone is terrible in some way or another, and you're not really supposed to like them, but you can't help yourself being drawn to them. It was really brilliantly done from that aspect.

Overall an enjoyable book and it's 3/3 from me when it comes to enjoying Samantha Downing's books!

Thank you to @smariedowning and @MichaelJBooks for this advanced copy of For Your Own Good in return for an honest review. For Your Own Good was published on 19th August 2021 and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

Belmont Academy is home to the richest and brightest children as well as their teacher of the year; Teddy Crutcher. Pushing all of the students to their fullest potential is Teddy’s main priority so when a parent dies on school property, it’s an inconvenience to him.

Other people related to the school as well as students start to mysteriously fall ill and some of them die but even then, Teddy just wants to be left alone to get on with his most important job. Sometimes getting the best out of his students comes at a very high cost.

General Thoughts 🤔

I’m still a little bit overwhelmed by this book, I have to be honest. I feel like there was a lot that happened, but also not very much, I can’t quite put my finger on what it was that gave me that feeling. However, I liked it. I liked that it was clear who the culprit was right from the start and the guessing game was more about if or when he would get caught.

I’m not sure whether or not the plot is believable, but not all plots have to be. I’m fairly sure that nobody would be able to go around doing what Teddy did and so few people be suspecting of him. Especially within a school full of parents with so much money that were as demanding as the Belmont parents were. Whether it was believable or not, it made for dramatic reading and I was gripped, wondering when the next person was going to turn up dead.

Characters 👫👭👬

Zach was my favourite character. I actually felt really sorry for him as I don’t think that his parents gave him enough credit for how mature and intelligent he was. Not to mention how brave he was. I know when I was seventeen I would never have put myself in danger like Zach did.

Teddy was obviously the “baddy” in the story so as a reader I’m supposed to hate him. Of course I didn’t admire him or anything but I did feel kind of sorry for him. He’d gotten himself into such a mess on the back of a lie, I don’t think he could see a way out for himself. I also think he struggled with various different mental health problems and when thrown into a school where all he wanted was to belong and be admired, I think it was a recipe for disaster.

Writing Style ✍️

The story was told from lots of different perspectives and if you’ve read my other reviews, you will know that I love this method of story telling. I do have one slight niggle though. The perspectives changed so quickly and so suddenly that at times I didn’t even realise until I was a paragraph through. I’m always here for sharp and snappy, but an indication that it had happened would have made my reading experience more enjoyable.

Aside from the above, I think that the author did a fantastic job of entwining all of the characters and the events in such a way that kept me guessing and questioning what was going to happen. As far as 96% of the way through the book, I still had no idea about how it was going to wrap up.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖️

This was an enjoyable read that did keep me engaged and I liked the concept of the plot. If I’d had a whole bunch of free time I probably would have ploughed through this in one sitting. I’d recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a book to entertain them on a Sunday afternoon without having to over-exert their mind.

Not the usual kind of whodunnit!
When Belmont school experiences a spate of deaths, we think we know who’s the culprit…or do we?
I really loved this book, its dark quirkiness and excellent characters made for exciting reading.
It did seem at one point that it should’ve been easy for the police to work out who the killer was - just see who was left alive!

Surprisingly, this book had the first mention of covid that I’ve seen.

I’m going to start this review by saying that this is a 10/10 read. I started and finished it in the same day because I just could not put this book down. It was FANTASTIC! And now for the review :)

The book starts by introducing you to Teddy. Who is honestly one of the most vile characters in book history. He is a monster, not just because of his actions, but because of how ‘normal’ he seems. He embodies almost every negative personality trait that you can think of. Teddy is jealous, selfish, vengeful, mean, arrogant, vindictive, a liar, and much worse. Teddy is also a teacher at the affluent Belmont High. He has just won Teacher of the Year and shaping young lives is his mission in life. The problem is that Teddy makes his own judgements on the students based on his personal prejudice and then he does whatever he can to influence the students' lives. Zach Ward, an A student from a wealthy family is currently on Teddy’s radar.

Guys! What a good read. The book is fast paced and it is SO weird to have the first character that you’re introduced to be so horrible. But here’s the thing, almost every character in the story can be considered ‘bad’. There’s Teddy who is the most obvious. Then there is a much loved teacher who is desperate for attention. There is the parent who is blackmailing a teacher to get her daughter better grades. There is the ex-student who is so bent on revenge that she has sabotaged her own life. There are so many interesting characters and I love that the attention is placed so heavily on their flaws.

Highly recommend it!

Absolutely loved this book. Again another great read from Samantha Downing, one of my go to authors when after a good read. This book had plenty of twist and turns.

Once again Downing has come up with a story full of morally grey characters and puts a unique spin on an already interesting concept. The writing is so addictive and even though I didn't love this one as much as previous books I've read by this author I still found myself propelled forward and wanting to see how everything comes together. Downing has a way of making something super serious somehow completely hilarious at the same time and it's truly fantastic.

Sadly this one didn't quite shock me and even though there are many twists and turns they just didn't give me quite the visceral reaction I had with Downing's 'He Started It' which continues to be one my all time favourite books. However I definitely think I'm in the minority in this. I can appreciate the ideas behind it and think it was well executed, there was just something missing that stopped me from fully getting invested.

There are a lot of characters and I praise the author for being able to make them all interesting and different, and I thought the way they all had perspectives was interesting given the turn of events (and I'm going to leave it at that because I don't want to get into spoilers.)

Overall it is a very interesting and unique thriller and I would definitely recommend it. Especially if you love the dark academia trend and enjoy reading about questionable characters. And if you like a bit of humous and some outrageous twists Downing is a must read!

2.5 Stars

I enjoyed reading this book. As always some characters you like and others you don't like. Crutcher was a very creepy vindictive person and I for one am glad that I did not have a teacher like him whilst I was at school. I would. I enjoyed the writing style of the author. The book had an easy flow about it. I would recommend this book.

I read a lot of thrillers and I am getting harder to please but I'm happy to say that For Your Own Good pleased me!

This book had me hooked and I read it in super quick time. It is full of thoroughly unlikeable characters where few had any redeeming qualities and I have to admit that I actually smiled when at least one of them came to their sticky end!

The story is written from various points of view and whilst this puts you right into the heads of the characters, it does take away some of the tension and thrills but it was fun being in the heads of people who had clearly lost the plot!

This was a fun and over the top read that I would recommend to those who are able to put reality and plausibility aside for a few hours and just hop on and enjoy the ride.

My thanks go to Penguin Michael Joseph UK and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.

Ooh, it felt good to hate some of these characters with unimaginable traits, the first chapter grabs you tight and drums it in very quickly!

Downing is turning into a real master of suspense. Loved it, great character development and awfulness, with plenty of turns. Fantastic fun to read!

For Your Own Good is another great thriller by Samantha Downing, I have read two others by this author but think I liked this slightly more.
Teddy Crutcher has just been elected teacher of the year and has his esteemed plaque on the classroom wall at Belmont Academy. Belmont is the place the rich send their children to get the best education to hopefully enable them to get into the best universities in the country. The story is told with different characters getting their own chapters which worked very well. Teddy in his mind is the best teacher there, he demands discipline and high standards and will do almost anything to get them, when a child in one of his classes mum collapses and dies on school property he doesn’t let this get in the way of school life but merely helps to mend what has happened. Teddy is truly an awful character in every respect but to make this book work he had to be.
I loved the way this book was set out and the short chapters made it really good to get into. A really well written book but felt the ending was a little rushed.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This is a dark, twisted and gripping thriller. It's a page turner and couldn't put it down eve if most of the characters grated on my nerves.
Teddy is quite hateful, he feels entitled to do what he does and it's one of those characters you love to hate.
The author is a good storyteller and delivers a multiple POVs story which is never confusing or drags.
There's a lot going on, lot of twists and I was always surprised.
An excellent thriller, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A good book
Really well written
A page turner
Very dark
Will keep you hooked
Can’t wait for her next book
Thanks NetGalley

Samantha Downing is a real hit and miss author for me. I loved her debut, My Lovely Wife, but her second book was a bit underwhelming. So I went into this one a bit cautious, not sure how I would end up feeling about it. And if I'm honest, I'm still not sure! It's a completely bizarre, totally out there, and absolutely mad. But in a good way. There's so many twists and turns, and you spend half of the time questioning what the hell has just happened, while the slowly increasing sense of dread leaves you sure that something worse is just around the corner... Completely gripping, utterly unique, and one I totally recommend.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to be provided with an advance reading copy of this book by NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

Belmont Academy is an exclusive school where wealthy parents send their children in the hope they can get in the best universities and where teachers seem eager for their students to succeed. Teddy Crutcher has been named Teacher of the Year and he has a plaque on the wall of his class that reminds it to everyone. Teddy thinks he deserves the plaque even though he is not like the other teachers who are mostly former students of the academy. He wasn’t a spoiled and entitled student like the children at Belmont so he enjoys punishing them with extra work. He dislikes the students, their parents, and the other teachers, he is jealous and vindictive and arrogant, so, of course, something bad is bound to happen… and then another, and then another. Is anyone safe at Belmont Academy?

After reading a few fantasy books, I needed a change of genre and a good thriller was the right fit. Slow-burning and engrossing, I read For Your Own Good in one night, in one sitting, staying up late to finish it because I needed to see how it would end (thankfully I was off work so I didn’t need to get up early in the morning).

The plot is clever and intriguing with a constant sense of dread that something bad is about to happen – and it usually does. The story is told from different narrators, starting from Teddy who, in an arrogant and narcissistic way, tries to justify to the reader his behaviour. There are other characters who play a part in Teddy’s twisted narrative: the teacher who befriends the students, the student who is pressured by his parents to be the best, the former student on a revenge path, the math teacher on the verge of a mental breakdown… quite a cast of complex characters!

I found For Your Own Good impossible to put down: lies, revenge, obsession, and murder, multi-layered characters, twists and turns every few pages… what more do you want?

I really enjoyed this book. I love Samantha Downing's work and this masterpiece didn't disappoint. Gripping from the start until the very end, kept me guessing and intrigued. Would definitely recommend.

Teddy Crutcher is Belmont's Teacher of the Year. In his classroom he commands respect and doesn't believe in giving students an easy ride. Fuelled by coffee and an impeccable work ethic he feels he is head and shoulders above his colleagues. When a fellow teacher drops dead it doesn't break Teddy's stride. There's no point crying over spilt milk.

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing is one of my favourite thrillers so when I heard For Your Own Good was being released this year it was instantly one of my most anticipated reads. I was not disappointed. I love a school setting with a dark edge and Belmont Academy has a self appointed grim reaper walking their halls. If that didn't intrigue enough there are suspicious people aplenty hiding in plain sight. Downing has a great talent in injecting toxicity and darkness into the most innocuous of characters. There would be no fun or mystery if serial killers stood out like a sore thumb! Doubts and theories fly around the town and eventhough the reader is privy to who is doing what it is not any less readable. I was keen to see what would happen next and raced through the chapters.

For Your Own Good gets top marks from me!