Suspense readers know the drill: When a woman stalks a man and changes jobs to follow him, she’s up to no good. But suspense readers also know that things aren’t always what they seem.
The woman in question is The Tutor, Courtney Psak’s first psychological thriller. Isabel, the tutor, has followed Grant’s family from New York City to Palm Beach, where she secures a job at the prep school that his stepson James attends. Even better, she manages to wile her way into a tutoring job for James, gaining access to the mansion run by Grant’s cagey mother, Evelyn.
Rose, James’s mother, isn’t suspicious of Isabel at all. She’s too busy trying to keep Evelyn from ruining her new marriage. Her family had to move from New York to Palm Beach because of Evelyn’s Parkinson’s diagnosis. Now she and Grant are fighting over Rose’s art career, and Rose finds cameras all over their old apartment. Will Evelyn reveal the secret in Rose’s past? Was Rose’s ex-husband’s death really an accident?
Psak splits The Tutor among three third-person points-of-view: Isabel’s, Rose’s, and Evelyn’s. While her prose is somewhat perfunctory at times, Psak has a master’s ability to utilize chapter breaks and sleight-of-hand to give readers the wrong impression about character motivations and back stories. Readers are guided in one direction, only to have the rug pulled out from them. The only character who remains unsurprising is Grant.
Although the momentum stalls a bit in the middle of the book, overall, The Tutor is a fast- paced, twisty addition to the domestic suspense genre. It’s perfect for fans of Sally Hepworth, Alex Finlay, and Megan Miranda.
Thanks to Kaye Publicity for the book in exchange for an honest review.
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