Teacher's Pet [Library Binding]

Richie Tankersley Cusick (Author)

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Bt Bound (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0833574795
• ISBN-13: 978-0833574794
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,575,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Teacher's pet, February 20, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Teacher's Pet (Paperback)

TEACHER'S PET
By: Richie Tankersley Cusick

Kate's teacher, Miss Bunceton, signed her up for a writer's conference, because Kate had just won an award for a story she had written. What makes the trip even better for Kate is that she is a horror writer, and the classes are supposed to be taught by one of the greatest horror writers, William Drewe. Supposed to be is the key there. Mr. Drewe hardly ever shows up to teach these classes, even though this is his camp. He is on his house, on campgrounds, just he hardly ever feels like teaching classes. When Kate gets to the camp, a man named Pearce tells her that. Once she gets in the camp, she meets this boy named Denzil, and his friend Tawney. Denzil also tells her that Mr. Drewe probably isn't coming. Kate becomes very good friends with Tawney and Denzil. The next day she goes to the class that Mr. Drewe is supposed to be teaching, but instead, his brother comes. Kate really likes Gideon, Mr. Drewe's brother, but Denzil doesn't. Gideon holds Kate after class to talk to her about the story that she wrote. Kate becomes good friends with Gideon. But while all of this is happening, some weird things are happening around camp. Kate found a glove on the ground, and when she picked it up, it had what looked like flesh inside, so she dropped it, screamed, and ran. When she brought Denzil to look at it, it was gone. Also she found a lady, whose name is Rowena, who tells her that there is a secret that she can only find if she comes with her. Also Rowena tells Kate that Kate is going to die. After that, one of the runners of the camp, Pearce, gets caught in a trap, and Kate stays with him until help comes. The next day she goes to the hospital to visit him, and when she gets outside the door she hears him and Gideon talking about Rowena. They are saying that she has been dead for a year. They are also saying they think that Mr. Drewe might actually have disappeared this time. They discover that Kate is there, and let her in as Gideon leaves. She and Pearce have a short discussion about Rowena, and then she leaves. The next day, she goes with Gideon to pick up Pearce, even though he is not well yet. Once they get him in the car, Gideon finds a note from Rowena to Kate. It says that Rowena is going to kill her. Then, Pearce admits that Rowena is really alive, and did not die in the fire. Also he says that he thinks the might have killed Mr. Drewe. Once they get back to camp, Gideon tells Kate to go find Denzil and Tawney and stay with them. She waits for them to get back, then meets up with them and tells them what happened. Then she goes on the horror hunt. While she is on the hunt with Denzil and Tawney, she goes by her cabin and it is on fire. Denzil and Tawney leave, and then a figure came out of the door. It was Gideon. He was talking crazy and had an axe; he was trying to kill her. She hits him in the head and knocks him out, and then she is choked and knocked out. When she wakes up she is tied to a bed, and Rowena walks into the room. She starts to tell Kate about how she died in the fire. Then she takes off her veil and shows her face, but to Kate's surprise, it's Pearce. After she took her veil off she poured gasoline on Kate and lit a match. Then Gideon walked trough the door with the real Rowena, threatening to kill her if Pearce kills Kate. Then Pearce drops his match, and lights a new one. Gideon then had to tackle Pearce so that he wouldn't kill Kate. Kate found out that it wasn't Rowena that Gideon brought in, but Tawney dressed as Rowena. I think that this was a very good book that keeps your attention well.
This book was good because of the author's use of the character Rowena. The way that he played her in as a dead person trying to kill Kate was very good. Also how he made her a split personality of Pearce was very good. And how she was Gideon's twin was another great way to tie it all together.

The way the author used Kate to make everyone like her was also good. She had a sort of relationship with Gideon, which played into Rowena well. She also had a moment with Pearce, which also played into Rowena well. Also how Denzil liked her, but she didn't really notice made the story better.

Also the way that the author used irony in this story made it better. The fact that Kate was a horror writer that becomes part of a real life horror was a good method. Also how Kate says that she likes to be scared, but once she is threatened to die, she says that she only likes to be scared when its not a surprise was a good thing to use.

I really enjoyed this book and think that anyone should read it, whether you like mystery/thrillers or not. This book really kept me in a state of suspense through the whole book. This book was really great, and it was definitely worth my time to read, as it will be for you to.


G. Shortt

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ``Spine Tingling Chiller``, April 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Teacher's Pet (Paperback)

Cusick has brought us a real chiller here . . . The story of Kate --who loves to write-- going to a writers' conference with her teacher. First, the lecturer, William Drewe goes missing. . . Then someone frightens her in the woods, and follows her. Most ghastly was when Kate met William's sister, Rowena. The only thing is, Rowena is dead . . . Or is she?

All throughout the book I was gripped by the superb storyline. I read without stopping once as I needed to know what happened next. The story brings romance, fright, suspence and mystery. It's a great read with an absouletly superb ending. It's a must for the children! <P

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book, July 24, 2002

By 

Pam (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teacher's Pet (Paperback)

I borrowed this book from my high school library this year and I must say that even though I'm more used to books from Tami Hoag and Nora Roberts now, I enjoyed this book tremendously just as I did with soem of her other great books. Silent Stalker, Fatal Secrets, and the Mall are still among my favorites of all time ^_^

This book was written well because of the humor of Denzel's character and I liked most of the characters. But the thing that sort of got be confused at the end was the chaos that had occured when everything was being unraveled. As with many of Cusick's novels, I rushed through it a bit, trying to get it finished in a few hours because I usually love all of her novels. Well, this one was a bit weird and chaotic in the end because of my impatience ^_^;; But despite the fact that I'm a bit impatient, I do believe that this book is among one of her bests.

I would recommend this book along with Silent Stalker, the Mall, Fatal Secret, and Vampire as great books ^_^ And other books by this author are also quite good, like Someone at the Door, Help Wanted, the Drifter, the Locker, Starstruck, and Trick or Treat ^_^ Hope my review helped a little in persuading you that CUsick's books are well written and suspensful for teens ^_^