The Tutor [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Peter Abrahams (Author), James Daniels (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2002

When Scott and Linda Gardner hire Julian Sawyer to tutor their troubled teenage son Brandon, Julian seems like the answer to a prayer. He's bright, courteous, refined, and connects with Brandon in a way neither of his parents can. They embrace Julian almost as a member of the family. But the tutor has his own dark agenda. For Julian, the Gardners are like specimens in jars, creatures to be studied - and manipulated. Each member of the family unintentionally reveals a secret to the tutor, giving him just the ammunition he needs to destroy them, one by one. Only Ruby, the Gardners' eleven year-old daughter, senses that Julian might not be what he seems and sets out to combat this seductive evil.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Remember Norman Bates, the cyber-creep from Hitchcock's Psycho? Julian Sawyer, the title character in Abrahams's latest suspense yarn, is clearly cut from the same cloth a creep in sheep's clothing. Once again this author finds menace in dailiness, as he creates a scenario that's firmly grounded in real life, but which becomes increasingly (and fascinatingly) skewed Leave It to Beaver meets I Know What You Did Last Summer. Things begin routinely enough when Linda and Scott Gardner hire Julian to improve the less-than-acceptable SAT scores of their teenage son, Brandon. But before you can say "just like Norman Bates," the seemingly affable, helpful Julian earns the Gardners' trust and subtly exploits each family member's weakness in an attempt to topple their suburban house of cards. While Abrahams slowly ratchets up the tension, readers will discover that professional backstabbing, financial ruin and even murder are all within the scope of this tutor's lesson plans. As usual, the author's ear for the diverse details of everyday life is sharp; indeed, our empathy with these characters' recognizable quirks cleverly serves as a sort of buffer against the sinister goings-on until it's nearly too late. Though all the characters here are deftly drawn (even Zippy, the Gardners' pooch, demonstrates an endearing personality in a brief, nonspeaking role), one merits special mention: not only is the immensely precocious Ruby Gardner passionate about Sherlock Holmes and anything colored blue and yellow, but she's wise well beyond her 11 years and almost smart enough to outfox Julian. Put it this way: if The Tutor were a TV show, Ruby would be spun off into her own series in a Hollywood minute.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Hired by Scott and Linda Gardner to help their teenage son, Brandon, improve his SAT scores, Julian Sawyer quickly makes himself indispensable to the family. Only Ruby (Aruba Nicole Marx Gardner), 11, a precocious Sherlock Holmes devotee, begins to suspect that the tutor has sinister intent. The Gardners are upwardly mobile, middle-class people concerned with an Ivy League college acceptance for their only son. Scott, in business with his brother, suffers from a sibling inferiority complex, exacerbated by the success Tom's son has had with the SATs and tennis competitions. Linda, concerned with success at her job, baffled by her son's surliness, and frazzled by the whirl of family pressure, is a perfect target for the oh-so-capable Julian. Both parents wrestle with long-standing guilt and grief over the death of their firstborn son. Brandon is acting out, rebelling against pressures he really can't define. All three individuals are like lab animals to Julian; he experiments with their responses by subtly altering their environments. Ruby seems beyond his machinations and understanding and proves to be a worthy, capable adversary in this lethal duel of wits, as she follows clues in true Holmesian fashion. Reading this novel is a compelling roller-coaster ride-one just can't get off until it's over. Teens will enjoy the fast pace, the absorbing foray into deadly mind games, and the valiant heroine.
Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke,
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio Unabridged; Unabridged edition (June 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590861965
• ISBN-13: 978-1590861967
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.3 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,395,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Abrahams - "criminally gifted" according to the New York Times Book Review - is the author of 27 novels. These include the New York Times bestselling Echo Falls mystery series for middle-graders (DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, BEHIND THE CURTAIN, INTO THE DARK) and REALITY CHECK (2009) for teens. Among his adult books are OBLIVION (Shamus prize finalist), THE FAN (made into a movie with Robert DeNiro) and LIGHTS OUT (Edgar award finalist). DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE was a finalist for the Edgar best young adult mystery award and won the Agatha in the same category. BEHIND THE CURTAIN and INTO THE DARK were Agatha finalists. In her Cleveland Plain Dealer review of NERVE DAMAGE (2007), Michelle Ross wrote: "I swear, if one more literary person says in that oh-so-condescendng tone, 'Oh, I don't read ... mysteries,' I'm going to take a novel by Peter Abrahams and smack him on his smug little head." REALITY CHECK won the best young adult mystery Edgar award in 2010. ROBBIE FORESTER AND THE OUTLAWS OF SHERWOOD STREET, January 2012, is first in a new middle-grade series about a twelve-year-old Robin Hood in contemporary Brooklyn.
As Spencer Quinn, Abrahams also writes the New York Times bestselling Chet and Bernie mystery series: DOG ON it, THEREBY HANGS A TAIL, TO FETCH A THIEF, and THE DOG WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. He has a website - peterabrahams.com; and so does Chet - chetthedog.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dark Side of the Teaching Force!, June 28, 2002

By 

Eleanor V. Miller (Henderson, NV United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tutor (Hardcover)

Like Stephen King, Peter Abrahams has the literary skill and imagination to tap into our worst nightmares and bring them chillingly to life. His special forte seems to lie in exploring the nature of obsession: the monster that lurks beneath a mask of normalcy until circumstances suddenly combine to put its prey within reach. Julian Sawyer, THE TUTOR, is a man obsessed with a meglomaniacal desire to create a living novel out of the raw material of ordinary people's lives...to first learn their secrets and then exploit them at his will in order to destroy them. The Gardner family is his chosen target. Scott and Linda are doing their best to achieve today's upper-middle class dream of 'having it all', but their sand-castle world is a sadly dysfunctional one. Scott, desperately competing with his more effectual brother, has never been able to achieve the quick-fix financial success that he craves; Linda is career-driven to the point where she has become oblivious to what's going on with her children, and both teen-age Brandon and his precocious eleven-year-old sister Ruby are in trouble. That trouble becomes grim reality for his shocked parents when Brandon's SAT results are far below their expectations, although only Ruby...escaping parental pressures to become what she is not into a dream world with her idol, Sherlock Holmes...realizes the full extent of his rebellious, anti-social behaviors. In desperation, Linda calls a tutoring service, and Julian Sawyer enters their lives. In the tradition of "Kind Lady" and "Night Must Fall", he slowly gains their confidence and trust which, in turn, also exposes their fears and weaknesses. When circumstances combine to place Julian in charge, the stage is set for an increasingly horrific series of life-threatening confrontations that beggar description.

THE TUTOR walks an extraordinary stylistic tightrope between spine-tingling suspense and dark horror...a tour de force combination of taut plotting and brilliant characterization that captured and held me spellbound. Peter Abrahams careful attention to the 'whys' of their behaviors made me not only understand the Gardners as fallible human beings, but care deeply about them, especially young Ruby who is probably one of the most enchanting fictional children that I've encountered in my recent reading. His talent makes the bizarre seem believable, and I found it impossible not to accept the complete plausibility of his nightmarish premise. This is not an easy novel to read, but it is one that the reader will not readily forget...a totally gripping literary experience and a benchmark for the genre.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A page-turner, September 3, 2002

By 

Nina (Nashville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tutor (Hardcover)

This is my first Peter Abrahams book, so don't know how it compares to his others. But it's definitely a page-turner and has decent characters, most of whom are not supposed to be the least bit lovable. Yes, there is swearing, but the author knows how to make a reader use a dictionary occasionally as well. A nice combination of light humor mixed with the dark character of the tutor-from-...! A nice change from detective/crime/lawyer novels when you're not busy reading Tolstoy.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A suspenseful page-turner, August 15, 2006

By 

Beth Cholette "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tutor (Hardcover)

Meet the Gardners, a typical American family: father Scott works in the family business, resents his older brother, and longs to find a quick path to wealth; mother Linda is harried, trying to juggle work and family life while pinning her dreams of a better future on her kids; teenage son Brandon is rebellious, experimenting with drugs and alcohol; pre-teen daughter Ruby is precocious, escaping through Sherlock Holmes novels; and mystery child Adam just may be the cause of the entire family's discontent. When Justin attains a "low" (75th percentile) score on his SATs, this event is the catalyst that sets the family in search of a solution, a solution which arrives in the form of Julian Sawyer, personal tutor.

At first, Julian seems to be a Godsend--he connects with Brandon, bails out Ruby, solves Linda's work crisis, and even gives Scott some priceless tips on his tennis game. But are things really what they seem? Although the story is told from the perspectives of all five main characters in turn, author Peter Abrahams focuses mainly on the points of view of Ruby, an amateur sleuth who begins to suspect that something is not quite right, and Julian, who offers the reader glimpses into his true nature. The tension between this unlikely pair builds throughout the story, and Abrahams does an excellent job of drawing the reader in. One small complaint I had is that Julian's expertise in virtually every subject with which he is confronted is a bit contrived. On the other hand, that's kind of the point: this is no ordinary villain, but rather your worst nightmare--the devil who masquerades as your savior.

Overall, I found this book entertaining and engrossing. I definitely enjoy Abraham's writing style, and I will continue reading his works.