The Tutor

by Peter Abrahams

Book Overview

Master of psychological suspense Peter Abrahams returns with an ingenious tale of an ordinary family that unknowingly invites the agent of their destruction into their own home.

When Scott and Linda Gardner hire Julian Sawyer to tutor their troubled teenage son Brandon, he seems like the answer to a prayer. Capable and brilliant, Julian connects with Brandon in a way neither of his parents can. He also effortlessly helps Linda to salvage...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345439414
• ISBN13: 9780345439413
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 359 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

The Tutor

I've long been a fan of Peter Abrahams work, no pun intended. I got hooked when The Perfect Murder came out, and worked my way back and forward through many of his stories. He writes the kind of intelligent, creepy thriller that I really enjoy.As much as I liked all his books, I particularly enjoyed THE TUTOR. The characters were believeable and fresh, particularly the heroine, Ruby. Abrahams style is thoughtful --and, again, intelligent. That said, the pace just won't let you go. I found myself up until 1:00 AM last night, and I've got lots of work to do today!Wonderful job, Peter!

Excellent Thriller! Abrahams does it again!!

Peter Abrahams must be a scary,scary man. "Crying Wolf" was a brilliant, intense suspense thriller in a class of its own. Now he's given us "The Tutor", outdoing himself by far, notching up the intensity to the n-th degree, creating a page-turner to beat all page-turners!The Gardners are a typical upper middle class family, striving to be better. Husband and father Scott Gardner is jealous of his brother, who seems to have everything Scott doesn't. Scott pushes his family to excel and succeed...but is hampered by the memory of his dead son, Adam. Brandon Gardner, Scott's next-oldest son and still living, must survive with the pressure of Adam's ghost hovering over his world all the time. Scott is certain that Adam would've grown up to become the perfect uber-son, had he not succumbed to leukemia at a relatively young age. And now Brandon is beginning to show signs of failure. Enter Julian Sawyer, an opportunistic man hired as tutor to Brandon Gardner. Think Norman Bates here. The tutor is a skillful sociopath with evil intent on his mind.Throw into the mix a precocious young daughter who idolizes Sherlock Holmes, and you have a brilliant thriller that makes ones pulse pound to the very end. Abrahams has written an intelligent, wonderful novel in "The Tutor". Well-portrayed characters, and a believable plot make this a must-read book!

A page-turner

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.

great gothic suspense

When Brandon Gardner scores poorly on his SAT exam, his parents get him a tutor through a reputable agency. Julian seems like a nice person and quickly establishes a rapport with Brandon and the youngster's sister Ruby. The adults are very impressed with Julian, and Brandon and Ruby like the idea that they can trust him with their inner most secrets.Julian is creating the living epic novel and he is using the Brandons as inspirations for his material. He manipulates each one of them, using their individual weaknesses to maneuver them to perform the way he wants them to act. Some of his manipulations are mean spirited and some are criminal but all of them are targeted to destroy his host family.Peter Abrahams is a master at creating the great gothic suspense novel. His characters, especially the victims are well drawn and act like one's next door neighbor. The protagonist is more a caricature then a true villain because his motivation doesn't make sense and his actions don't always ring true. THE TUTOR is an bewitching story that will appeal to readers who like something unique.Harriet Klausner

The Dark Side of the Teaching Force!

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.