No one writes characters more twisted, unlikable, and delightfully fun than Samantha Downing. Every single book of hers is a surprise and delight!No one is more committed to helping their students achieve excellence than Teddy Crutcher. Teddy is not your average teacher, though. He’s won Teacher of the Year at the prestigious Belmont Academy, he loves helping his students be their best selves, and he is most likely a complete psychopath. Teddy uses…unconventional teaching methods. But of course, he only does it because he knows what is best for his students, right?As the book opens, Teddy is meeting with the father of junior Zach Ward over a B+ Teddy recently gave Zach on a paper. Zach is attractive, comes from a wealthy family, and beloved by students and teachers at the school. Teddy sees it as his job to knock Zach down a peg and teach him a lesson. Teddy’s utter disdain for Zach is presented comically, as even in his own private ramblings he admits that Zach is quite intelligent and talented, while the lower grade is related to Zach’s privilege in life, not his academic performance.Downing also narrates some chapters from Zach’s perspective, and we learn that Teddy’s opinion on Zach couldn’t be further from the truth. Zach is a hard-worker, smart, privileged young man who is (like many of the students at Belmont) being crushed under the weight of pressure from his parents to get the right grades, get into an Ivy, and have a successful career. Zach is close friends with another student, Courtney, and I found it fascinating how Teddy had the opposite opinion on Courtney as he did Zach, despite her also having the same privileged background.Downing presents Teddy’s dichotomous thoughts about Zach and Courtney to great effect. With Zach, Teddy feels it is his duty to knock him down a peg, despite his stellar performance. With Courtney, Teddy wants to actively help and support her, though this is largely because her mother is the president of the PTA and was active in awarding Teddy Teacher of the Year. Teddy is so delightfully, grotesquely self-serving. His opinions on any given person are solely related to whether they help him or make him feel less than.I found Teddy to be a completely captivating character. He’s arrogant, vindictive, spiteful, devious, intelligent, delusional, quirky, and manipulative. As a character, he’s often unintentionally hilarious (I was particularly tickled by his tendency to reward himself with a glass of 2% milk despite his lactose intolerance) and at times he can even be somewhat sympathetic, despite his atrocious actions.No one writes compelling villains the way Downing does. Like some of her other villainous characters, Teddy’s actions, behaviors, and thoughts are often despicable. Yet he is presented in such a playful way, the reader can’t help but have tiny moments of rooting for him, only to then remember all of the things he has done and quickly reverse. By the end, I was rooting for his demise but unsure if it would come. Downing always surprises at the end of her books, so no outcome is off the table.A delightfully wicked book that I couldn’t put down!