Teach Her by Mark Kotting

This book is quite unlike any I have read before – and there have been a few – but full marks for uniqueness.
The separate strands of the fairly ordinary, even mundane, lives of the characters weave together in this intriguing, fast-paced story to culminate in an ending that is quite satisfying, if dark.
Shirley is a teacher with 28 years experience; she’d say she was a good one.
Jim is her soon to be ex-husband, a barber, an easy-going bloke, more or less happy with his lot.
Luke is their son, bored with school, battling spots and pretty much disgruntled with everything in life; well, he is a teenager.
And Danny is an ex-soldier, back from Iraq and now training to be a barber with Jim but Danny has deep-set issues, not just from Iraq but from past events in his life concerning his brother Joseph. When tragedy strikes it is Danny’s links with Jim, Luke, his brother and army pal Carl which lead to a series of dark and disturbing events which leaves the reader and characters questioning everything which is usually taken for granted in life – family, teachers, friends.
Mark Kotting’s style is definitely different but it works. It has been described as quirky but I would go so far as to say that the quite clunky narration is a really clever way of getting into the characters heads and sharpens their thought processes making each individual character stand out. It’s a fairly short read and easy to get into once you realise that the wording and formatting are meant to be like that and is what makes the story to the point. It doesn’t use any prettying up; life in this dreary seaside town is dull but even in dull places bizarre and unsettling things happen. I could sense where the story was going but that doesn’t make the impact any less, it is still a hard hitting and profound story with characters that you can imagine as being actual people and full of dark humour which doesn’t take away from the seriousness of the story.
For me it was an intriguing and insightful piece of writing and although it did leave me with a somewhat unsettled feeling it also gave me pause to think. I’d certainly recommend it and shall be looking out for previous and future writing by Mark Kotting.
Thanks to Netgalley and Legend Press for the ARC of this book.