146/111 - Tampa by Alissa Nutting

This is the first full book I've read on my iPad, however the only reason I read it on the iPad and not in a book is because this isn't due out in paper format until next month. Next month?? That's how they're going to get me - make me wait for the paper copies of the books so I'll have to read more ebooks. Lame!

Anyway, I read about this book on Flavorwire and I just had to read it as soon as I heard about it. It's about a woman named Celeste who is a paedophile who specifically has a preference for 14-year-old boys. She begins working as a high school teacher in order to get closer to the teenage boys and eventually begins a relationship with Jack.

This book was incredibly gripping. So so gripping. Because it's horrifying. The author has done such a good job of creating a convincing paedophile that a lot of it was incredibly creepy and uncomfortable to read. However it's really quite conflicting because in the story, although Celeste eventually destroys the boys she has relationships with, they love it and are consenting parties in the relationship.

Celeste is a monster and she was such good fun to read - she is shallow and calculating, perfectly manipulates her husband Ford and evades his touch wherever possible only staying with him for his family's money and to maintain the facade of being a good wife and teacher.

The really uncomfortable parts weren't so much the sexual parts, but more the grooming. The way she picks out the boys and manipulates them. The way she watches them and calculates her every move. It was really easy to imagine the tables being turned and it being a male teacher and female pupils. I guess it would have turned out a little differently in the beginning, in that a female pupil would probably be more likely to say no at first. However Celeste being a young, attractive woman makes this disturbing in a different way, as it's as though no one really wants to punish her, like in that South Park episode where Ike has an affair with his female teacher, and when the police find out, all they can say is "niiiiiccccceeee'...

Really really good reading.