The Professor by Lauren Nossett is a suspenseful crime, mystery thriller.
After taking risks and pushing the boundaries too far, Marlitt Kaplan has had to resign from her dream job as a detective. Marlitt is now living with her parents while her house is rebuilt after a fire, in which she was injured.
She misses her job, her colleagues and her former life.
A student, Ethan Haddock has been found dead. The question is, was it suicide or is it murder?
Marlitt’s mother is a professor at the local college. Verena Sobeck, a friend and colleague of her mother, has been taken in for questioning about Ethan’s death. Verena has been suspended and is accused of having an affair with Ethan.
Verena denies any wrongdoing. But, social media is crucifying her.
When Marlitt’s mother asks her to investigate and prove that her friend was not involved, Marlitt jumps at the chance to solve the case and prove to her colleagues that she is a good detective.
Marlitt sees an opportunity to get to know more about Ethan’s friends and his life and she takes it. She has now put herself in danger.
The story highlights the stress a teacher faces with their own workload and a lack of support. Often students suffer from depression and mental health issues and when you try to help it can be taken the wrong way. As Verena says, she is a German Professor, not a councillor or a therapist.
I didn’t know that this is Book 2 in a series. Book 1 is the Resemblance which is mentioned at the end of this book. I found that I had unanswered questions about Marlitt’s fall from grace as a detective and her injuries. Due to this I possibly didn’t relate to her character as well as I could have. If possible try to read the original book first.
Even so, the book is a captivating read with a twist that keeps you guessing until the very end.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading The Professor by Lauren Nossett. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
The Professor by Lauren Nossett (Big Sky Publishing) is a mystery thriller which kept me guessing til the end and had lots of plot twists along the way.
I found it a bit of a slow burn initially, but persevering, I found all the characters and their behaviours did gradually start to make sense.
When beginning this novel I was unaware that it was a sequel. The protagonist, former detective, Marlitt Kaplan was introduced in The Resemblance, and I think knowing her back story would have helped me to appeciate her character a bit more. As it was, there were hints at her past, her relationships, and how it has affected her, but it was all a bit vague.
The Professor is, as the name suggests set on a university campus. It focuses a lot of attention on the trials and mental health struggles of the students and university staff as well as those of the former detective Marlitt Kaplan. She investigates when one of her mother’s professorial colleagues is implicated in the death of Ethan Haddock, a college student. He is discovered dead with a suicide note referencing his professor…
I did enjoy this book but would I suspect have appreciated it even more had I first read The Resemblance.
I learnt something about myself reading this book – I really do judge a book by its cover! I always have at least two books on the go and because this book came with a boring cover (not the cover it will be published with, although they do show a picture of that on the back of the book, so I don’t know why the front couldn’t have had the same cover – I’ve read other ARC’s with their proper cover) it didn’t grab my attention and I really had to force myself to read it because it just looked boring! OK, setting that issue aside, I actually don’t think I liked the book much either. I just really struggled to read it. It’s told from a few different points of view, Marlitt (the investigator) and then two other characters – throughout the book I thought I knew who they were, but in the end I realised that I had one of them wrong. That made me think that I need to go back and read the book again so that I have the right headset when reading about a particular character, instead of thinking that it is someone else – but I don’t think that I can actually do that. I still appreciated being able to read the book and thank Beauty and Lace for the opportunity >:o)
The main character in this book, Marlitt Kaplan, is a former detective. This past employment seems to have ended in some disgrace, plus extensive burns injuries to Marlitt, clearly visible on her face. Apparently this is book two in a series (the first being ‘The Resemblance’), and normally the author fills us in on previous need-to-know stuff, but this author didn’t do that, only coyly hinted. That was annoying, to say the least, just tell us already. If a book isn’t able to be picked up and the past caught up on, no matter where it is in a series, that author faces the chance of losing readers.
The story itself was a good read, fairly fast-paced. Marlitt is asked by her mother (a university professor) to look into the death of another professor’s student, Ethan Haddock. This professor, Verena, is struggling with her workload, her dank, noxious office full of mould, the lack of teaching support, and skating on the edge of depression. To be accused of acting inappropriately and in some way being involved with a student’s death is completely overwhelming, and Verena is devastated.
There are lots of twists and turns to the story – and Marlitt pushes the boundaries of acting appropriately herself, in ways which sometimes felt almost morally wrong but which she justified by being no longer a detective, just an interested bystander. I picked the final twist but not the ending, which is high stakes indeed.
A thrilling read, if you overlook the lack of information about Marlitt. Just make up your own mind about her. I loved the university setting and the academia world.
Thanks to Beauty & Lace and Macmillan Australia for the review copy.
Apologies, to Pan Macmillan Australia.
Unfortunately, I could not get into this story at all. It seemed confusing. I soon realised after reading the back and some on line research, that this is a sequel to The Resemblance. The Professor, even though it’s own story, really needs to be read as the second book, as The Resemblance looks as though it will set up some of the characters for this, the second book.
I had to read and re-read a few chapters for it to make sense.
Set in a University, the murder (or is it suicide) of a student takes place. Marlitt, who’s backstory I feel will be in the first book, making it easier to understand her, is asked to investigate the death, even though she is no longer a Detective.
As Marlitt investigates, we read about many of the students and their struggles, especially with mental health, and I found this overshadowed the storyline to some extent.
The storyline is full of all sorts of twists and intrigue, but I am going to try and get a copy of the first book, so that I can read ‘The Professor’ again, and hopefully enjoy it more. I found it difficult to pick up each night and keep reading, whereas when a book really ‘grabs’ me, I’ll read it through the night.
Thank you Beauty & Lace for the opportunity to read The Professor, by Lauren Nossett. I do hope readers will obtain a copy of the first book, prior to reading this one, as I feel any review will then be more accurate, and the story easier to follow.
I didn’t realise that this was the second book in the series either. That was okay as I love a crime story.
I enjoyed the book. I thought the characters were interesting and well thought out.
I hope to read the first on soon.
Thanks to Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read The Professor by Lauren Nossett.
I will be honest and say I found this book hard to get into at the beginning. I had problems working out the characters – I wasn’t sure if Malritt was male or female for a while and the other characters feel defined at all. I persevered and things improved! I now see this this is a sequel.
Anyway The Professor of the title is a timid, German instructor, Dr Sobek. She’s desperate for tenure at the Univresity but after a student Ethan of hers dies of an apparent suicide, she becomes a person of interest to the police investigating. Enter the department head’s daughter Marlitt, who is a disgraced former detective who’s asked by her mother to help Dr Sobek.
Marlitt begins looks into Ethan’s death by talking to Ethans peers. There are twists and turns and …well you will have to read the book!
The story after the slow start became interesting for me and I was engaged to read to the end! I would perhaps suggest that anyone looking to read the Professor first reads The Resemblance to have a clearer view of the background story.
Thanks again for t his opportunity.
Thankyou for the opportunity to read this book. A few chapters in i thought i was missing something- and after an internet search discovered that this book is a sequel, I didn’t know that because it’s not mentioned anywhere on the cover or in the description.
The intriguing premise of a scandalous death and a university investigation loses its impact quickly, leaving a sense of detachment and aimlessness. While the author introduces compelling ideas, the execution falls short, resulting in a disjointed and underwhelming story.
This book does not perform well as a standalone, and even reading the first one in the series, i still dont think i would have found this a great read.
Thankyou for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I will admit straight away that I struggled to get into this book, trying to understand which character was which.
I believe this was the second book in a series so I will obtain a copy of the first book and then reread the professor and update my review as needed.
Lauren Nossett’s The Professor definitely had some interesting and intriguing elements – for example I wanted to know more about the events of the past that shaped Marlitt so strongly, and I did not know until coming here to review that the book is a sequel. I think reading the first book in the series would enhance enjoyment of this instalment. The premise is great and the sense of suspense eerie, although a bit drawn out for my liking. Perhaps I need to work on my attention span! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review The Professor.