THE TUTOR

An insidious tutor affects the lives of a dysfunctional family, in this sharply written psychological suspense.

With details as exact as fingerprints, author Abrahams (Last of the Dixie Heroes, 2001, etc.) will convince readers that they’ve never encountered a suburban family this recognizable. There’s father Scott Gardner, restless over a disappointing career, and wife Linda, fretting over their teenaged son Brandon, and with good reason. Scrappy and rebellious, Brandon flags his SAT’s, runs with the wrong kids, and flirts with drugs. In contrast, 11-year-old Ruby, keen and precocious, seems the only happy family member. Linda insists on hiring tutor Julian Sawyer to help Brandon get into an Ivy League school. Smooth, handsome, and almost clairvoyant, Julian snaps Brandon out of his stupor, shows Scott how to beat his rival brother at tennis, and helps Ruby sidestep a family scrape. But Ruby, with a copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in hand, is unsettled by details of the Gardners’ daily life that won’t connect. A jacket Brandon swears he left at school appears in the hallway at home, crack vials sewn into its lining. Then there’s an anonymous complaint, phoned in to the police, that brings more trouble for Brandon. Ruby’s suspicions correctly converge on Julian. The writer as Nietzschean monster, Julian secretly works (by candlelight) on a poetic novel about the Gardners, struggling to align fact with fancy. In real life, he manipulates them further by luring Scott into a stock venture that will sink the family finances. But never fear, the charming Ruby is afoot, determined to learn exactly what Julian is up to, and, in a predictable close, Julian responds with sadistic, destructive violence. Even so, his tutoring has clearly worked wonders with the Gardners. Scott recoups his financial loss, Linda confronts a demon from her past, Brandon’s grades head upward, and Ruby at last discovers the meaning of mentor Sherlock’s methods.

The familiar laced with lingering irony.