I was a bit staggered at how compelling this book is. It's certainly an easy read which usually means not much will surprise me. However Catherine Chidgey has served up a wonderful slow burner that oozes menace and evil.

The story is split into two timelines: 2014 when the adult Justine is visiting her ailing father with her own daughter and 1984 which covers the main event of the motherless Justine's school days.

Mrs Price is Justine's form teacher in primary school and everyone wants to be the beautiful and charismatic teacher's pet. But Mrs Price only seems to pick the beautiful children whereas Justine and her best friend, Amy, do not fit into that category.

As Justine tries to inveigle her way into Mrs Price's good books a thief begins to take the things most precious to each class member. Nobody knows who is taking things and Mrs Price uses her own special way of ferreting put the truth. As more things go missing Justine has to make a choice of who she believes to be the thief and which way her loyalties lie.

Pet is a masterful telling of a story which we could all see in ourselves -- the desire to be admired, the need to be felt indispensable, the overwhelming need to fit in at school. Justine's loyalties are pulled in opposing directions on a daily basis, all while she is trying to come to terms with the loss of her mother and deal with his father's increasing drinking.

I got to about a third of the way through this book then found myself staying up way past midnight in order to know how it finished. Catherine Chidgey's Mrs Price is such an incredible character and the way she uses her popularity to manipulate situations is so cleverly done. I spent quite a bit of time talking to the characters to tell them what I thought of them then then next minute wondering if I, like Justine had misremembered a certain event.

If anything I'd advise you to read this story carefully and not rush through as you will find yourself wanting to do. This is my first experience of Catherine Chidgey's writing but I'm definitely going to find more. This was excellent. It deserves every bit of praise heaped on it.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Europa Editions for the advance review copy.

A thrilling novel of deception and childhood vulnerability. I read this in one sitting as it gripped me throughout.

An absolute page turner a book with a chilling undertone.A new charismatic teacher a group of young girls who want nothing more but to be noticed by her picked out as her special student.There is an underlying feeling of evil something not quite right& when items of student’s start to go missing this book becomes unputdownable.So well written so haunting.# netgalley #europabooks

I unfortunately had to DNF this book, through no fault of the author or the story! I've read Chidgey's work before and loved it, but I was unaware going into this novel that one of the main characters has epilepsy/seizures and that's a massive personal trigger for me, so I was unable to carry on, but the small part that I did read I did enjoy.

Pet is a novel about a charismatic teacher who holds a grip over a class, and what happens when things start to go wrong. Justine wants to be Mrs Price's pet, as do the rest of her class, including her best friend Amy. They all want to be allowed to do little errands for their teacher and feel the warmth of her gaze, rather than her unfair dislike. When Justine gets her wish and finds herself centre of attention, she's thrilled, but when a thief strikes the class over and over again, things start to get murkier, and Justine is pulled between loyalties.

The narrative is split between the 1980s, when Justine was 12, and her as an adult, dealing with a ghost from the past. The book doesn't feel the need to fill in every gap using this split narrative, like some books do, and it works as a way of having a more grown up perspective on something that happened to a 12 year old. The story itself is a classic tale of childhood betrayal by an adult who seemed too good, and it's easy to see this coming throughout the book, from Mrs Price's unfair favouritism and purposeful divisive actions to more dramatic elements later on. The twists tend to be quite obvious, but this seems like it is to show what a child would miss whereas an adult might notice if not taken in by the charisma of the teacher.

I've not read many books from New Zealand and this one explores some themes in the background, like racism and the influence of Catholicism, to paint a picture of 1980s Wellington in terms of social attitudes. Written in a straightforward style, it is readable and gripping, with a few elements that aren't fully formed (like Justine's epilepsy which is a plot device and only ever treated as one).

‘Pet’ is a psychological thriller set in New Zealand
The main character, Justine is a 12 year old girl who like her fellow classmate’s are all drawn to the new and glamorous teacher, Mrs Price.
I was hooked from the start! There’s a lot of questionable behaviour from Mrs Price, but everyone adores her, so she seems to get away with a multitude of things.
Justine is obsessed with being her pet, but eventually realised she’s not as perfect as she makes out.
A really well written and enjoyable story!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This gives off bad vibes (in a good way) from the start, and my mind was filling in the blanks every time we switched timelines, looking for the slightest clue .
I filled in a few , but got a surprise or two too.
It's a proper page turner, that I did not want to put down.

Most enjoyable.