Gentlemen and players- Joanne Harris

The book felt more YA and a departure from her usual "Chocolat" style. I can't say it's a bad read but I did feel a little disappointed as the plot was a tad cliche. The book had two narrators- a psychopathic killer bent on revenge and a Classics lecturer due for retirement. I got a little confused in the first few chapters, not realizing that they were alternating between two characters. Julian Pinchbeck lived on the campus of St Oswald's grammar school for boys as his father was a caretaker. St oswalds was your usual stuffy, exclusive school for the upper class. Pinchbeck knew he would never get the chance to be a part of the St oswalds society but yearned to be there. He began pretending to be a student there and met Leon, the rebel. Together they were like Sundance and Butch, setting things ablaze in their trail. But all good things came to an end, when Leon fell in love with a girl one summer and Pinchbeck soon realized he was in love with Leon but obviously didn't stand a chance with him. A dare and a fight on the roof of st oswalds building left Leon dead and pinchbrck's father being accused of his death. Pinchbeck's father committed suicide thereafter. Pinchbeck blamed St Oswalds for the death of his best friend and father. He blamed the school for wanting to protect their reputation at all cost. He blamed the school for their traditions and exclusivity, that had him always looking in from the outside and never belonging.
Pinchbeck schemed to return to st oswalds as a teacher with the mission to bring down the school. One by one the school's teachers and masters were implicated in scandals and crimes...leading to the death of an innocent student. Pinchbeck's lust for revenge was finally curbed by the second narrator  mr Roy straitley, who loved cussing in Latin. Straitley finally "saw" Pinchbeck for who he was in the final chapter of the book. The readers realized then that the real reason for Pinchbeck's return to st oswalds was to be seen because he had been a "ghost" in st oswalds in his youth; wandering on the school grounds and never recognized. It was also then that we knew pinchbeck was actually Julia not Julian. That was the only element of surprise in the book.

3/5