School's Out - Christophe Dufossé

Pierre Hoffman is a jaded and cynical high school teacher whose faith in society, and school, is close to non-existent. But when he inherits a class of spookily precocious and well-behaved 14 year-olds who think and feel as one, yet always seem just one step away from violent and distressing events, he finds himself racing to make sense of various macabre developments. Such a story should make for chilling psychological horror. Think 'Village of the Damned', maybe, for that tried-and-true creepy children trope. Unfortunately, having gotten our hopes up, Dufossé fails to fully satisfy. Much of what Pierre has to say is far from essential. His observations on his own behaviour are disjointed and tangential. There's an authentic feel to his solitude, self-centred anxiety and the depressed social setting, but the brief romantic and sexual episodes seem irrelevant and one gets the impression they are only included to distract from the steadily weakening storyline. There are moments of dark humour and some genuinely disturbing characters, but there are more opportunities lost. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the cover bears no relation whatsoever to what's inside the book. [Alasdair Gillon]