It always makes me laugh when people dismiss an entire genre, as so many do with horror, because there's such a range to it, something neatly underlined by what I've read from the Books of Horror go-to list thus far. Case in point: Tampa, which isn't really a horror novel at all, but gets mentioned often in horror circles because it is horrific. Now, how can a novel be horrific but not horror? That's a great lead-in to this review, so let me explain.

Alissa Nutting is a professor of creative writing who has published essays and a short story collection, 'Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls'. This is her debut novel and it's entirely fictional, but it takes a serious inspiration from someone she knew back in high school. That someone is Debra Lafave, who was arrested in 2005 and became quite the discussion point among talking heads, not just because of what she did, which is beyond question, but how differently she was treated afterwards because of her gender.

The fictional version of Debra Lafave is named Celeste Price and she's one of the beautiful people. In fact, she makes up half of a beautiful couple with her husband Ford. He's 31, born into a wealthy family and working as a cop. She's twenty-six and about to start teaching eighth grade, which is a big deal for her because she's into fourteen-year-olds. Yeah, like that. Her husband may be handsome, but he's also now seventeen years too old for her tastes. She prepares for her first day in class like it's a romantic date guaranteed to end up in bed. And it all descends from there, as she selects one of her students, Jack Patrick, as her target and you can imagine where it goes from there.

It could be argued that this is unrealistic, because Celeste appears to be so obsessed by sex that it could be said she's permanently in heat. However, I should remind that, even though this is fiction, it's absolutely inspired by true events and being constantly on sexually underlines how Celeste is a very deliberate predator. And that's important because she's a woman and that makes such a vast difference to how society sees this sort of thing that it prompted Nutting to write this novel.

The obvious thought exercise is to switch everyone's genders. Imagine that Celeste (or Debra) was male and Jack Patrick was female. There's no doubt that, once what happened came to light, they would be torn apart in public esteem as a paedophile preying on young girls (technically, the right term to use here is hebephilia, but the difference isn't important in this context). However, being female, they're treated much more lightly. Suddenly, we're not dealing with a predator anymore; we're in fantasyland. We're in Van Halen's 'Hot for Teacher' video.

It's a different thing and it's a big part of why Lafave, who pleaded guilty to multiple instances of having sex with one of her fourteen-year-old students—in their classroom, in her house and in her car—avoided a trial and was sentenced to only three years of house arrest and seven of probation, meaning that she lost her job, was subject to curfew and couldn't be around children. Needless to say, there was widespread skepticism as to whether a man who had done the same thing would be given such a light sentence. Having done therapy and community service, her house arrest ended four months early and her probation four years early, though the latter was temporarily reversed due to complaints from the victim's family. The judge allegedly said she was too hot for jail.

And that's where genre comes back into play because it's difficult to see this as a horror novel, at least while reading it. I found it tough not to think back to when I was a fourteen-year-old schoolboy, a virgin thinking about what sex might be like most of the time. I was never approached by a female teacher and I don't know anyone who was, but that didn't stop me fantasising about it. There was a blonde temp who taught chemistry for a while when the regular teacher was out. I can't recall a name but she was gorgeous and there's no way I'd have said no had she actually asked. That's the sort of thing that happens in porn movies, right? It would have been living the dream.

Sure, the book gets uncomfortable because Nutting does not remotely hold back with her scenes. Everything is told from Celeste's perspective, so we're there with her preparing for possibility, as she chooses her prey, as she seduces Jack and as they embark on a sexual relationship. While this book was published by an imprint of HarperCollins, one of the big five publishers, some stores did not stock it on principle, being too explicit in its child abuse. However, it is initially a mutual thing. Jack never says no and he's obviously having the time of his life. We may not be mentally slapping him on the back, but we're not thinking entirely with our brains either.

It's really when the two start to diverge on their goals that we truly start to feel predation. Jack's smitten, of course, tells her that he loves her and that he can't wait to be with her legally after he turns eighteen, all against her rules. Celeste's enjoying the sex but she's also preparing to replace him with a younger model because he's growing up and she's losing her attraction to him. She has absolutely no intention of still being with him when he's eighteen. This isn't about love. This is sex, pure and simple, and she'll continue seducing and discarding students as long as she can.

Of course, after the novel's over and we think about what actually happened with a little distance, it absolutely becomes a horror novel, because we think less about ourselves then and more about our sons, nephews or grandsons. It might be fantasy if it happens to us but it's not fantasy when it happens to someone close that we care about. Then it's abuse. To nail that point home, Nutting is willing to throw in some things late on to stir the pot that never happened in Lefave's case, which go beyond sex. And, of course, given where Celeste ends up after her trial ends, inspired yet again by Debra Lefave and the leniency shown her, we can't fail to see her not just only a woman who got caught but as an active predator and that's firmly horror. It's how The Silence of the Lambs ended.

I believe the next stack of books I have lined up for my Books of Horror project are somewhat more traditional in their adherence to genre, but I found this one fascinating. It's a good book that truly makes us think and this does that with bells on. In fact, Nutting wrote it because she found that an immediate connection to Lefave made her think about the case deeply and it changed how she felt about the subjects at hand. It raised her awareness of female predators and changed how she saw underage male victims. And so she wrote this book to do the same for us. ~~ Hal C F Astell