Different Class

Roy Straitley, the narrator of this tepid psychological thriller from Edgar-finalist Harris (Gentlemen and Players), teaches Latin at St. Oswald’s, a British boys boarding school. He favors those he terms his Brodie Boys, a gaggle of misfits much like him. Interspersed with Straitley’s account (which is set in 2005) are 1981 journal entries of an unnamed St. Oswald’s boy addressed to a frenemy nicknamed Mousey and flashbacks to a 1981 incident that resulted in the arrest of teacher Harry Clarke, a friend of Straitley’s, for sexual misconduct and something far worse. Straitley is shocked to learn that someone involved in that 1981 incident, Johnny Harrington, who was then a somewhat troublesome St. Oswald’s student, has been appointed the school’s new head. Straitley, whose old-fashioned ways aren’t appreciated by the progressive new administration, finds himself politely being shown the door, though he’s positive something more sinister is going on. Harris doles out information painstakingly slowly, to the point of irritation, despite a fascinating milieu and important social issues. [em]Agent: Peter Robinson, Rogers, Coleridge & White (U.K.). (Jan.) [/em]