Tampa, by Alissa Nutting

What did I just read?

Tampa, by Alissa Nutting, made me want to bathe myself in sanitizer. I’m just going to share my honest thoughts here because I can’t rate it. I don’t even know where to begin.

Proceed with caution.

Celeste is a 26-year-old eighth grade teacher whose secret desire is to have a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy. She’s a beautiful, seemingly happily married woman to everyone on the outside, but we quickly (and graphically) learn that she’s the worst kind of predator. She’s a closet pedophile who romanticizes and justifies her sick and twisted obsession with minor boys.

The story follows Celeste as she preys on her male students and grooms one in particular with whom she starts a relationship. The author holds absolutely NOTHING back. Every graphic detail laid out in print. I’m no prude, but I found this one SO freaking hard to read. I had to skip over parts because it was just too graphic and descriptive. It was crude and vulgar and while I know that works in a lot of stories, it felt really gross in this one. I felt like the author could’ve told the exact same story without all the sexually explicit detail. Super unnecessary in my opinion.

This one hit a little too close for comfort for me as I have two teenage boys (13 & 14). I honestly felt sick reading it. I wanted to bathe myself in sanitizer when it was finished.

A friend recommended this one to me because she knew I liked My Dark Vanessa. These two books are not the same. Aside from the grooming, they aren’t even in the same ballpark. In some ways it reminds me of You. We’re actually inside the mind of the predator (like Joe). While I almost liked Joe and felt myself rooting for him (weird, I know), there was NOTHING about Celeste that was redeemable. NOTHING. Being inside her mind made me feel gross. And it’s truly terrifying to think there are real live human beings just like this who exist! GAH!

All the trigger warnings here: sexually explicit content; graphic sex scenes between an adult + minor; grooming; pedophilia; murder; gaslighting; emotional abuse;