The Cheat

by Preston Lang

Principal Madeline Dewey is a cheat. For the past five years, she’s single-handedly raised her school’s scores on the state exams. With extraordinary skill and blatant deception, Dr. Dewey has turned Walt Whitman Middle School into an inspiring example of academic turnaround. But testing officials, jealous rivals, and even some of her own faculty grow suspicious. With the added attention, her methods for making the grade grow riskier and more extreme. The lies get bigger, the crimes grow uglier and more violent, as Dr. Dewey does whatever it takes to protect her scores.

A wry interrogation of contemporary education, The Cheat is a non-stop thriller full of clever confidence tricks, daring heists, and cold-blooded murder. All done for the noblest of the benefit of our children.

236 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 12, 2025

About the author

Preston Lang is a writer.

Reviews

[Ross Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Madeline Dewey is the Principal of Walt Whitman Middle School and since she took over as Principal the school has blossomed and their testing results have improved massively. However it’s not entirely due to the students, it’s because Dr Dewey has devised a method whereby she can beat the system and submit false results. Although a school principal, Dewey’s mother, Janet, is a grifter, conwoman and fraudster and some of those qualities have passed down the line to Dewey herself. However the improved results have started to raise the suspicions of fellow educators, teachers and the Testing Board themselves and Dewey must find a solution to silence her detractors. Also her estranged mother has suddenly arrived on the scene, aware of Dewey’s success and obviously seeking an angle on how to benefit from her daughter’s raised profile.
This is a brilliant noirish novel with a totally unique setting and unusual premise. I don’t think I’ve ever read a thriller before where the protagonist’s motive is to safeguard her pupil’s test results and ultimately their worth as persons. The story is told in the ‘first person’ by Dewey herself, so that we are totally aware of what her plans are and what she is doing. I found myself completely torn by her as a character, as on one hand she is a liar, a cheat and a murderer but on the other she is a very competent educator that knows how to motivate both her staff and her pupils and her ultimate motivation seems to be to benefit of her students.
A really great, unique thriller with a twist that I just did not see coming !
I have long been a reader and admirer of Preston Lang’s work and both his novels and his short stories are equally as good. He seems to get very attention though and I noticed that I appear to be the first reader and reviewer of this novel on Goodreads. I hope this review goes in some way to maybe raising his profile, as his work certainly deserves a lot more attention.