Head Wound

by Judith Cutler

While Jane Cowan, head teacher of Wrayford School, waits for renovations to be completed on her new home, she remains in temporary accommodation under the watchful eye of her landlord Brian Dawes, chair of governors. But Brian's deteriorating health, and the odd behaviour of her neighbours, are complications she could do without. The battles at school to manage steadily decreasing funds are exhausting, but being a head teacher also means supporting vulnerable children. It means dealing with poor behaviour too, whether it's from pupils or parents - though even Jane could not foresee that one child's malicious trick could end her career. This soon pales beside life-threatening events in and around the school. In trying to protect other more vulnerable people, is Jane taking one risk too many? How long before she becomes a victim herself?

Genres: Ebooks

Hardcover

Published February 1, 2020

About the author

Judith Cutler was born and bred in the Midlands, and revels in using her birthplace, with its rich cultural life, as a background for her novels. After a long stint as an English lecturer at a run-down college of further education, Judith, a prize-winning short-story writer, has taught Creative Writing at Birmingham University, has run occasional writing course elsewhere (from a maximum security prison to an idyltic Greek island) and ministered to needy colleagues in her role as Secretary of the Crime Writers' Association.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to look forward to new Judith Cutler books, especially her Sophie Rivers series, but I've found her later books disappointing, in fact, boring. In this one, her latest protagonist, Jane Cowan, is again dealing with stressful work life, as head teacher of two underfunded primary schools and the stress of living in rented accommodation while she waits for her own house to be repaired. Various small events occur which make her uneasy, then a major crime happens. I just couldn't get very interested in Jane, the incidents are all giant clues pointing to the eventual resolution & villains, and though there seem to be hints at possible plots for a further book, the ending suggests that this maybe the final one - and I don't think I'm interested in a fourth book. I know a book has lost me if I don't read it in one go, and after reading the first few chapters of this I put it down and read 3 others before I bothered finishing it.
(Also, I find adult women in fiction who have to talk to their teddy bears totally irritating! Applies to Jane in this series & Lena in the "Gilt" one, I know they're supposed to be abuse survivors but it just grates on me.)

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read many of Judith Cutler's books and for this series I've read all three. I found this an odd read. It takes up five months after the end of the previous book. Jane Cowan is juggling being an executive headteacher of two neighbouring village schools and trying to get her recently acquired home renovated. As a fellow headteacher I find the school stuff believable, particularly the petty village gossip and rivalries. Once again her love life, or lack of it, interweaves with her uncovering of nefarious goings on in the Kentish countryside. To be honest I found the level of explicit violence a bit over the top. I think the author wanted to highlight the plight of women, from all classes and cultures, who are harmed by men. I found the pace of the story too frenetic for me. At the end we are left on a cliffhanger as we were last time. I'd certainly read another Jane Cowan story but I can't say I warmed to her as I did in the first book.

[Rog Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read and enjoyed fifteen of the author's books though the last one I read was over ten years ago. However I struggled with this one. There seemed to be a lot of characters to keep track of and I wondered if I would have better understood things had I had read the earlier books in this series. I also found it hard to keep track of the various goings on in the various houses in Jane Cowan's neighbourhood. Also the author seemed to write in a cryptic way so I did not fully understand what had happened until pages later. Maybe I am getting old and am not as quick on the uptake as I used to be but maybe this is just not a clearly written book!

[Lee McAlpine · Rating 1 out of 5]

What boring load of nonsense. 2 nine year olds send a rude tweet and the police are called and the paparazzi are camped outside the headteacher' school and home. Then the said 9 year olds imply they've done some thing naughtier and the school is closed, the children all walk 2 and 1/2 miles to a nearby village hall and the police conduct a thorough search. This book is relentless nonsense and how I finished it I will never know. Albanian sex gangs, horrific murders, borrowing dogs, a ludicrous eureka moment with a roofer...... blah, blah oh and the adult heroine cries and wants her teddies. I need a drink

[Sally Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first book in the Jane Cowan series earlier in the year - Head Wound is the third featuring this headmistress/amateur detective. I found the sequence of action somewhat confusing and disjointed in places, and as the story progressed I became increasingly irritated by Jane Cowan's judgemental attitude towards almost everyone with whom she came into contact. The ending seemed particularly rushed and unsatisfactory.

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third Jane Cowan thriller is another complex thriller set in the misleading bucolic beauty of the English countryside.

[Lydia Haight · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than the first two. I am glad I gave it a go. A much better plot and conclusion. I will definitely read more of Judith Cutler's books.