Dare Me [Kindle Edition]

Like Megan Abbott's The End of Everything, this is another dark and unsettling read centred on the edgy instability of female adolescence.

Our narrator, Addy, is sixteen and is one of the high school's sassy cheer-leading team, along with her best friend Beth. A new female coach arrives and disturbs the status quo, soon inviting the team to her house where they drink, obsess over her and misunderstand her relationship with her quiet, seemingly dull husband. Only Beth refuses to succumb to Coach French's charms, and takes it upon herself to reveal what only she can see...

I loved this book which is more subtle and nuanced than The End of Everything. There's a dangerous edge to everything that happens but it's subliminal and oblique rather than obvious. Abbott is particularly good at charting the shifting tides of power and powerlessness, knowledge and innocence in these girls, as they experience an adult world which they think they understand but which overwhelms them.

The world of cheer-leading is an alien one to UK readers and it takes a bit of time for us to catch-up, but it fits well with the overall atmosphere of danger and unease as the girls push themselves physically and psychologically towards a kind of perfection. The hints of anorexia, dysmorphia, competition and physical danger blend well with the unsettling depiction of nascent sexuality.

So overall this is a gripping and atmospheric read with some important things to say about the modern female psyche - highly recommended.

This is the second novel by Abbott that I have read. In many ways it is similar to her previous book, THE END OF EVERYTHING, but there are important differences. Once again, Abbott examines the darkness that can lie in the hearts of female adolescents. However, DARE ME feels more sustantial than THE END OF EVERYTHING.

The story follows sixteen-yesr-old Addy Hanlon and her cheerleading friends. Of all the girls on the squad, Beth is her closest friend. At the very beginning of the book, the cheerleading squad have a new coach, Coach French. It is upon her arrival that everything seems to change. She pushed them further, makes them aim higher, but it is her budding 'friendship' with Addy that really sets things into motion.

That is all of the synopsis I will give away. DARE ME is a novel which has many layers to it. Ultimately, it is the examination of adolescent sexuality, friendship, obsession and loyalty which binds this novel all together. Abbott uses cheerleading as a backdrop to Addy's, providing a metaphor for how the girls view themselves, each other and the world around them. The result is a dark, edgy book which is, in some ways, more subtle than THE END OF EVERYTHING, but perhaps more developed and engaging.

I would definitely recommend this novel. If you like dark and compelling literature, then this is for you.

I've been a fan of Megan Abbott since her first book, and think she's the best woman crime novelist writing today. This one didn't disappoint. She seems to get better with each book, where most crime writers seem content to write the same book over and over and just change the names of the characters. The crime took quite a while coming, and when it came it wasn't the person I expected it to be. It's sinister and creepy and also says a lot about contemporary America, but in a very roundabout way.

My only complaint is I paid full-price for the Kindle version as I couldn't wait to read it, and now it's on sale for less. Oh well, that's the way it is in the digital world! If you like the author you won't be disappointed, and if you've never read her before you've a treat in store.

I didn't think I would enjoy a book about cheerleading, something which might, in real life, briefly stimulate the enjoyment pulses but then is all forgotten as the girls troop off.

But I read this book at one sitting so it's an easy read. But the content is not so easy. From small acorns in the form of the arrival of a new Coach to the grown oak in the form of a dead body in an apartment block. In between, whilst the story develops is a power struggle filled with the rivalries of teenage girls, raw emotions not fully developed but mature enough to do adult things and, at the same time, try to create the best Cheer Team ever.

I must say I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the way the story unfolds. I couldn't understand a word concerning the cheer team's routine but, somehow, this didn't matter. In all honesty, I skipped a few pages of such routines just to maintain my grip on the underlying investigation as seen through the eyes of a sixteen year old Addy Hanlon. (I'd also forgotten that in some US States, sixteen year olds are allowed to drive a car!) The book is clever in its progression, in its development of the relationships and jealousies between the girls and their Coach.

As with all good investigations, there is a nice twist in the story; one which probably could be expected if I hadn't been rattling along with the read but perhaps this made it the more enjoyable. The blurb snapshots do not do justice to this book. Had I read them before buying the book, I would have changed my mind. As it is, I'm glad it was recommended to me on the basis of a darn good story. It is and I shall look for more Megan Abbott, though no more Cheer, pleeeese.