DARE ME
Megan Abbott
Reagan Arthur Books / Back Bay Books
On sale: August 27, 2013
For a review copy (US and Canada only), or to schedule an interview with Megan Abbott, please email gabrielle.gantz [at] hbgusa.com.
From Edgar Award-Winning Author, Now in Paperback
PRAISE FOR DARE ME
“It’s ‘Heathers’ meets ‘Fight Club’ good.”
—New York Times Book Review
“Abbott’s latest is not only a page-turning mystery—it’s also a close look at teen girls’ ferocious rivalries and intense bonds….A psychologically astute thriller.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Ms. Abbott turns the frothy world of high-school cheerleading into something truly menacing.”—Wall Street Journal
“A very grown-up look at youth culture and how bad behavior can sometimes be redeemed by a couple of good decisions.” —O, the Oprah Magazine
“Following the direction taken by her last novel (The End of Everything), Edgar winner Abbott again delivers an unsettling look at the inner life of adolescent girls in the guise of a crime story….Compelling, claustrophobic and slightly creepy in a can’t-put-it-down way.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A gut-churning tale of revenge, power, desire, and friendship in the insular world of high school cheerleading….Deliciously slick and dark…the plot is tight and intense, building a world in which even the perky flip of a cheerleader’s skirt holds menace.”—Publishers Weekly
ABOUT DARE ME
Rivalries, secret alliances, the looming threat of bodily harm: welcome to the world of competitive high school cheerleading, where friendship and loyalty are pared away to reveal the dark heart of adolescence—a subject about which award-winning novelist Megan Abbott “writes with total authority and an almost desperate intensity,” says Tom Perrotta.
Megan Abbott’s dark and seductive thrillers have been lauded by everyone from Gillian Flynn to Tana French, from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal. In DARE ME (on sale August 27, 2013; Reagan Arthur Books / Back Bay Books), Abbott turns her lens to the lives of head varsity cheerleader Beth Cassidy and her lifelong best friend and lieutenant Addy Hanlon.
A far cry from the pom-pom shakers and prom queens of yore, their squad is no fluffy respite or easy ticket to popularity. Dangerous and bruising, today’s acrobatic style of cheerleading is a kind of Fight Club for girls, the most perilous of sports: highly competitive, addictive, and a powerful outlet for all the tumult and complexities of teenage girlhood.
Beth and Addy’s unchallenged reign over this club comes to an abrupt end with the arrival of a new coach, charismatic and seductive, who upsets the established pecking order and wins the girls over with her seeming perfection. When Addy falls under the new coach’s spell, Beth becomes reckless.
A shocking turn of events and a police investigation of the coach and her squad send the tension sky high. As the last game of the season approaches, and as the girls’ physical feats get increasingly dangerous, Addy and Beth are forced to ask where their loyalties truly lie.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Megan Abbott is the Edgar Award–winning author of five previous novels. She received her PhD in literature from New York University and has taught literature, writing, and film at NYU, the New School, and SUNY Oswego. She lives in New York City.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
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Visit Megan’s website
Listen to Megan on the Other People podcast
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