Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott

Released: 31st July 2018

Published by: Picador

Genre: Adult thriller

Source: Publisher

Pages: 339

My Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Goodreads | QBD | Booktopia

Kit Owens harbored only modest ambitions for herself when the mysterious Diane Fleming appeared in her high school chemistry class. But Diane's academic brilliance lit a fire in Kit, and the two developed an unlikely friendship. Until Diane shared a secret that changed everything between them.

More than a decade later, Kit thinks she's put Diane behind her forever and she's begun to fulfill the scientific dreams Diane awakened in her. But the past comes roaring back when she discovers that Diane is her competition for a position both women covet, taking part in groundbreaking new research led by their idol.

Soon enough, the two former friends find themselves locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that threatens to destroy them both.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Megan Abbott's latest psychological thriller firmly cements her position as a master of writing dark, addictive stories about the boundaries of friendships and what it takes to succeed. From Dare Me, The Fever, The End of Everything and You Will Know Me, I became enthralled by her intelligent, whip-smart prose and ability to capture the malignant undercurrents behind even the closest relationships. In Give Me Your Hand she has once again lifted the bar, this time bringing the drama into the scientific world, among the labs, burners and microscopes which hone in on what remains unseen with the naked eye. 

Sometimes it feels like life's about understanding how much opposites meet. Kill to cure, poison to immunize, sacrifice to save. 

Competition can be both a propellant to greatness, or lead to an all-consuming quest to be nothing but the best. It's always fascinating to see how Abbott brings in these elements of human nature, and pushes her characters to their limits. Kit and Diana had been best friends for years, driving each other in high school to always be at the top of their game, and reach the heights of the careers they had dreamed of. But Diana had always been an enigma at heart, the type of person one could admire until they saw that there was something ominous behind her pragmatic facade. There is some primal instinct that linked the main characters and their work, a force that was both brilliant and dangerous. As the novel switches between then and now, the contest to be on the research team reached unexpected twists that went further than I could have anticipated. I was totally gripped by the secrets revealed about not just these two, but everyone else working in lab G-21. In a Megan Abbott novel the suspense is always cleverly framed by the characters' vices and deepest flaws, revealed in elegant prose that pulses with tension and leaves you wanting more. 

When you're in the sciences, when you know about things like neuronal biochemistry and the complex interplay between, say, hormones and emotion, you might imagine you have a deep understanding of the mind. Explain to me why I feel this way, think this way, dream this way, am this way. But consider it: Would you really want to know? 

A good piece of writing can also require some solid research to back it up, and it's clear that Abbott has done the groundwork in this case. I may not know much about the sciences or PMDD, though I may have learnt a thing or two after reading this. The sterile setting of a science lab contrasting with the messy web of secrets, back-stabbing and cover-ups made for a winning combination. Far from the sports field, small-town gossip or world of elite gymnastics of her previous books, Give Me Your Hand feels more mature in this professional workplace context. Notably, she never loses sight of the people that these women were before they reached the pinnacle of their careers and how the experiences in their teens shaped who they would become. It is this depth of character development which is always a stand-out, and part of what makes Give Me Your Hand so compulsively readable.

But to understand, you need to see so much more. Because everything affects everything else. One small speck in one narrow recess and everything else is dark with its shadow. And working with Dr Severin, I know I'll see it all. And I'll be a part of the grander seeing, the illumination of darkness. The hand outstretched to all those women in the shadows. Come with me, come, come. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Give Me Your Hand is not a psychological thriller for the faint-hearted, but it's the most addictive one I've read in a long time. Smart, dark, and subtle in its revelations of the truth, as always I can't wait to see what Megan Abbott will write next.

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott - The tumbles and malevolent twists of elite gymnastics

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

Released: 26th July 2016

Published by: Picador

Genre: Adult thriller

Source: Publisher

Pages: 352

My Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Goodreads | QBD | Booktopia

Katie and her husband Eric have made their daughter Devon the centre of their world. Talented, determined, a rising gymnastics star, Devon is the focus of her parents' lives and the lynchpin of their marriage. There is nothing they wouldn't do for her.

When a violent hit-and-run accident sends shockwaves through their close-knit community, Katie is immediately concerned for her daughter. She and Eric have worked so hard to protect Devon from anything that might distract or hurt her. That's what every parent wants for their child, after all. Even if they don't realize how much you've sacrificed for them. Even if they are keeping secrets from you...

 A mother knows best... doesn't she?

Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This is what she knew: you win or you lose everything with a flick of the wrist, a turn of the ankle, not enough lift, a slipped hand on the beam.
And everything changes, everything goes dark, and is gone. 

If you thought Megan Abbott knew how to write about the toxic world of cheerleading in Dare Me, just wait until you've read this book exploring the merciless fallacies of elite gymnastics. The characterisation is as intricate as ever, with prose that captures every moment, every emotion in the sharpest turn of phrase. A family's devotion to their daughter's potential for greatness and an accident leaving those in their microcosm reeling, converge to form a book that shatters the delicate illusion of grace these athletes supposedly possess. 

She hadn't learned, no one had taught her - Katie and Eric hadn't taught her - that the things you want, you never get them. And if you do, they're not what you thought they'd be. But you'd still do anything to keep them. Because you'd wanted them for so long. 

Once again, Megan Abbott has wowed me with her attention to the nuances of human behaviour and the most significant relationships which define both our lives and identities. The story is told from the perspective of Katie, the mother of a gifted gymnast whose gleaming potential must be harnessed. This book is not simply about the sport itself. As always there is a malignant turn of events, an undercurrent of simmering unease and familial tension. Could Katie and Eric's unwavering devotion to 'The Track' for their child's life compromise the quality of their own? What are the consequences of the suspicious death of someone in their BelStars community? Does mother really know best?

What makes this book one which kept me reading until I couldn't stay awake any longer is the fact that there are so many paths to follow. The term 'secondary' characters in this case does not apply. Each persona Abbott has molded is subtly explicated so that we as readers begin to understand their motives, fears, and hidden desires.

...she could feel Devon before she saw her. The energy she held so tightly until she let it thunder forth: a soaring vault, an epic tumbling pass, a delirious aerial on the beam. 

If you're like me and your main insights into the world of gymnastics is from watching the Olympics and 'Stick It', then You Will Know Me will serve as a stark comparison. All of the technical jargon of this world the novel is set in validates the storyline and enables some parallels to be drawn with the secrets which unfold in other aspects of the book. This is a novel where the girls training under Coach T at BelStars look to Devon both as an image of a champion to be revered, and jealous of. But perhaps there is a danger to this obsession with perfection, this enduring quest to become one of 'the Elite'. She is a streamlined missile who knows her target, and will make any sequence on the beam or perfect execution of a Yurchenko twist count. Ice queen. Golden girl. Someone who believes that 'almost' isn't good enough. It was fascinating to scrutinise her character and the parents of her peers through the lens of Katie's eyes, looking back on the events which shaped Devon into who she was and what she would do to reach that ultimate goal.

FINAL THOUGHTS

You Will Know Me is an exhilarating and turbulent psychological thriller where blinding ambition and hidden weakness come into conflict. This complex and twisted novel is everything I expected from Megan Abbott, and all that I could have asked for. 

Review: Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman

Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman

Released: 10th May 2016

Published by: Little Brown (Imprint of Hachette)

Genre: Adult suspsense

Source: Publisher

Pages: 320

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads | QBD | Booktopia

This is not a story of bad things happening to bad girls. I say this because I know you, Dex, and I know how you think. I'm going to tell you a story, and this time, it will be the truth. 

Hannah Dexter is a nobody, ridiculed at school by golden girl Nikki Drummond and bored at home. But in their junior year of high school, Nikki's boyfriend walks into the woods and shoots himself. In the wake of the suicide, Hannah finds herself befriending new girl Lacey and soon the pair are inseparable, bonded by their shared hatred of Nikki.

Lacey transforms good girl Hannah into Dex, a Doc Marten and Kurt Cobain fan, who is up for any challenge Lacey throws at her. The two girls bring their combined wills to bear on the community in which they live; unconcerned by the mounting discomfort that their lust for chaos and rebellion causes the inhabitants of their parochial small town, they think they are invulnerable.

But Lacey has a secret, about life before her better half, and it's a secret that will change everything . . .

Starting - and ending - with tragedy, Girls on Fire stands alongside The Virgin Suicides in its brilliant portrayal of female adolescence, but with a power and assurance all its own.

Thank you to Hachette Australia for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Girls on Fire had me hooked from the first page. In this unnerving thriller, Wasserman has created a story that is suffused with an aura of vengeance, where girls turn on each other not just because of jealousy, but unbridled obsession. There are parts of this book entering territories you wouldn't think it would dare, but find that although you may want to look away before it all comes undone...those pages won't stop turning until the final, didactic end.

Hannah wanted to be invisible. Dex wanted to be seen. Dex was a rule-breaker, a liar, a secret keeper; Dex was wild, or wanted to be. Hannah Dexter had believed in right and wrong, an ordered world of justice. Dex would make her own justice. Hannah would show her how. 

What this novel excelled at is cleverly weaving multiple perspectives, each with a distinct narrative voice. Detailing the time of 'Us' from November 1991-March 1992 from both Hannah/Dex and Lacey's perspectives, it soon becomes clear just how twisted the dynamic relationships operating in this situation are. Lacey is insubordinate in every way, bordering on diabolical. Hannah's humdrum existence once letting her into her life is completely transformed. Their defiant duo is held together by a bond formed through unabashed manipulation, with an all too willing participant. Make no mistake, Wasserman's tone of prose is scorching - the whole premise for this novel is set up to keep you wanting more, discovering the hidden secrets which really drive these girls towards the fate which awaits them. As readers, when beginning this book you are lighting a match - then stand to watch it burn.

The trappings of evil were for scary movies and school assemblies; the real devil wore pink and smiled with pastel lips. And here, in the dark, we all knew who she was. 

And then there was Nikki. The resident 'golden girl' whose boyfriend took his own life. It's interesting how Dex and Lacey 'bonded' over this 'shared' ostensible virulence towards her. But who out of the trio is really the 'wolf in sheep's clothing' - that is, if any of them are? Girls on Fire searingly explores the bounds of loyalty and the devastating implications of betrayal. Emotions are powerfully expounded, chillingly expressed and manifested in ways which only these characters could accomplish. It's a tangled web of desire, defined by the 'us versus them' kind of subversive attitude that so often is depicted by adolescents today.

She was so good at it, acting cold-blooded. The secret of pretending to be someone else, she told me, was that you didn't pretend. You transformed. To defeat a monster, you had to embody one. 

I have to say, Girls on Fire definitely had shock-factor. All the while reading this, you know that something eventually will go awry. There is no way that such an intensely ferocious imbroglio would end without an explosion of some sort. And there is one. Just...not the one you may be expecting. How far will these girls go to get revenge? How deep are those scars from the past? You'll just have to read this for yourself and find out. In any case, I don't believe what eventually happened was there simply to shock the audience. The ending isn't rushed, and in the last few pages I found what the essence of this book was all about. Wasserman closes her story with words that will make you think, that leave an imprint your mind for a good while after you've closed it.

What matters isn't how we found each other, Dex, or why. It's what we did, and what happened next. Smash the right two particles together in the right way and you get a bomb. That's us, Dex. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

In Girls on Fire, flames lick the edge of the adolescent experience, lighting a trail of dangerous obsession and inexorable jealousy. Robin Wasserman's caustic prose draws in the most intense of human emotions, and places them in destructive circumstance; ultimately creating a read that you can't put down - even if you want to.

ARC Review: The Girls by Emma Cline

The Girls by Emma Cline

Released: 14th June 2016

Published by: Random House

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Source: Netgalley

Pages: 368

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads | QBD | Book Depository

Girls—their vulnerability, strength, and passion to belong—are at the heart of this stunning first novel for readers of Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad.

 Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon.

Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence, and to that moment in a girl’s life when everything can go horribly wrong.

 Emma Cline’s remarkable debut novel is gorgeously written and spellbinding, with razor-sharp precision and startling psychological insight. The Girls is a brilliant work of fiction—and an indelible portrait of girls, and of the women they become.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Emma Cline has such a way with words, and there's no denying that this is a book which will draw you into its depths before jolting you back to reality once you reach its end. Melodically written yet with a distinctly sinister undercurrent, this is a story which builds subtly towards a violent crescendo. Set int the summer of 1969, the then fourteen year old protagonist Evie Boyd is inexorably drawn towards a group of older girls, tantalised by their own dreamlike world - which is more dangerous than she could have ever imagined; yet intoxicating nonetheless.

Her makeup looked terrible, but it was more of a symbol, I suppose. I could see she was nervous with my eyes on her. I understood the worry. When I was that age, I was uncertain of how to move, whether I was walking too fast, whether others could see the discomfort and stiffness in me.

As he talked, I hugged myself with my arms. It all started making sense to me, what Russell was saying, in the drippy way things could make sense. How drugs patchworked simple, banal thoughts into phrases that seemed filled with importance. My twitchy adolescent brain was desperate for causalities, for conspiracies that drenched every word, every gesture, with meaning. I wanted Russell to be a genius.

If there's one distinct feature of this novel, it's the winding prose which is hypnotic in itself. Each page is saturated with imagery and a deft turn of phrase that encapsulates what it feels like to be a teenage girl coming of age. That pressing insecurity, the dichotomy between autonomy and autocracy, and a yearning for acceptance are all experienced by Evie, until she is lured by Suzanne and her clique into Russel's twisted enclave. I've read that this story is loosely based on what actually happened surrounding Charles Manson, which makes it even more disturbing. It's clear in the first pages where Evie is looking back on her younger years just how terribly wrong the whole situation was - though the question us readers are dying to know is what sequence of events led to such a terrible fate? This question is answered by the conclusion, and the path there is one which is deceptively lulling, with just the right amount of dissonance to maintain suspense.

Sidenote- reading this book reminded me a lot of Lana del Rey's song 'Freak' - if you watch the music video you'll see what I mean.

Suzanne and the other girls had stopped being able to make certain judgments, the unused muscle of their ego growing slack and useless. It had been so long since any of them had occupied a world where right and wrong existed in any real way. Whatever instincts they’d ever had—the weak twinge in the gut, a gnaw of concern—had become inaudible. If those instincts had ever been detectable at all.

Though the abundance of purple prose may not appeal to everyone, it's the actual plausibility of the story and shock factor which make it so indelible. The 1960's was a time when the disillusioned youth turned towards radical ideas, perhaps a doomed relationship just for the sake of it, or finding a group of people just like them to share in the general melancholia of adolescence. Emma Cline's insights such as these in The Girls are scathing, bringing to light the moral dilemmas and hedonism which characterised the era and influenced teens within it. It is the young women like Suzanne and  Evie which were the most vulnerable to the charms of a man with big ideas, and what appeared as a utopia in the midst of an increasingly unsettled age.

Even possessing that small amount of money tindered an obsessive need in me, a desire to see how much I was worth. The equation excited me. You could be pretty, you could be wanted, and that could make you valuable. I appreciated the tidy commerce. And maybe it was something I already perceived in relationships with men—that creep of discomfort, of being tricked. At least this way the arrangement was put toward some use.

Cline has also shown her skill in developing each of her characters with a unique voice and charisma. While 'the girls' flounder at the ranch, aching for attention and simply wanting to be seen and desired, Russel is something else entirely. He's a character who is both aberrant and coldly calculating - possessing a power over his followers that is omnipotent. It was definitely interesting to see how the group dealt with people from the outside of their inner circle, and how malicious decisions eventually dictated their downfall.

The man held up his hands and boomed out a greeting: the group surged and twitched like a Greek chorus. At moments like that, I could believe Russell was already famous. He seemed to swim through a denser atmosphere than the rest of us. He walked among the group, giving benedictions: a hand on a shoulder, a word whispered in an ear. The party was still going, but everyone was now aimed at him, their faces turned expectantly, as if following the arc of the sun.

My one qualm with The Girls was the ending - it just seemed a bit too rushed and tidy. Though the last chapter is undeniably perturbing, I think that Evie may have gotten away from the drama too easily, with too few external repercussions. However, I think this can be forgiven since the rest of the story is so gripping.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Girls is a story where a loss of innocence is punctuated by one girl's experience in a microcosmic world of misplaced trust and blind faith. Emma Cline has proved herself to be a talented young writer with a bright future, if this brooding novel is anything to go by.

Genie's Weekly News (48)

So in seeing this post, you may well be thinking:

Well, it definitely hasn't been a week since my last wrap-up like this, but it's good to be back! While settling into a new routine with uni starting and life being busy in general, I know that this blog has taken a back seat a little. However, I have missed posting here, and want to be more active on the blogosphere in general again. I'll be doing my best :)

*Reading Right Now*

It's they type of psychological thriller where at the moment I can see that there's something definitely brewing in terms of the suspense, but it hasn't it the 'creepy' stage yet. That being said, I'm pretty hooked and want to see what happens next.

*Recommendation of the Week*

I loved Gone Girl, and since I've heard good things about this one I thought I'd give it a try. Although perturbing and unflinching insight into a macabre situation, it is still compulsively readable and definitely worth checking out if you're a thriller fan.

*From The Interwebs*

There's a new book bloogger joining our Aussie community! Holly's a fellow bookseller and bookworm , and I can't wait to read more of her posts here.

• Emily @ Loony Literate talked about the power of retellings in the modern era
• Cait @ PaperFury questioned how realistic books should be
• Kara @ Diary of a Teen Writer has a Birthday Giveaway!
• For Sydneysiders, the Sydney Writer's Festival program has been released - and the teen events this year look amazing!

*Haul*

Thanks so much to HarperCollins Australia for these review copies!

This is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang - This is one of my most anticipated contemporary releases of the year, and since Falling Into Place was so emotional and beautifully written, I hope this one lives up!

The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry - Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres and apparently Julie Berry's first novel All The Truth That's In Me was a big hit, so I'm excited for this one.

*AusYA Bloggers and Readers Group Announcement*

I'm sure a few of you have seen it already, but for those who haven't, there's been a rebranding and redesign of our Facebook group, and we now have a twitter account @AusYABloggers!  

How has your week been?

Waiting on Wednesday: Don't You Cry

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where the participants tell their readers about an upcoming release they are waiting to read. This week I've picked Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica.

New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl, Mary Kubica returns with an electrifying and addictive tale of deceit and obsession.

In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate Quinn Collins to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew.

Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbor town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where eighteen-year-old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister than he ever expected.

As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under Pearl's spell, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted thrill ride that builds to a stunning conclusion and shows that no matter how fast and far we run, the past always catches up with us in the end.

This year, I've been reading a lot more psychological thrillers. Since starting Mary Kubica's novel Pretty Baby, I'll definitely be interested to see how this latest release will compare and how shocking the twist will be - I like to be surprised!

Releasing 17th May 2016