A breathless rollercoaster of a novel about the desperate limits of desire, jealousy and ambition, and Megan Abbott's most sensational psychological thriller yet.
Megan Abbott is the author of The End of Everything, Dare Me (CWA Steel Dagger shortlist) and The Fever (Strand Critics Award for Best Novel of the Year and International Thriller Writers Best Hardcover Novel of the Year). She lives in Queens, New York.
What Megan Abbott knows, as so many maestros of the heebie-jeebies
do, is that it's not strangers who are scary; it's the people you
think you know and love . . . Abbott is in top form in this novel.
She resumes her customary role of black cat, opaque and unblinking,
filling her readers with queasy suspicion at every turn.
*New York Times*
The underlying tension she sustains is so beautifully unbearable,
you may be unable to leave the couch. Scene by scene and moment by
moment, she keeps you on edge - the same way Breaking Bad did,
without the meth or machismo . . . unputdownable . . . Abbott is a
literary descendant of Richard Yates, John Cheever and other
writers who captured what used to be called lives of quiet
desperation. Abbott's fiction is also indebted to such noir
stylists as James M Cain and Patricia Highsmith.
*Chicago Tribune*
What puts flesh on the bones of Abbott's flying cheetah of suspense
is her insight into parenting, marriage and various sorts of
interpersonal rivalry, here embodied in Katie and Eric Knox, their
hugely talented daughter, Devon, their sweet younger son, Drew . .
. "Why do you always leave me by myself?" wonders her little son,
continually abandoned in the car, in the bleachers, or at home.
Good question, kid. The complexity of the answer is what lifts
Abbott above other writers in this genre, making her something of a
Stephen King, whose work hangs right on the edge of the literary
while making your skin crawl.
*Newsday*
Almost unbearably tense, chilling and addictive, You Will Know Me
deftly transports the reader to the hyper-competitive arena of
gymnastics where the dreams and aspirations of not just families
but entire communities rest on the slender shoulders of one teenage
girl. Exceptional.
*Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of The Girl on the
Train*
Like stepping into a world with slightly too little oxygen. Dark
and compelling, this is a 2 a.m. novel.
*Lucie Whitehouse, author of Before We Met*
You Will Know Me is powerful and unsettling, a portrait of a family
where tenderness can mean pain as well as love. Megan Abbott is
exceptionally good at teasing out telling moments to reveal deeply
buried truths.
*Jane Casey, author of The Missing*
You Will Know Me takes you into the dark heart of family, a journey
that feels more menacing with every page. Abbott cranks the tension
up in this disturbing tale of exactly what we are prepared to do
for our children - I was reading compulsively into the night. A
beautifully written, gripping read that feels unshakeably real.
*Kate Hamer, author of The Girl In The Red Coat*
That rarefied sweet spot between unnerving psychological suspense
and a family drama with heart, You Will Know Me induces equal parts
dread and unease, empathy and warmth. The pages couldn't turn fast
enough as I dug deeper into the peculiar and fascinating
Knox-family world, trying to figure out who was lying, who was
telling the truth, and who was dangerous. Luscious writing, a
timely and unique premise, and an ending that will haunt you all
summer long.
*Jessica Knoll, author of Luckiest Girl Alive*
Is there anything Megan Abbott can't do? We will have to wait for
the answer to that question because You Will Know Me continues her
formidable winning streak. This story of an ordinary family with an
extraordinary child is gorgeously written, psychologically astute,
a page-turner that forces you to slow down and savour every
word.
*Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling writer*
I had my heart in my mouth from first page to last and raced
through this high-stakes story of what can happen to a family when
its primary dynamic is ambition. Beautifully written and observed,
tightly plotted and as nail-bitingly tense as an Olympic final.
*Gilly Macmillan, author of Burnt Paper Sky*
Megan Abbott's latest thriller plunges readers into the shockingly
realistic life of young, female gymnasts whose severely regulated
lives come with unthinkable consequences. Gritty, graphic, and yet
beautiful and dreamlike in the way the story unfolds, You Will Know
Me comes barreling at you with all the power and urgency of a
high-speed train, as Abbott asserts herself as one of the greatest
crime writers of our time.
*Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The
Good Girl*
The tension starts in the second paragraph of page one and
insinuates itself brilliantly throughout, unsettling and wrong
footing me. I read it, holding my breath like Devon before the big
leap. Loved every minute.
*Fiona Barton, author of The Widow*
Slick, pacy and full of a pulse-quickening intensity, You Will Know
Me is both a tightly plotted thriller and a forensic examination of
family dynamics, set against a backdrop as alien to most people as
it is fascinating - the world of competitive gymnastics.
*Ruth Ware, author of In A Dark, Dark Wood*
You Will Know Me is poignant, real and beautifully written . . . a
brilliant, gripping book about the sacrifices and compromises
parents make in the name of love.
*Claire Kendal, author of The Book of You*
Abbott proves herself a master of
fingernails-digging-into-your-palms suspense.
*Kirkus (starred review)*
A piercing look at what one family will sacrifice in the name of
making their daughter a champion . . . keenly examines the
pressures put on girls' bodies and and the fierce, often misguided
love parents have for their children.
*Publishers Weekly, starred and boxed review*
Had me at page one and didn't let me go. Insightful, chilling and
fascinating, the most gripping novel I've read this year and her
best to date.
*Rosamund Lupton, author of Sister*
Megan Abbott writes like a dream and grips like a vice. Weeks
later, I still can't stop thinking about You Will Know Me
*Erin Kelly, author of The Poison Tree*
Chillingly believable, beautifully written...You Will Know Me is
Megan Abbott's best novel to date. A triumph
*Paula Daly, author of Just What Kind of Mother Are
You?*
Abbott has a knack for dissecting the dark, beating heart of the
most all-American activity . . . dazzling . . . It's vivid,
troubling and powerful - and Abbott totally sticks the landing
*Booklist*
Abbott's ability to build suspense and feed on readers' fear is
nearly unparalleled . . . Her thousands of fans have been hungry
for this book for a while, and with good reason: it's both
terrifying and gripping.
*Elle USA*
A chilling thriller from a great writer clearly destined for even
greater things
*Red*
Abbott is outstanding at illuminating the dark drama at the heart
of family life . . . brilliantly begs the question of whether good
people are capable of bad deeds.
*Sunday Express*
Megan Abbott is America's finest exponent of psychological
thrillers, her novels looking with a forensic eye and lyrical prose
at the turbulent psyche of teenage girls . . . utterly
gripping.
*Big Issue*
Another star of the genre . . . specialises in seamy pageturners
probing dark desires in the pristine picket-fence suburbs of her
native Midwest . . . the truth in this story of chilling sacrifice
proves morally knottier than we can guess
*Metro*
The US has long boasted a full complement of excellent women crime
writers and Abbott is one of the most inventive . . . a
psychological study of real perception
*Independent*
Chock full of tension and suspense . . . gripping . . . will make
you question how far you will go to achieve your dreams.
*InStyle*
While the crime plot is impeccably handled, what captivates is
Abbott's portrayal of the subculture of sporty teenage girls,
observed with the eye of an anthropologise and . . . the pen of a
poet.
*Sunday Times*
A masterful tale that's both suspenseful and an eerily accurate
portrait of the way teenage and parental cliques operate . . . It's
Abbott's psychological smarts that make You Will Know Me such a
standout . . . never lets the suspense flag . . . Abbott steadily
commands our attention with a suspense plot that unexpectedly
somersaults and back flips whenever a landing seems in sight . . .
ingenious.
*Washington Post*
Her books are driven as much by intricate character development and
rhythmic sentences as they are by plot.
*Wall Street Journal*
A must read . . . observed with the eye of an anthropologist and
intermittently described (in trademark flashes of lyricism) with
the pen of the poet . . . mixes an incredible crime plot with
beautiful writing.
*Sunday Times*
Brilliant . . . beneath the glittering carapace of Abbott's lush,
skillful, subtle writing, it's impossible to know what we're
supposed to think. One of the strengths of this novel is that it
doesn't mind what we believe - it is coolly at peace with whatever
our take on matters might be . . . we, as readers, are made
entirely responsible for our own theories and conclusions. In that
sense, this is an exceptionally plausible work of fiction . . . The
wrong kind of ambiguity in a crime novel can be fatal. Abbott
judges it impeccably here . . . all of this Abbott pulls off with
breathtaking skill . . . excellent.
*Sophie Hannah, New York Times Book Review*
The bestselling Abbott is a past master of the psycho thriller,
turning a cool and knowing gaze . . . a foot-perfect
performance.
*Daily Mail*
Megan Abbott has found fertile ground in the intensity of female
adolescence . . . her writing is taut and elegant, carefully
balancing suspense and sharp twists with psychological insights.
Abbott excels at showing us the kind of teenage girl we are prone
to dismiss, or idealise, or both - and then subverting our
expectations . . . Abbot more than holds her own against the
competition . . . Abbott is unafraid to push the limits of the
genre: You Will Know Me is as much a relatable and authentic
interrogation of parenthood as it is a psychological thriller
exploring the dangers lurking within what looks like a perfect
family . . . [an] elegant page-turner. The prose is sharp and
precise . . . for the reader, entranced, it certainly is
compelling.
*Irish Times*
You Will Know Me is a stunning, original and remarkable novel . . .
viscerally evoked and the tension simmering away in an ordinary
community is depicted with both precision and lyricism . . .
Abbott's prose is precise and striking yet somehow also contains a
dreamlike quality.
*Big Issue*
No-one does the dark side of girlhood like Megan Abbott . . . this
new book, which mixes mother-daughter relationships with an
atmosphere of seeping dread, is something very special.
*Stylist*
No one writes about teenage girls the way thriller writer Megan
Abbott does . . . Abbott is a genius at writing about ambitious
teen girls who are more complicated, deep and fascinating than
society gives them credit for. You Will Know Me is a suspenseful,
wicked, eerily smart book.
*Esquire*
Megan Abbott will draw you in with plot — there's a crime, a
hit-and-run — and keep you reading with weightier questions
*NPR*
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