Beth intentionally sabotages the confidence of one, causing her to crash to the floor, so that she can take the injured girl's key role in a stunt.Ībbott is best in the nasty, manipulative dialogue, as Beth controls the squad with her vicious tongue, and in Addy's confused inner monologues, where she relishes any attention from Coach French. The girls play mind games that keep one another off balance in more ways than one. Parents are almost totally absent in this novel, as are other teachers, which seems unrealistic for a story set in high school. Sack up' - take Adderall and drink liquor like sailors, often with Coach at her house. These girls starve themselves to stay light and trim, toss curses and insults like the toughest football players - 'This is too big to girl out on me. The ugly part is the ruthless mean-girl talk and the relentless ambition of girls who aim to please crowd and coach with their death-defying stunts, pyramids and eating disorders. More about coming apart than coming of age, this novel about 'magnificent teen gladiators' sets up a pernicious power struggle among its three main characters: Beth, who's always been the cheer squad's captain Addy, her 16-year-old 'bad-ass lieutenant' and Coach French, the new cheerleading coach who dares to dethrone Beth and draw Addy ever deeper into the secretive mess of her personal life - forging an allegiance with serious moral and mortal consequences.Ībbott, an Edgar Award-winning mystery writer and author of 'The End of Everything,' knows how to build suspense, drop clues like gum wrappers on a gym floor, and blindside the reader. If your image of high school cheerleaders is pretty, perky, healthy, wholesome young women, you may be shocked by the gritty, cutthroat, twisted world of cheer in Megan Abbott's sneaker-noir 'Dare Me.'

Dare me megan abbott review