I'll begin this review by saying I've been a fan of Megan Abbott for years and "Give Me Your Hand" is one of her best works yet.

I was fully engaged in the story. I was always waiting for something bad to happen to the main character, Kit, or some of the other supporting characters. Eventually, things do happen and the story continues to ramp up with suspense. The climax of the story happens and I did not see it going in the direction that it did.

Such a fantastic read from Megan Abbott, I highly recommend this one. Can't wait for more stories from her in the future. Read it now!

Actual rating: 4.5.

It takes maybe two pages of one of Megan Abbott books to start feeling that familiar creeping dread, by which point you're already hooked. This was very much the case with <i>Give Me Your Hand</i>, another story of a relationship between adolescent girls and its many, usually shattering, consequences. And my use of the word 'another' there isn't derisive -- it's what Abbott writes about, and she does it very, very well. The interesting thing about this particular effort is that the reader often knows what's going to happen before the characters do, and yet it doesn't matter at all. As is often the case with Abbott, the telling and means of discovery are far more important than the events that take place, so being able to anticipate those events offers the reader little protection. My only complaint is that one element of the postscript ties things up a little bit too neatly, but even with that flaw, the book is nearly impossible to put down.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC.

I was talking to a friend about this book recently, when I was about a quarter of the way through. He said he thought it was her best book yet. I didn't disagree at the time but wholeheartedly concur now.

I haven't read everything she's written (just The Fever, Dare Me, You Will Know Me and now this one) but this is an actual breathtaking novel. 

Megan Abbott has started writing about teenage girls, but her stories aren't at all sweetness and light. Her closest YA equivalent is Courtney Summers, and that's one of the highest compliments I can give. This book is dark and there are no heroes (with the possible exception of Kit's mom). Everyone is basically at least morally gray and many of them are actual villains. 

You won't be able to put this book down, but be warned: it will stay with you.

Highly recommended.

My Thoughts: When Kit Owens met Diane Fleming at the start of her senior year of high school, Kit was a bright student, already at the top of her class, but a little lost, no real direction. Diane’s ease with her own brilliance helped Kit to feel the same. The two shared a love of science and chemistry and competed for the same prestigious scholarship. But, even before that scholarship was awarded their friendship had fatally faltered. Twelve years later, Kit is again in competition with Diane. This time for the chance to be part of a research study that will ultimately make one of their careers, and Kit is terrified. Terrified of Diane.

“I guess I always knew, in some subterranean way, Diane and I would end up back together.
We are bound, ankle to ankle, a monstrous three-legged race.
Accidental accomplices. Wary conspirators.

Give Me Your Hand moves between chapters titled “Now” and “Then,” alternately telling the stories, the secrets of Kit and Diane in the past and the present. I loved this back and forth technique with the then chapters slowly answering the question that arose in the now chapters. Abbott does a remarkable job of dropping hints, propelling her readers forward. Over and over, I succumbed to “just one more chapter.”

“Diane,” I said, what is it? I paused. “Did someone do something to you? Did someone hurt you?”
I would regret saying this, asking this, more than anything else in my whole cramped life.”

See! I don’t read a lot of suspense/thriller novels, but have heard so many great things about Megan Abbot that I knew it was time to give her a try. Give Me Your Hand was the perfect place to start. While it had a few moments of unbelievability and choices that didn’t fully add up (as many books in this genre do) those in no way hampered my enjoyment of Give Me Your Hand. If you’re on the hunt for a fun, summer read, look no further! Grade: B+

Note: I received a copy of this book from Little, Brown and Company (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!

"...maybe it'll pull me from the hold, more than a decade old, of the seventeen-year-old girl standing in that far corner of my head, the one glaring at me, needy, full of thunder and consequence."

Once again, Megan Abbott has written a diamond-cut masterpiece of a novel. She can always be counted on for unsettling prose and mysterious characters. Her stories are like finding a rare, lost painting: it's absolutely stunning, and you are afraid to touch it or even look at it too hard for fear it will fall to pieces. Like her last novel, 2016's You Will Know Me, this one takes much of the "familiar" Megan Abbott territory--a teenage protagonist suddenly and unexpectedly finding herself caught up in something much larger than herself--and deftly extends it into an enigmatic and dangerous landscape of adult perspectives and concerns. Abbott's work reminds us that many of us who swim in the waters of careers, mortgages, and deadlines are often as singularly unhinged and out of our depth as the protagonists of YA novels. Perhaps her work will continue to help expose the unfounded and inane nature of dismissing YA literature out-of-hand...though this novel is rightly marketed as an adult novel.

All "larger picture" considerations aside, this book gave me everything I've come to expect and adore from Megan Abbott: a secret-filled and secret-fueled plot that manages to be dense without alienating the reader, deep and complex characters, and prose that steals your breath without calling attention to itself. Abbott is incandescent; reading her novels is like watching a forest fire rage and feeling pretty sure that you are somehow responsible.

A non-linear mystery that will keep you guessing to the last page. A little dark at times, Give Me Your Hand will make you question what friendship is all about.

Do you ever have certain authors that you feel like you should like, but just don’t? Let me elaborate, maybe their books sound exactly like the kind that you usually love or their writing is fantastic and their style is totally appealing, but something is missing for you, some little piece of magic that makes you a fan? I’m pretty sure that’s the case with me and Abbott’s books, they never quite satisfy me and I’m pretty sure it’s one of those situations where it’s me and not her.

This follows Kit and Diane Now and Then, the then chapters are back when they first meet in high school and the now are when they both wind up working in the same lab with a highly regarded Dr. Severin. There were several things that I really liked her, the setting primarily being in a science lab was cool and new, these aren’t some amateurs, these are truly skilled scientists trying to break ground in new ways. I also loved the exploration of Kit and Diane’s odd relationship, female friendships can be so toxic and theirs had a great sinister vibe that worked well for me.

My only true complaint, (besides thinking that I’m just not the right reader for Abbott’s style) is that I wasn’t as gripped by this as I had assumed I would be. It took me a fairly long time to finish this and when I’m reading a thriller that I’m super into, you can’t get me to stop reading easily. There was none of that here, which is a shame.

Final thoughts, if you’re a fan of the authors then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one more than me and if you’ve never read her before and are intrigued by the sound of this then check it out for yourself because I have a feeling I’ll be in the minority on this one and giving full credit where it’s due, Abbott is one hell of a writer, she has a razor sharp style that cuts deep.

Give Me Your Hand is the second book that I've read by Megan Abbott, and she is masterful at writing about the complexities of female relationships. There is no doubt she is an authority at exploring the intensities, competitions, and rivalries that often make-up relationships between females, but what really sets her apart from other writers is how brilliant she is at understanding the darker side of not only how some women think and feel... their feelings and acts of jealousy, violence, bitterness, rage, and hate to how two females can be friends yet also be enemies at the same time-otherwise known as "frenemies", the term tossed around anytime female friends get overly aggressive and competitive.

Abbott has written a stunning, slow-burn psychological thriller that is told in a "then" and "now" format about two young, brilliant women, Kit and Diane. In the "then" time periods, their lives are entwined throughout high school when they share a close friendship and a rivalry that pushes the other to be their best so they can compete for the coveted Severin scholarship; that is until Diane shares a horrible, evil secret that effectively ends their friendship leaving Kit with nightmarish demons to battle but even she is not the good person that she thinks she is...

After a decade of no contact, the two adult women are unexpectedly thrown in contact together in the "now" when Diane arrives from Harvard to vie for a very competitive spot at the lab against Kit where she has been working with Dr. Severin studying Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, or PMDD, a severe form of PMS that is under-researched and just as stigmatized as PMS.

The reality that there is a severe form of PMS that has led women to violence, rage, or murder (PMDD has, in fact, been used as a form of criminal defense much like an insanity plea), would make women appear all the more terrifying in some men's eyes, and I felt like the inclusion of it in the book upped the very atmospheric vibe of the book as well as made gave it more of a passionate, creepy, suspense factor. There were even hints, told in little snippets throughout the book, that "one" of the girls (Kit or Diane, I won't say who and spoil it) had PMDD, so I felt that deliberateness on Abbott's part to feed the reader info that made you empathize just a bit with this character showed how smart of a writer she is. After all, none of the characters in the book are likable except maybe Serge, yet you feel for the villain(s) to a degree.

What fascinated me was the relationship between Kit and Diane. Kit fears her, dislikes her, but relies on her as the story in the "now" progresses and of course, in the "then" part of the book until Diane's secret is revealed. They are rivals and allies at the same time. It is a strange codependency that is utterly screwed up, yet I think Abbott has their relationship just right, exactly as it would be because she understands all too well how women think.

Blood, passion, ambition, biology...what drives a woman to act, react, think? Abbott explores these ideas in her newest book as well as the fine line between female friends and enemies. Give Me Your Hand is excellently plotted, fast-paced, and written as only Abbott can write--intensely sinister with a touch of cynicism and wit. This is definitely one you don't want to miss this summer!

**Thank you, NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for my ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review.**

his book is about Kat and Diane, two girls that meet at camp and are instantly drawn to each other as girls who are away from home and friends at fifteen sometimes can be.  The last night of camp, with their roommates, they confide secrets in each other.

A year later, Diane is the new student at Kat's high school.  Kat is smart and desperate to get out of her working class town and Diane encourages her and helps her believe in herself and her ability to get into a prestigious program.

Years later, Kat is working on a research project for PMDD - Premenstraul Dysphoric Disorder - which is basically where women get very violent before their periods.  Kat joins the very competitive team and it's sort of down hill from there, a lot comes out about the past.  Several team members are murdered.  A mystery is unraveled.  

I love Megan Abbott's writing.  She is a go-to author for me.  Her writing is so darkly poetic and raw and visceral.  Her descriptions of things so interesting and literary.  But, when I read that this was about a science lab, I was afraid I might not like that part, but since it was about PMDD - which I had heard of but never knew much about - I found it fascinating. PMDD is a severe form of PMS that is sometimes used as a defense for a crime.  I found that very interesting.

This book moves fast and both Kat and Diane's characters are probed deeply for psychological issues, something that I really enjoy in a novel.

I'm not going to lie. I am a HUGE Megan Abbott fan. I have read 4 of her previous books and I enjoyed them all immensely. I was so delighted to be able to get an early ARC of Give Me Your Hand. So, was it as good as I anticipated?

I liked this book but I didn't love it as much as her others.

Kit and Diane meet in high school. They share a love of chemistry and cross country running. While they support each others endeavors there is still a rivalry of sorts between the two. Kit has never met anyone quite like Diane. She doesn't share much about her family or herself. Until one day she does. She tells Kit her terrible secret. Kit now bears the burden of this secret and it nearly drives her crazy.

Fast forward a decade later and with Diane safely in her rear view mirror she has worked hard to build her career. Kit works in a research lab under Dr. Severin studying premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Kit is vying for a coveted position on the research team and with tensions running high among the postdoc candidates Kit is dealt a blow she never saw coming when in to the laboratory walks Diane. Dr. Severin has brought her on the team and Kit can't believe her eyes. Hoping to never have to see her again she now finds out they have to work side by side.

Through Now and Then chapters we find out all of the secrets these ladies share. Secrets they would never want exposed.

Megan Abbott's unique voice is present throughout but for whatever reason I just wasn't as invested in these characters like I have been with some of her other books. Kit, who is supposed to be brilliant, made a lot of poor choices and it made it hard to like her. Diane was just odd. I really wanted to get inside her head more and hear her thoughts but that didn't happen. She always felt at a distance to me. The idea that anybody would turn a blind eye to some of what these women did astounds me. Of course, if they didn't, we wouldn't have this book right here. 3.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley & Little, Brown and Company for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was really disappointed while reading this book. Megan Abbott has written some excellent books and I have thoroughly enjoyed them.

This one? It took so long to really get into the story, for me. It was all about Kit and Diane in the past for a long, long time it seemed. Honestly, by the time Diane does show back up in Kit's life, I'm not sure I really care.

However, when the action started, it was going. During all this time, however, there was a murder and years later, bodies are dropping out of the ceiling. Literally.

Not my favorite by this author, but still a decent read once you get about halfway through.

Thanks to Little, Brown & Company and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Diane and Kit were great friends, until they weren't. Now all of the things that used to bring out the best in one another is having the opposite effect and before long it may destroy them both. Gripping, page turning, thrill ride.

Megan Abbott’s Give Me Your Hand is considered to be, depending on the publication you read, one of the most anticipated books of the summer of 2018. Of course, there are reasons for this, but at the top of the list must be that Abbott is simply a gifted writer. Abbott’s forte is psychological thrillers about women who compete at very high levels against each other and all the evil things that these women do. This was the case with her breakout hit from a few years ago, Dare Me, and Abbott returns to this subject matter in her latest book. It is a taut page-turner once you get through the book’s halfway point, and there were times where I had to just stop and tell myself that this was only a book, that the things that are happening didn’t actually happen to real people, and I should just try to chill out a bit.

The novel is about two women, Kit and Diane, and is set in two different time periods: first, the novel is set back in the pair’s high school days, when Diane unloads a bombshell of a secret on Kit, who is torn between telling someone the truth of the horrible thing Diane did and keeping pace with her as one of two female students in the school who is competing for a prestigious scholarship. Second, the novel is set in the present day, some 12 years later, with Kit, who is now a chemist and researcher, set to probably be given a post on a very prestigious study on the link between a pre-menstrual disorder and violence in women when Diane comes hopping into the lab — and it is expected that she will take a spot on the research team. What could go wrong? Lots, apparently.

I’m torn as to whether this is Abbott’s best book that I’ve read — in addition to Dare Me, I’ve paged through The Fever, a tale about disease in female high school students — or if Give Me Your Hand is the weakest of the three. The reason for the weakness is because the first 150 pages or so are fairly routine for this sort of thing — it doesn’t take much to figure out what Diane’s terrible secret is, which is revealed halfway through the book. However, the novel picks up from there at a galloping pace, and I couldn’t honestly figure out which way things would turn. True, the book does suffer a bit from having multiple endings, but for a sheer thrill ride of a novel, nothing beats the last 180 pages or so of Give Me Your Hand.

There’s something notably different about this book, and it’s that Abbott’s writing style has changed. Dare Me was full of clipped, masculine sentences (it was a book about a cheer-leading team, after all), while the writing in Give Me Your Hand is more fluid and straight-forward. While some might be sad that some of Abbott’s stylistic ticks are largely absent, the book is still a heart-quickening read about what ladies will do when pushed into a corner. As this novel deftly notes, women are indeed the fairer sex and are less likely to be prone to violence. But when Give Me Your Hand does turn violent, the blood flow is very nasty indeed. If you ever wondered what Sam Peckinpah might do if he had a set of ovaries, Give Me Your Hand comes pretty close at detailing that imagined scenario. Abbott spares nothing in her details of a murder, even of the seemingly bloodless sort, and the book’s pages are figuratively awash in crimson red.

This is also a novel about competition between women, and just how hard it is to rise in the ranks in any professional standing in a world inhabited by men, such as the scientific research world. If anything, Give Me Your Hand shows the inverse of the #MeToo movement, where women are kind of being portrayed as passive victims that nobody will believe, so it comes at a very odd time in the global zeitgeist. In this novel, women will do virtually anything to get ahead — though some women, it should be noted, are torn between reporting the truth and being active participants in the competitive carnage that may lead to lives being lost. There’s a fair bit to chew on here when it comes to gender roles, and, if anything, Megan Abbott shows why she’s the ultimate woman writer writing about the bad things women do to other women (and men).

Overall, I quite enjoyed Give Me Your Hand even as it gave me heart palpitations from all of the twists and turns of the plot — just as I thought the book was going to go one way, it acknowledges the thought and then leads readers down another altogether unexpected slope. I have to be honest and say that I didn’t see the ending coming, which is a positive thing, though I do have questions about how a certain “murder weapon” used was pilfered without notice. Or how the nasty little secret that Diane harbors doesn’t get found out by the police. Give Me Your Hand, though, is a book about these details — and how they don’t really matter too much when it comes to being a woman who wants to climb the corporate ladder, integrity or not be damned. This is a thoughtful read with a lot of zip and pow, one that will make you think and sweat in equal measure. Give Me Your Hand shows that it’s tough to be a woman in terms of being taken seriously, but hopefully that fate doesn’t befall Megan Abbott. The effectiveness of her psychological thrillers or not, she’s one of the best prose stylists we have and her books, as brainy as they are, are a lot of fun, too.

Megan Abbott's 10th novel, Give Me Your Hand (Little, Brown & Co., $27), is a taut, visceral study in academic noir. Her protagonist, scientist Kit Owens, is one of three brilliant, ambitious women who work on an intriguing project in a research lab riddled with jealousy, suspicion and cutthroat competition.

Interview with the author at:
https://www.dallasnews.com/arts/books/2018/07/07/mysterious-novelisttv-writer-megan-abbott-popping-everywhere-days-including-dallas

Kit Owens and Diane Fleming are exceptionally gifted students. Kit is a shy, bookish girl who has ambitions for achievement in life that takes all her time and effort, even in high school. Her parents have little money, so a scholarship to college is the only path to meet her goals. Diane seems to have everything, money, and an extroverted personality. She is beautiful, and Kit has to work hard not to envy Diane. The two girls bond at a summer camp where Diane divulges a secret to Kit that will eventually change both their lives. When Diane shows up in Kit's chemistry class, the story's tension starts a nice slow burn.

The competitions are between the two girls; they outperform all their peers. The prizes include a Severin Scholarship (named after a famous researcher), a college scholarship, and top place in the graduating class. Kit wins the awards, and her perfect life unfolds before her. After her doctoral studies, Kit earns a spot in Dr. Severin's lab, and she is happy, truly happy. When a new National Institute of Health Grant comes up, Kit isn't worried about her place on the team. Then, Diane arrives. The exciting and wild part of the novel is when these two brilliant women come together. The suspense in this part of the book was phenomenal. I loved it!

Thank you, NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for giving me the opportunity to read this e-ARC.

Thank you Little Brown & NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book - all opinions are my own.

This might be one of the most unique twists on a mystery/psychological thriller that I have read all year - this is a perfect slow burn that drags your forward with a never-ending sense of doom, and I enjoyed every tense second of it.

Kit is a brilliant scientist - a world she owes in part to her equally brilliant high school friend Diane, who pushed her far beyond what Kit had dreamed for herself. Kit hasn't seen Diane since high school, not since Diane shared her worst secret with Kit, a secret that Kit never wanted to be responsible for. Until the day that Diane arrives at the lab where Kit works, competition for a highly prestigious project, and as mysterious and secretive as ever.

Hands down, my favorite aspect of this story is the fact that it is centered around brilliant, strong, willful, trailblazing women. Women with absolutely remarkable brains and careers, who are powerful competition for each other, as well as the men in the story. It is refreshing to see women portrayed in such a fierce manner - and to see women represented in the science sector so boldly. Despite the murderous plot to the story - the center of this story remains grounded in powerful women.

Second to that, I loved the mystery to this story. This was one that burned out slow, moving back and forth from present day to when Kit and Diane were in high school together, letting the secrets between them unravel a bit at a time. Occasionally Kit's paranoia felt a bit repetitive for me, although always plausible to her place in the action. I did appreciate as well, the fact that while these were women who could be calculated and cold, they were also very exceptionally human, and Megan Abbott does terrific work keeping that connection.

I burned through this book so quickly, as it became deeply addictive to see just how twisted and dark the characters really were, and how many more twists were going to land before it ended. It did not disappoint, and kept me hooked to the very last scandalizing page. This is a must read for thriller lovers out there - don't let this one slip away.

You Should Read This If:
-You’re okay with Meg Abbott writing. Choppy. Descriptive. Grammatically dramatic. (See what I did there?)
-You’re not necessarily looking for a straight-forward mystery, but a deeper tale that’s more about understanding the psyche than solving a crime.

All of Meg Abbott’s books seem to take place in a microcosm. They’re not mysteries - not really, since there are never enough suspects for a whodunnit. Her novels are a look under a microscope at a community of people brought together through some shared passion. Gymnastics. Cheerleading. Science. Nuanced interactions and complicated relationships are what Meg Abbott does best.

Give Me Your Hand is similar to its predecessors in that way. You’ll spend the novel living inside Kit’s head as she navigates the complexities of female friendship and navigating STEM field as a women. There are dead bodies, but you won’t be so much asking whodunit? as why do it?

Here’s the thing: Meg Abbott is a weird writer. No bad-weird, just unique. She writes in clippy sentences, taking extreme liberties with syntax. For the most part, I enjoy the style, but recognize it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. What I have trouble with are her irritating overabundance of similes. (“Shadow falling between her eyes like a warning” “Hanging out like a stubbed toe over the parking lot” “her face like a corsage, crushed.” Jesus, enough.)

The book has a consistent sizzle to it, never fully igniting or extinguishing. At times, it felt like one of those songs from the 60s, when they didn’t know how to conclude their tune so they just kept repeating the refrain until it faded away. Even the moments that should have felt climactic sort of just simmered.

Overall, I liked it and I moved through it quickly. But if you’ve read one of Meg Abbott’s, you’ve basically read them all.

This is the first book I have read by Megan Abbott by it definitely won't be my last. What a great story starting when the girls are in high school to years later in the work force! Just shows you, that what happens in your past and the people you meet can always come back.

Thank you netgalley and Little, Brown & Co. for the digital ARC!

This is definitely a thrilling read and for me it was fast paced. It's one of those reads where you find yourself reading a vast amount in one sitting. I kept flipping through the story trying to figure out what would happen next. The psychological parts of this book was right up my alley, but I did tend to get a little lost in the science parts.

Thank you to @netgalley and @littlebrown for providing me a copy of this novel for an honest review. Rotating between the past and present, we learn about two women who share a dark secret. After parting ways after high school, Kit never thought that she would see Diane again. Now, ten years later, while Kit is working as the only female in a science lab, Diane suddenly returns. Thus, creating a new rivalry to be the very best. Will their secret stay hidden or will new ones be created to protect the past?

I had high hopes for this one. However, it didn't take off quick enough for me. I felt like I wasn't really interested until more than halfway through. Even then, I wasn't invested in the characters as much as I should've been. The plot did pick up for awhile, but then fell flat for me at the ending.
#books #suspense #julyrelease