“Women have to live so much of their life in the in-betweens.” (p. 317) Megan Abbott’s narrator of Give Me Your Hand is Kit Owens, a young scientist laboring in a highly competitive academic lab. Kit is on the cusp of being selected for a position on a potentially ground-breaking study that could lift Kit out of the obscurity of the laboratory to scientific super-stardom. But, in a surprise move, Kit’s boss–the brilliant and ambitious Dr. Severin–announces a new candidate for a position on her prestigious study: Diane Fleming. In a series of flashbacks, we learn Kit and Diane had a friendship in High School when they were lab partners and ran on the track team.
Diane has a secret and Kit has a secret. When the secrets are shared, their friendship ends. But now, 12 years later, Diane and Kit are thrown back together in the high pressure research environment. Megan Abbott captures the stress and strain of academic competition. The suspense ratchets up as both women deal with the consequences of their past. Friendships, rivalries, and the riddles of blood swirl throughout the plot of this suspenseful mystery. Give Me Your Hand is Megan Abbott’s best novel so far! GRADE: A
Great book. Megan writes about young women very well. Highly recommended.
Steve, I’m guessing Netflix or HULU or HBO will turn GIVE ME YOUR HAND into a movie or a series.
You’re ahead of me on this one, but so far I agree. It really pulls you in and makes you want to know What Happens Next.
Jeff, Megan’s plotting is superb in GIVE ME YOUR HAND. She’s at the top of her game!
I still have about 90 pages to go, but I’d say your review is right on the money. This is only the second Abbott novel I’ve read, after “You Will Know Me”, which I also liked a lot. Looks like I’m going to have to read the others.
Michael, a lot happens in those last 90 pages! Megan Abbott is a star!
Nice review. I’m behind on her books, but will get to this one eventually.
Rick, I think you’ll find GIVE ME YOUR HAND outstanding!
I loved Megan’s “pulp-esque” books like QUEENPIN and BURY ME DEEP. I haven’t kept up with her teenage books—probably because it’s been over 40 years since I was even in my late teens and I have no desire to relive those days—but this seems much more my catnip. So onto the tbr it goes!
I read two of her early books and liked the first more than the second! No doubt she’s talented as hell, and I also find her very saucy!
Thanks, George. Really glad you liked it.
Patti, your daughter is going to be the new Queen of Mysteries if she keeps writing books like GIVE ME YOUR HAND!