She was the one who showed me all the dark wonders of life, the real life, the life I'd only seen flickering from the corner of my eye. So can you blame me for wanting to keep it? To fight for it, to the end? It put a spine into my spineless life and that spine spread, into backbone, ribs, collarbone, neck held high.Īnd Coach gave it all to us. Mostly it's noisy and sweaty, it's the roughness of bruised and dented girl bodies, feet sore from floor pounding, elbows skinned red.īut it is also a beautiful, beautiful thing, all of us in that close, wet space, safer than in all the world. All those endless fantasies and dirty boy-dreams, they're all true, in a way. Read ExcerptĪll those misty images of cheerleaders frolicking in locker rooms, pom-poms sprawling over bare bud breasts. Award-winning novelist Megan Abbott, writing with what Tom Perrotta has hailed as 'total authority and an almost desperate intensity,' provides a harrowing glimpse into the dark heart of the all-American girl. The raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in this taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power. After the first wave of shock and grief, Addy tries to uncover the truth behind the death - and learns that the boundary between loyalty and love can be dangerous terrain. Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. Only Beth, unsettled by the new regime, remains outside Coach's golden circle, waging a subtle but vicious campaign to regain her position as 'top girl' - both with the team and with Addy herself.

Now they're seniors who rule the intensely competitive cheer squad, feared and followed by the other girls - until the young new coach arrives.Ĭool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach, Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life.

Beth calls the shots and Addy carries them out, a long-established order of things that has brought them to the pinnacle of their high-school careers. Addy Hanlon has always been Beth Cassidy's best friend and trusted lieutenant.

Dare me megan abbott series