Megan Abbott
All Books By Megan Abbott
Beware the Woman
- By: Megan Abbott
- Narrator: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 9 hours 12 minutes
- Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
- Publish date: January 01, 2023
- Language: English
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3.44(2086 ratings)
By the “master of thinly veiled secrets often kept by women who rage underneath their delicate exteriors” (Kirkus Reviews), Beware the Woman is Megan Abbott at the height of her game.
Honey, I just want you to have everything you ever wanted. That’s what Jacy’s mom always told her. And Jacy felt like she finally did. Newly married and with a baby on the way, Jacy and her new husband, Jed, embark on their first road trip together to visit his father, Dr. Ash, in Michigan’s far-flung Upper Peninsula. The moment they arrive at the cottage snug within the lush woods, Jacy feels bathed in love by the warm and hospitable Dr. Ash, if less so by his house manager, the enigmatic Mrs. Brandt.
But their Edenic first days take a turn when Jacy has a health scare. Swiftly, vacation activities are scrapped, and all eyes are on Jacy’s condition. Suddenly, whispers about Jed’s long-dead mother and complicated family history seem to eerily impinge upon the present, and Jacy begins to feel trapped in the cottage, her every move surveilled, her body under the looking glass. But are her fears founded or is it paranoia, or cabin fever, or—as is suggested to her—a stubborn refusal to take necessary precautions? The dense woods surrounding the cottage are full of dangers, but are the greater ones inside?
... Read moreBook ‘Em
- By: Megan Abbott
- Length: 5 hours 10 minutes
- Publisher: Highbridge Company
- Publish date: March 16, 2021
- Language: English
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3.54(26 ratings)
The Little Men by Megan Abbott: Rumors and strange experiences lead a washed-up actress in 1950s Hollywood to question the suspicious circumstances surrounding the alleged suicide of a former occupant of her low-rent bungalow.
What’s in a Name? by Thomas H. Cook: Rare books dealer and amateur historian Franklin Altman has always wondered how the world might have turned out if the First World War had ended differently. On the fiftieth anniversary of the Armistice Treaty, an ancient German mysteriously appears and presents him with a personal manuscript, the contents of which, he claims, have the power to change history.
The Book of the Lion by Thomas Perry: An anonymous phone call sends Professor Dominic Hallkyn on a mad dash through the streets of Boston in pursuit of a priceless Chaucerian manuscript. But the caller’s demands will lead to a devilish plot twist.
From the Queen by Carolyn Hart: When a priceless, first edition of Agatha Christie’s Poirot Investigates, autographed and inscribed to the Queen of England, disappears from her South Carolina thrift shop, Ellen Gallagher calls on her friend Annie Darling, owner of the mystery bookstore Death on Demand, to track it down.
... Read moreDare Me
- By: Megan Abbott
- Narrator: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 9 hours 10 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: June 20, 2017
- Language: English
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3.23(23807 ratings)
Cool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach, Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life. 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.
Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. 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.
The raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in this taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power. 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. ... Read more
Dare Me
- By: Megan Abbott
- Narrator: Khristine Hvam
- Length: 7 hours 47 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: July 31, 2012
- Language: English
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3.23(27930 ratings)
Cool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach, Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life. 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.
Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. 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.
The raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in this taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power. 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. ... Read more
Die a Little
- By: Megan Abbott
- Length: 6 hours 29 minutes
- Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
- Publish date: May 01, 2005
- Language: English
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3.66(2677 ratings)
How does a respectable young woman fall into Los Angeles’ hard-boiled underworld?
Shadow-dodging through the glamorous world of 1950s Hollywood and its seedy flip side, Megan Abbott’s debut, Die a Little, is a gem of the darkest hue. This ingenious twist on a classic noir tale tells the story of Lora King, a schoolteacher, and her brother Bill, a junior investigator with the district attorney’s office. Lora’s comfortable, suburban life is jarringly disrupted when Bill falls in love with a mysterious young woman named Alice Steele, a Hollywood wardrobe assistant with a murky past.
Made sisters by marriage but not by choice, the bond between Lora and Alice is marred by envy and mistrust. Spurred on by inconsistencies in Alice’s personal history and possibly jealous of Alice’s hold on her brother, Lora finds herself lured into the dark alleys and mean streets of seamy Los Angeles. Assuming the role of amateur detective, she uncovers a shadowy world of drugs, prostitution, and ultimately, murder.
Lora’s fascination with Alice’s “sins” increases in direct proportion to the escalation of her own relationship with Mike Standish, a charmingly amoral press agent who appears to know more about his old friend Alice than he reveals. The deeper Lora digs to uncover Alice’s secrets, the more her own life begins to resemble Alice’s sinister past – and present.
Steeped in atmospheric suspense and voyeuristic appeal, Die a Little shines as a dark star among Hollywood lights.
“Ellen Archer takes Meghan Abbott’s stylish exercise in noir and delivers a dynamite performance.” -AudioFile Magazine
Give Me Your Hand
- By: Megan Abbott
- Narrator: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 11 hours 2 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: July 17, 2018
- Language: English
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3.3(16354 ratings)
You told each other everything. Then she told you too much.
Kit has risen to the top of her profession and is on the brink of achieving everything she wanted. She hasn’t let anything stop her.
But now someone else is standing in her way: Diane. Best friends at seventeen, their shared ambition made them inseparable. Until the day Diane told Kit her secret — the worst thing she’d ever done, the worst thing Kit could imagine — and it blew their friendship apart.
Kit is still the only person who knows what Diane did. And now Diane knows something about Kit that could destroy everything she’s worked so hard for.
How far would Kit go to make the hard work, the sacrifice, worth it in the end? What wouldn’t she give up? Diane thinks Kit is just like her. Maybe she’s right. Ambition: it’s in the blood . . .
Shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award
The End of Everything
- By: Megan Abbott
- Narrator: Emily Bauer
- Length: 8 hours 26 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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3.36(12497 ratings)
Thirteen-year-old Lizzie Hood and her next-door neighbor Evie Verver are inseparable, best friends who swap clothes, bathing suits, and field-hockey sticks and between whom—presumably—there are no secrets. Then one afternoon, Evie disappears, and as a rabid, giddy panic spreads through the balmy suburban community, everyone turns to Lizzie for answers. Was Evie unhappy, troubled, or upset? Had she mentioned being followed? Would she have gotten into the car of a stranger?
Compelled by curiosity, Lizzie takes up her own furtive pursuit of the truth. Haunted by dreams of her lost friend and titillated by her own new power at the center of the disappearance, Lizzie uncovers secret after secret and begins to wonder if she knew anything at all about her best friend.
... Read moreThe Fever
- By: Megan Abbott
- Narrator: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hours 13 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: June 17, 2014
- Language: English
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3.1(20526 ratings)
The Nash family is close-knit. Tom is a popular teacher, father of two teens: Eli, a hockey star and girl magnet, and his sister Deenie, a diligent student. Their seeming stability, however, is thrown into chaos when Deenie’s best friend is struck by a terrifying, unexplained seizure in class. Rumors of a hazardous outbreak spread through the family, school and community.
As hysteria and contagion swell, a series of tightly held secrets emerges, threatening to unravel friendships, families and the town’s fragile idea of security. A chilling story about guilt, family secrets and the lethal power of desire, The Fever affirms Megan Abbott’s reputation as “one of the most exciting and original voices of her generation” (Laura Lippman).
The Turnout
- By: Megan Abbott
- Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hours 40 minutes
- Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
Best Book of the Year
NPR • Wall Street Journal • Boston Globe • Library Journal • CrimeReads • LitReactor • Air Mail
New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Megan Abbott’s exquisite and disquieting new novel, “dark and juicy and tinged with horror” (The New York Times Books Review), set against the hothouse of a family-run ballet studio.
With their long necks and matching buns and pink tights, Dara and Marie Durant have been dancers since they can remember. Growing up, they were homeschooled and trained by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents’ death in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago, the sisters began running the school together, along with Charlie, Dara’s husband and once their mother’s prized student.
Marie, warm and soft, teaches the younger students; Dara, with her precision, trains the older ones; and Charlie, sidelined from dancing after years of injuries, rules over the back office. Circling around one another, the three have perfected a dance, six days a week, that keeps the studio thriving. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school’s annual performance of The Nutcracker—a season of competition, anxiety, and exhilaration—an interloper arrives and threatens the sisters’ delicate balance.
Taut and unnerving, The Turnout is Megan Abbott at the height of her game. With uncanny insight and hypnotic writing, it is a sharp and strange dissection of family ties and sexuality, femininity and power, and a tale that is both alarming and irresistible.
... Read moreYou Will Know Me
- By: Megan Abbott
- Narrator: Lauren Fortgang
- Length: 9 hours 11 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: July 26, 2016
- Language: English
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3.43(33948 ratings)
How far will you go to achieve a dream? That’s the question a celebrated coach poses to Katie and Eric Knox after he sees their daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful, compete. For the Knoxes there are no limits — until a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community and everything they have worked so hard for is suddenly at risk.
As rumors swirl among the other parents, Katie tries frantically to hold her family together while also finding herself irresistibly drawn to the crime itself. What she uncovers — about her daughter’s fears, her own marriage, and herself — forces Katie to consider whether there’s any price she isn’t willing to pay to achieve Devon’s dream.
From a writer with “exceptional gifts for making nerves jangle and skin crawl” (Janet Maslin), You Will Know Me is a breathless rollercoaster of a novel about the desperate limits of parental sacrifice, furtive desire, and the staggering force of ambition.