Dare Me

Megan Abbott

Dare Me

Beth and me wedged tight, jeaned legs pressed against each other. The sound of our own breathing. Before we all stopped believing a tornado, or anything, could touch us, ever.

 

Addy Hanlon and Beth Cassidy are tough, inseparable, invincible. No pair more charismatic or sophisticated. No pair more dangerous.

But with the fall term, their new coach arrives and things begin to change. She has plans for the cheer squad: all sleek poise and cool command, the girls are soon entirely in her thrall. Faster, harder, higher, thinner, the stakes raised, their world contracting, they compete to risk – everything.

She, meantime, has been crossing a line of her own.

From the brilliant author of The End of Everything, Dare Me is a searing novel about the allure of adulthood and the dark heart of adolescence: the fierce bonds between girls, their bitter rivalries, and their power to transform one another. 

Rosanna Boscawen
 

Megan Abbott's new novel Dare Me portrays the world of cheerleading as something much darker than you might expect. Here, she picks her favourite books, albums and films.

Rosanna Boscawen
 
This is a brilliantly dark short story from Megan Abbott - actually, it's the story that Dare Me is based on. Have a read and let us know what you think on Twitter. We're @picadorbooks
Sophie Jonathan
 

Megan Abbott’s Dare Me has added a whole cheerleading squad to her already impressive group of fans.  Responses to Dare Me have been fantastic, from psychological thriller writers to the more literary, everyone is falling for Megan’s electric story telling…

Sophie Jonathan
 
'Megan Abbott is an extraordinary writer' Nick Hornby, The Believer
Nick Blake
 

Read the first chapter of The End of Everything by Megan Abbott