AUTHOR: Megan Abbott
STARTED: December 8, 2016
FINISHED: December 17, 2016
PAGES: 344
GENRE: Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: The vinyl banners rippled from the air vent, the restaurant roiling with parents, the bobbing of gymnasts heads, music gushing from the weight speakers keeled on the window ledges.
SUMMARY: [From BN] 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.
THOUGHTS: First, a quick confession, I could not help but picture the lead character as Simone Biles. Every time she was mentioned, that who was in my head. Thanks, Olympics! Aside from that weirdness, this was a (somewhat) surprisingly good read. This book was on my TBR list for awhile and I decided to pluck it off the library shelf on a whim not fully knowing what to expect. Abbott filled this book with complete characters and enough drama to make things interesting without veering into soap opera territory.
The narrative and ending were telegraphed, at least for me, so the characters are what makes this book. They are fully formed, flawed (in the good way), and their motivations feel real. I knew where they were headed plot-wise, but I loved how Abbott dropped them into situations and saw through the fall-out.
RATING: 7/10 [Very Good]
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