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    Dare Me: A Novel
    Dare Me: A Novel
    Dare Me: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    Dare Me: A Novel

    Written by Megan Abbott

    Narrated by Khristine Hvam

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    From the award-winning author of The Turnout and Give Me Your Hand: the searing novel of friendship and betrayal that inspired the USA Network series, praised by Gillian Flynn as "Lord of the Flies set in a high-school cheerleading squad...Tense, dark, and beautifully written."  Addy Hanlon has always been Beth Cassidy's best friend and trusted lieutenant. 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. Now they're seniors who rule the intensely competitive cheer squad, feared and followed by the other girls -- until the young new coach arrives.

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJul 31, 2012
    ISBN9781611134698
    Dare Me: A Novel
    Author

    Megan Abbott

    Megan Abbott is an Edgar award-winning crime author. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times Magazine, among others. She has been nominated for the Steel Dagger, the LA Times Book Prize and the Pushcart Prize.

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    Reviews for Dare Me

    3.5/5

    427 ratings57 reviews

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    • 5/5

      Jul 4, 2023

      I loved this book in so many different ways; the ways the girls were described as "untouchable" as cheerleaders (who doesn't think that in the microcosm of high school) and the wonderfully descriptive writing of Abbott--such as the "squall of a blow dryer" ---sounds so much better than "after I blow dried my hair", don'tcha think?

      Loved the way her teen characters talked to each other.

      Loved the way Beth was so intense and changeable.

      Loved the plot and how I never saw the ending coming.

      If I had read this in high school, I would have yearned to be like these girl, so cool, so alive...so dangerous and full of mayhem.
    • 4/5

      Apr 4, 2023

      This book was recommended to me and as such I went in with very few expectations and with absolutely no knowledge of anything that happened within it. As such, it was a bit of a surprise when I found myself riveted, compulsively turning pages, unable to stop.

      Dare Me's protagonist, Addy, has a rich inner monologue, her naively cruel narration does well to bring the reader into the story. Abbott manages to capture the paradoxes of being a teen girl, the nuances of young sexuality and the almost innocent corruption that results.

      Dare Me features three rather complex characters, filtered through Addy's narration: Addy herself, her aggressively popular best friend Beth, and the new cheerleading coach, Colette French. Addy's waxing and waning obsessions with Beth and Colette drive much of the plot, even when a suspicious suicide brings attention to them.

      I found the language lush and dangerous, capturing the cherry-red aggressiveness of cheerleading and the burgeoning intelligence of teenagers exploring their boundaries in ways they shouldn't. Darkly beautiful and highly recommended.
    • 3/5

      Apr 3, 2023

      I'm thoroughly surprised by this book, and it's a testament to the power of Goodreads and friends' reviews on here: I never would have picked up this book if it hadn't been for that.

      Abbott knows what she's doing: the lingo; the pacing; how the plot unfurls. What really intrigued me was how a book so rooted and reliant upon plot could be so well-written. The balance here is really seamless, and it makes for both an addictive read as well as a sly social critique; at the same time, it's a very real portrait, in a noir way, that shows the underbelly of glitter and pomp.

      I think I may well move on to Bury Me Deep next. Dare Me was that good.
    • 2/5

      Mar 31, 2023

      Dare Me to care about a single character in this boring predictable book. I was surprised, I read The End Of Everything by this author and really liked it. This book seemed like a contractual obligation. The characters were a strange combination of mean boring and stupid. There was nothing about this book to make me care how it ended. Which by the way was predictable.
    • 2/5

      Aug 10, 2022

      (2.5)

      It had some things I really liked, also had some things I didn't really like. So kinda a mixed bag. I do however think I will enjoy the TV show adaptation.
    • 2/5

      Jul 24, 2022

      Beth and Addy are best friends and cheerleaders at their high school. Then, they get a new cheer coach and the dynamics of their friendship change. Beth is no longer captain is jealous of the sway the coach has over the team. When someone dies, Addy wonders about Beth's role in things.
      This book is a nasty look at teenage girls, presenting them as drugged, drunk, and sleazy. The relationship with their coach is inappropriate. I was not a fan of this book.
    • 2/5

      Jan 1, 2022

      I've never read anything by Abbott before, but a friend posted about this book on FB, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's a bit like the film "Heathers" only without the comedy. I also realized, about halfway through, that some people write YA--and nail it--and some people write about teens--and don't get it. While I wouldn't be surprised if some of my students behaved like the cheerleaders in this book, the voice of the narrator didn't quite capture a teen voice they way John Green or Judy Blume can.

      As for the plot, I kept reading to see what happened (whodunit) but if I didn't have a full Sunday to knock this book out, I very possibly could've stopped reading, returned it to the library, and not given it a second thought.
    • 4/5

      Mar 15, 2021

      If you like stories about bitchy teenage girls and their horrible lives as teenagers you’ll love this one. I actually really did enjoy this book. I’ve been wanting to read it for a while but kept putting it off for some reason. Although it was predictable, it was kind of like taking a step into that place no one wants to admit going for a while. Kind of like being a teenage girl, I didn’t have to do a whole lot of thinking for a while.
    • 4/5

      Feb 28, 2021

      Addy is a member of the coveted cheerleading squad at her high school. Her friend Beth, bossy and arrogant, is the self-proclaimed leader & captain of the squad. But Addy has always been a loyal friend, even when they were younger. When a young new cheerleading coach is hired, loyalties are tested and boundaries are pushed. A power struggle erupts between Beth and Coach French. Then someone dies, an apparent suicide. But was it really? And who knows more than they're letting on?

      Megan Abbott definitely knows how to write stories about cruel teenage girls and unlikable characters. I found the girls in this novel particularly evil and beastly. Yet I had to keep reading. This was a decent plot and there was enough uncertainty that I was never quite sure who the ultimate bad guy/girl was, mostly because all the characters had the potential to be that person. I did have trouble with the lack of parent and family engagement in this novel. Parental figures were pretty much non-existent, and a lot of what was happening here seemed ultimately unrealistic and farfetched. But like I said, I kept reading because I wanted to know how this story was ultimately going to be resolved. Though there were certainly flaws in this novel, I do think maybe I enjoyed this one more than any of Abbott's other novels (this is my 4th). Having a teenage daughter of my own in this age group, some of the things in this novel unsettled me a bit. I can always count on some teenage drama in my own house, but fortunately, nothing nearly as extreme as what was happening in this novel.
    • 4/5

      Dec 4, 2020

      Dare Me is another glimpse at the darkness that lies behind female friendships. There is always jealousy, one-up-manship, secrets, and lies. This time, Megan Abbott takes to the underworld of high school cheerleading. It's a compelling, twisty read.
    • 2/5

      Aug 20, 2020

      At first I thought this was going to be similar to You Will Know Me, just from the teen's perspective instead of the mum's and about competitive cheerleading instead of competitive gymnastics. Very quickly, though, I realised I was going to be disappointed.

      Overall, I just don't think the characters or the world of this book made sense. Like, the cheerleading coach seemed to think she was one of the students, and I did not believe for ONE SECOND that this woman was qualified to teach in schools in any way. (Unless you're telling me that sports teachers don't need any kind of training or qualifications, and schools are allowed to hire total randos to ply students with booze and have sex on school property?) I didn't understand why all the cheerleaders' parents seemed to not exist (except Addy's dad once left her a note, and Beth's mum turned up at the very end). I didn't get what all the military people's actual jobs were, except that one of them's was apparently to hang out at the high school all day every day in the hope a student might want to spontaneously enlist. It was like every adult in the entire book had been replaced by some shapeshifting impersonator that just didn't understand WTF human adults were supposed to do.

      So, yeah. Really unimpressed. If you're getting into Megan Abbott I would recommend trying literally any other one of her books, but I do remember that You Will Know Me specifically was pretty good.
    • 4/5

      Jun 6, 2020

      There’s so much going on in this book — adultery, murder, eating disorders, bi-curiosity, cheerleaders being out of control, competitive, and perhaps a little cultish. Never saw those twists coming, either!
    • 4/5

      Mar 22, 2020

      Once again, Megan Abbott creates some unbelievably horrible high school girls and I'm intrigued.

      This time, the girls are cheerleaders and they are twisted, mean, manipulative and just plain bitches. Even their coach is horrible.



      None of them realize how good they have it, with their nice homes, their cell phones and their varsity jackets.

      I'm not sure how Ms. Abbott does it, but somehow she makes things I'm not interested in, well- interesting. Cheerleading? Couldn't care less. But in this book, I learned about it, understood it better, (these girls sometimes get seriously hurt), and came to respect it. (Same thing happened with gymnastics in her book You Will Know Me.)

      Anyway, I'm on board the Abbott train and I'm off to see what else she has that I can gobble up over this summer.
    • 4/5

      Jan 10, 2019

      Megan Abbott takes the Mean Girls trope to extremes in her novel Dare Me, about a team of high school Cheerleaders who revel in their sense of entitlement and perceived immortality. Addy Hanlon is the sixteen-year-old narrator who identifies herself as the “lieutenant” to her best friend and Team Captain, Beth. Even as she kowtows and follows Beth’s every command, Addy recognizes how cruel and ruthless her idol can be. The alpha-beta balance of their relationship is threatened however, when the squad comes under the leadership of a new coach. Colette French is not about to be dazzled or overtaken by Beth. Coach French is also a domineering force with a magnetic personality that upsets the team’s hierarchy and engenders loyalty and adoration from the girls, including Addy. Beth is so furious with this competition for Addy’s affection that she embarks on a campaign to sabotage the interloper at any cost. That includes implicating the coach in the suspicious death of a young Guardsman recruiter working at the school. It is also possible, however, that Beth’s theory is correct- that their Coach is as guilty as she would like her to be. Addy is torn between the two possessive women, the focus of their power struggle and a pawn susceptible to their deceit. In this novel, all of Abbot’s female characters are depicted as either rapacious and cruel or passive and vulnerable. Still, the women fare better than the men, who are mostly shadows in the background- all apparently weak and completely clueless. The themes of domination/submission are omnipresent, with no representation of a healthy relationship in any form. Still, Dare Me is a well-written and gripping read, with some decent (if implausible) plot twists. Wicked fun if a reader likes their thrillers dark and does not require likeable characters to root for.
    • 4/5

      May 7, 2018

      3.5 brutal stars.

      According to sports injury research, cheerleading is more dangerous than any other sport, with the rate of such injuries doubling between 1990 and 2002. For members of the Cheer Squad, captained by Beth Cassidy, there is less chance of being hurt by doing cheer stunts than by getting between Beth and Colette French, the new cheer coach. Beth rules the roost and she will do whatever it takes to anchor her position at the top of this pyramid.

      The story is told from the viewpoint of Addy Hanlon, Beth’s life-long lieutenant. Cheerleading is of such importance to her that high school only exists so these girls can have a cheerleading squad. Coach French’s appearance offers the possibility of the Squad to move from a bunch of girls who shaking their pom-poms into a competitive team of athletes. Beth sees the threat to her power immediately. Coach French initially behaves as any professional sport coach would be expected to behave – driven, disciplined, hard-shelled - until many of the members begin to see the progress they are making. At that point, the coach becomes part coach, part parent, part defiler of youth. All the women who make up this squad are “mean,” no one is exempt from the venom so easily and frequently sprayed and everyone is injured by the atmosphere that is allowed to fester. When a tragic event occurs, Beth is offered the opportunity to regain her place as “owner” of the Cheerleaders. Addy is caught between loyalty to her friend, her coach, and her team. She is not innocent in any of the events which seem to envelope her, but neither is she party to the subterfuge that sparked those events.

      The book shows the writing talent of Ms. Abbott. She highlights well the tension, confusion, anger, angst, and isolation experienced by all the girls. The world she creates is largely parent-free, which is difficult to comprehend. Addy and Beth are out at all hours of the night, leave home whenever they want, yet are never confronted by anyone in authority for their behavior. They ingest various substances, most illegal, rarely eat (or even retain what they do eat) but have no ill-effects from such behavior. For athletes in training for the “Big Game” where “the scout for regionals” will be in attendance, they show little commitment to staying healthy for that event. This undercurrent caused the story to be less believable and less plausible.

      The ending is well done, having drawn the reader in an entirely different direction until the moment when the curtain is lifted high enough to reveal the hidden truth about each of the characters.
    • 4/5

      Oct 27, 2017

      DARE ME is one of those books that even in its modest length takes a while to get where it's headed. However, that's not to say that it takes very long to build up tension and turmoil in the lives of its characters. Built around a high school cheer squad, DARE ME injects you into the love/hate relationships of young girls as they vie for position in their cheer/friend clique.
      Addy Hanlon has always played the right-hand girl to Beth Cassidy. They were friends from the time they were young, and except for a few isolated incidents, have remained so, with the hierarchy always remaining the same.
      Then a new cheer coach, Collette French, arrives and upsets the status quo. She is young, good-looking and disciplined, totally the opposite of the prior coach that Beth controlled at her whimsey. Coach refuses to acknowledge, or allow, Beth as the "Top" cheerleader, setting in motion a test of wills and wit that the "Bad Seed" Beth is determined to win.
      Coach begins to build friendships with the girls, having them to her home and sharing wine and stories late into the night while her young daughter sleeps and her workaholic husband does...work. Addy becomes Coach's confidante. Beth keeps herself removed from it all and plots.
      A golden opportunity presents itself to Beth. Coach begins an affair with a National Guard sergeant who leads a recruiting team at the school. Beth befriends the other recruiters, creating a pathway for information from them about the affair while Addy tries to stay loyal to them both.
      Then the sergeant is found dead of an apparent suicide. Was it suicide, or was it revenge, and if so by whom?
      Abbott has created a nasty, noirish cheerleader world, where parents are present only as passing references, and friendships are only as strong as the limbs holding up the shaky cheer formations. It can be a chilling place, and Abbott does a fine job making sure your time in it is well spent.
    • 4/5

      Nov 12, 2016

      Sheesh. Twisty delicious creepiness with an undercurrent of true malevolence powered by the deepest and most shallow of creatures-- girls. Girls are way scarier than women. Or men.
    • 4/5

      Jul 11, 2016

      If you want to know what it's like to be a high school bitch, then read this book. High school girls can be really mean, I know that and I saw it when my daughter went through high school. There are a few who think they are the queens of the school and they treat people horribly to get what they want. I always look at those people not having a very happy life. That is what I think about Beth in Dare Me. She is a bitter girl who is going to have a horrible life if she doesn't let it go. This also showed how a coach/teacher can get wrapped up in their student's lives and how students get too close to their teachers or idolize them. Very well written. I'm glad I never encountered a Beth and I'm glad I was never a Beth.
    • 1/5

      Feb 4, 2016

      Cheerleaders, high school drama, murder and yet just meh. Could have been good but just didn't do it for me. I didn't like any of the characters. I didn't get their motivations and I didn't really care who did it or if they got caught. I really don't know what else to say. Other than I did manage to finish it. I think I just couldn't wait for it to be over so I could get on to a book I would enjoy.
    • 4/5

      Sep 16, 2015

      A gripping, mean story about "mean girls" in a cheer leading squad. As the girls compete for positions ("high flyer" most coveted) they also compete for boys, attention, and each other's friendship. The pot is stirred even more when the new Coach (Collette French) arrives. At first, it seems Coach is just a Type A drill sergeant but she is not what she seems. Addy is the main character and while pretty and smart, she always feels #2 to Queen Bee "Beth." Throw in an illicit love affair (Coach and another adult), drinking, promiscuity, bad language, worse manners and it seems, according to this book, teenage girls are doomed. And, of yes, someone gets killed. Too tough, too jaded for this reader.
    • 4/5

      Aug 14, 2015

      Well, this was a pleasant surprise! First book by Megan Abbott that I've read. The surprise was that I read a book about cheerleaders and couldn't put it down! The other reviews tell the story, but rest assured, this is one exciting book!
    • 3/5

      Jun 2, 2015

      Not sure what to make of this book. My first time reading the author, probably my last.
      She is on the money about the jealousy, pettiness and envy of these young girls. Who committed the crime was easily figured.
      And of course, all because of the underlying lesbian theme.
      Nah, not for me.
      A fast read for sure, but most children books usually are.
    • 4/5

      Apr 16, 2015

      Dare Me takes the reader into the world of cheerleading as portrayed by author Megan Abbott. Her peek at this girlie world reveals a dark underneath of backstabbing, obsessive, bulimic, over-exercised, athletic bitchery. Addy has always been Beth’s best friend and no one knows Beth like Addy. So the reader knows everyone should watch out when Addy is terrified as a new coach comes along and usurps Beth’s leadership role.

      It took me a few chapters to settle into this book, as it is written entirely from Addy’s inner viewpoint and at first seemed to be quite fragmented. Having a lot of trust in this author, I kept going and was rewarded with a story that kept me on the edge of my seat. You knew right from the first that something bad was coming, the author slowly built the tension and showed us how far Beth was willing to go. Beth was a very interesting character, damaged, brittle, and having no empathy at all, this is a teen to beware of. In fact, it was difficult to have much sympathy for any of the characters which in no way lessened the impact of the book. Expecting one thing, the author continually surprised me with how the story developed.

      Dare Me was, for me, a great read and I continue to be a fan of Megan Abbott. I realize that cheerleaders are not the shallow, vindictive creatures that this book would have you believe, but by stripping the glitter away and revealing the shallow, empty world underneath, the author was able to deliver a first class story of murder, revenge and obsession.
    • 4/5

      Jan 7, 2015

      How far will you go to keep what you think what you think it's yours?? That's what Megan Abboot writes in her book. Worth the read
    • 5/5

      Nov 21, 2014

      This was a gripping, literary read that hooked me from the first page. I liked the dark characters, longing for something they couldn't define, trying to hurt others to alleviate their own pain. Addy's naivete was raw and real and I ached for her to open her eyes and see what was happening around her.

      The writing is gorgeous, but that's also the book's only flaw -- the intelligent, eloquent prose didn't always ring true for the voice of a teenage girl, sometimes pulling me out of the story. Still, it was the only weakness and I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.

    • 4/5

      Nov 11, 2014

      This was a very intriguing and disturbing book. It explores the world of teenage cheerleaders, and before you groan, it is not a fluffy, over-sexed book about the lives of promiscuous high school girls. This book delves into the obsessiveness of female friendships, the dedication and pain of competitive cheerleading, and the dangers of forming inappropriate bonds with adult authority figures. I thought the plot was a little over-done at some points, but it did not take me away from the story. My high school experience was very different from these girls'; I was not a cheerleader or an athlete of any kind, I never had a desire to be popular, and I didn't have controlling friends. But this book made me think about how many girls (and guys) out there do have this experience, and how easy it would be to fall into this kind of life. I'm glad I read this now, as opposed to when I am a parent, because I would be terrified (haha).
    • 4/5

      Oct 28, 2014

      Found a new author!!
    • 4/5

      Oct 24, 2014

      Megan Abbott seems to have cornered the crazy teen-aged-girl market! Really enjoy another of her novels, The Fever... and Dare Me is in a similar vein. Enjoyable story of love, friendships, and cheer-leading! A fun read.
    • 5/5

      Sep 21, 2014

      Jessa raved about Abbott ages ago, and I've been meaning to read her ever since. Reading articles on her new book, The Fever, brought my simmering interest to a full boil. And I'm not the only one. Karen kidnapped me for a bookstore run and we both bought a copy of it. And we both devoured it.

      The phrase that comes to mind (and I'm sure I read it somewhere) is cheerleader noir. It's dark, it's brooding. There are a lot of people making not particularly good choices with motivations often murky even to themselves. But there is a lot of girlness that Abbott gets and writes so well. I was never a cheerleader or in any sport past junior high, but I have had moments here and there where my body felt strong and it did just what I wanted to be able to taste the power of that in her writing. And let's face it. I've spent most my life as the lieutenant, the second-in-command to a more charismatic, forceful girl, though certainly never to one as troubled as Beth. I've felt that loyalty that gets tired, being sucked into parties or situations you think are a bad idea, done the penance for getting too close to another person or activity she doesn't approve of.

      Abbott captures all that. In a story that's well paced, with high stakes, always pulling your forward, teasing you with another piece of the puzzle, into the gathering gloom. Smart, tense, impossible to put down.
    • 5/5

      Jun 22, 2014

      Dare Me is a delightfully wicked, suspenseful and compelling crime novel set in the world of high-school cheerleaders. The prologue describes the discovery of a body and then the novel begins four months earlier, describing with increasing tension the sequence of events leading up to the murder, and ends somewhat later having described the aftermath.

      But it is not really a whodunnit, in fact it is much more about the ultra-competitive, manipulative and sometimes vicious girls on the cheerleading squad, as recounted in the first person by the "Lieutenant" to the long-time team Captain Beth and the adopted close ally of the new coach. Beth is a compelling, charismatic and controlling figure who orchestrates much of the novel. But don't be fooled by the seemingly decent, bland narrator...