Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Release Day Review: Give Me Your Hand

Author: Megan Abbott
Publication Date: July 17, 2018
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

A life-changing secret destroys an unlikely friendship in this "magnetic" (Meg Wolitzer) psychological thriller from the Edgar Award-winning author of Dare Me.

Kit Owens harbored only modest ambitions for herself when the mysterious Diane Fleming appeared in her high school chemistry class. But Diane's academic brilliance lit a fire in Kit, and the two developed an unlikely friendship. Until Diane shared a secret that changed everything between them. 

More than a decade later, Kit thinks she's put Diane behind her forever and she's begun to fulfill the scientific dreams Diane awakened in her. But the past comes roaring back when she discovers that Diane is her competition for a position both women covet, taking part in groundbreaking new research led by their idol. Soon enough, the two former friends find themselves locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that threatens to destroy them both.

Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2018 by Cosmopolitan, Book Riot, and Entertainment Weekly



Give Me Your Handfollows a friendship between Kit and Diane, who have a lot in common, from being runners to pursuing their love of science. Then, the beautiful and mysterious Dr. Severin comes to their school to talk about her lab work and what it means to perform studies and to do research, and this is all the girls need to dedicate themselves to their goals and pursue their scientific studies. Then, Diane shares a dark secret with Kit, one that Kit can't get out of her mind - one that's eating her alive, but eventually Kit gets past it and they both graduate and move on with their separate lives.

These two women, through Abbott’s writing, present a story that delves into some deep issues that women face today: career ambitions, workplace hardships, and the power, destruction, and jealously that can be female friendships. 

The ever-elusive secret that Diane dropped on Kit is the focal point that starts this story. Abbott writes a slow burn thriller that is filled with deep and complex characters. I am a character driven reader and I love a good secret. Once the secret is revealed, readers will be glad they stuck around – all bets are off at this point and the action continues into an impending explosion. What I love best about this novel by Abbott is the way she gets into the warped mind of teenage girls as the girls become friends and bond over similarities and common interests – readers travel and grow with Kit and Diane, secrets, friendships, thrills and all!

“It's that powerful, this thing we share. A murky history, its narrative near impenetrable. We keep telling it to ourselves, noting its twists and turns, trying to make sense of it. And hiding it from everyone else.”

“Now that I'm caught up in it, I feel a whiff of panic. This is Diane. And just as before, we are thrown together, and just as before, we want the same thing. A prize, dangling.”

“By telling me, you trapped me," I say through my teeth. "By telling you," she whispers, rain still glistening on her, "I was free.”

“She had done this thing to me, burdened me with this vile, howling thing. And now it shuddered in me always and I'd felt I might have to live with it forever. I was right.”

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Little, Brown and Company in exchange for my honest review***

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