Dare Me
Megan Abbott specializes in the dark interior weather of teenage girls, and Dare Me may be her most compressed and feverish novel. Addy Hanlon and Beth Cassidy have run their suburban high school cheer squad as a two-headed monarchy since middle school, until the arrival of Coach Colette French, a sharp twenty-seven-year-old who pulls Addy into her orbit with a charisma that feels at first like friendship, then quickly like something else. When a man connected to the coach turns up dead in his apartment, Addy's loyalties have already shifted enough that the question of who knew what becomes a small civil war among the squad. Abbott writes adolescence as a thriller all on its own, claustrophobic, glittering, and morally seasick. The novel inspired the 2019 USA Network series of the same name.
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When charismatic new coach Colette French takes over a high school cheerleading squad, captain Beth and her best friend Addy split. A man's death in Coach's apartment turns the rivalry between them into something darker.
Yes. USA Network released a 10-episode adaptation of Dare Me in 2019, with Abbott as showrunner. The show was cancelled after one season but is widely regarded as a stylish, faithful interpretation of the novel.
Dare Me is an adult novel about high school cheerleaders, published as literary thriller. The voice is intentionally claustrophobic and adult in perspective. It is often shelved alongside crossover titles, but it was not marketed as YA.
Dare Me was written by Megan Abbott, published in 2012 by Little Brown & Company.
Dare Me is 320 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Dare Me takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Dare Me is a standalone novel by Megan Abbott, not part of a series.
Dare Me is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.