Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott #meganabbott #littlebrownandcompany #thriller #friendship @absltmom

“Nothing is more creative… nor destructive… than a brilliant mind with a purpose.” (Dan Brown)

There is a lot to be said about brilliant minds and the need to be the very best. One can give up everything to achieve the awards, the scholarships, the accolades, and the recognition they so desire. One can even give up a life to pursue their ends. Meet Kit Owens and Diane Fleming two intense girls brought together in Megan Abbott’s They meet in high school, each a competitor, one spurring the other on, until a secret is revealed and their lives drift apart. They both go their separate ways for years, each achieving lofty standards until fate and a brilliant research scientist bring them together once again to compete for a spot on her team investigating the effects of premenstrual rage that at times plagues women. Kit knows a terrible secret about her one time friend and yet has never revealed it. Why has she held this unrevealed secret for so long and will she get to use it as both she and Diane vie for a spot on the team? How far does one go to get where they want to be?

This was quite the intense story of how a secret effects the life of both the giver and the receiver of the secret’s history. Secrets reveal the mind and the heart of the girls in this tale and as the time draws near for the selection of the team, both girls, now grown to women, twist and turn to achieve what they want. Lives are in danger and lives can be lost yet, to get what you want is there really anything you would not do to achieve that goal?

This was definitely a book that presented a side of brilliant minds that was devious, cunning, and frightening. Can brilliance breed insanity? It’s a fine line separating intelligence and insanity. Will these girls cross that line or have they already done so?

  Megan Abbott is the Edgar®-winning author of the novels Die a Little, Queenpin, The Song Is You, Bury Me Deep, The End of Everything, Dare Me, The Fever and You Will Know Me. Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan and received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She has taught at NYU, SUNY and the New School University and has served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at The University of Mississippi.