***AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*** The mesmerising new thriller, set in the hothouse world of a ballet school, from the multi-award-winning writer Megan Abbott. ''A book you will not be able to forget'' MARK BILLINGHAM With their long necks and matching buns and pink tights, Dara and Marie Durant have been dancers since they can remember. Growing up, they were trained by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents'' death in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago, the sisters began running the school together, along with Charlie, Dara''s husband and once their mother''s prized student. The three have perfected a dance that keeps the studio thriving. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school''s annual performance of The Nutcracker -a season of competition, anxiety, and exhilaration-an interloper arrives and threatens their delicate balance. '' A twisting, turning story of revenge and redemption'' STYLIST ''A richly immersive novel'' SUNDAY TIMES ''Slow-burning and feverish, with all the intensity of a classic American film noir'' MAIL ON SUNDAY ''Charged with foreboding, the novel throbs with gothic tension'' IRISH TIMES ''Dark and juicy and tinged with horror'' NEW YORK TIMES ''Dark and mesmerising'' HARRIET TYCE ''This is Megan Abbott working at the absolute height of her talent'' ATTICA LOCKE ''There''s no one who captures the atmosphere of a tight-knit hothouse world, in all its feverish beauty and brutality, quite like Megan Abbott'' TANA FRENCH
Deenie, Gabby and Lise are best friends - a tight girl-unit negotiating their way through the troubled waters of their teens, a world of sex, secrets and intense relationships. When first Lise then Gabby falls prey to a mysterious illness, hysteria sweeps their school and, as more girls succumb, Deenie finds herself an outsider, baffled by the terrifying illness and scared that it could all be because of something she has done. Suffering with Deenie are her dad and her brother, both protective of Deenie, but each with secrets of their own . . . The Fever is an explosive novel in which Megan Abbott explores the lethal power of guilt and desire, and how mass hysteria can grip a community, making real our deepest fears.
Thirteen-year old Lizzie Hood and her next door neighbor Evie Verver are inseparable. They are best friends who swap bathing suits and field-hockey sticks, and share everything that's happened to them. Together they live in the shadow of Evie's glamorous older sister Dusty, who provides a window on the exotic, intoxicating possibilities of their own teenage horizons. To Lizzie, the Verver household, presided over by Evie's big-hearted father, is the world's most perfect place.
And then, one afternoon, Evie disappears. The only clue: a maroon sedan Lizzie spotted driving past the two girls earlier in the day. As a rabid, giddy panic spreads through the Midwestern suburban community, everyone looks to Lizzie for answers. Was Evie unhappy, troubled, upset? Had she mentioned being followed? Would she have gotten into the car of a stranger?
Lizzie takes up her own furtive pursuit of the truth, prowling nights through backyards, peering through windows, pushing herself to the dark center of Evie's world. Haunted by dreams of her lost friend and titillated by her own new power at the center of the disappearance, Lizzie uncovers secrets and lies that make her wonder if she knew her best friend at all.
