One of the most radical and satisfying elements of Megan Abbott’s brilliant eighth novel, You Will Know Me is that it calls all such unexamined assumptions [of the genre] into question ... Beneath the glittering carapace of Abbott’s lush, skillful, subtle writing, it’s impossible to know what we’re supposed to think. One of the strengths of this novel is that it doesn’t mind what we believe ... All of this Abbott pulls off with breathtaking skill.
...a masterful tale that’s both suspenseful and an eerily accurate portrait of the way teenage and parental cliques operate ... Throughout the novel, Abbott shrewdly dissects the cliques within cliques swirling within BelStars gym but never lets the suspense flag.
In hijacking young-adult fiction for her own devious grown-up purposes, [Abbott] writes from such a chilly remove you may want to turn up the thermostat. But the underlying tension she sustains is so beautifully unbearable, you may be unable to leave the couch ... [an] un-put-downable new novel ... Abbott is a literary descendant of Richard Yates, John Cheever and other writers who captured what used to be called lives of quiet desperation.
[Abbott] is in top form in this novel. She resumes her customary role of black cat, opaque and unblinking, filling her readers with queasy suspicion at every turn ... You Will Know Me revisits some of the author’s favorite themes — community hysteria, the chaos of adolescent sexuality — but with a slight twist. Usually, teen-girl misanthropy and anxiety figure prominently into Ms. Abbott’s novels. Here, the author is far more interested in the way adults recapitulate teenage behaviors, fretting and sniping and stirring the pot ... What clearly intrigues Ms. Abbott about gymnastics is the way it offers girls a means to master pain and take control of their bodies — particularly as they get older, when their desires and hormones are raging out of control.
Megan Abbott has written a book with the taut and muscular ruthlessness of a gymnast, a book that disorients with eerie countermelodies, constant reminders of the vulnerability of bodies, even in its festive moments ... You Will Know Me takes swift, unsettling, apparently effortless flight.
What puts flesh on the bones of Abbott’s flying cheetah of suspense is her insight into parenting, marriage and various sorts of interpersonal rivalry ... lifts Abbott above other writers in this genre, making her something of a Stephen King, whose work hangs right on the edge of the literary while making your skin crawl.
...a masterful thriller that also offers an eerily precise portrait of the way teenage and parental cliques operate ... It's Abbott's psychological smarts that make You Will Know Me such a standout ... You Will Know Me is a terrific accompaniment to this summer's Olympic frenzy. It's an all-around winner.
...a timely look at what young athletes, and their families, are willing to endure for a chance at the spotlight. ... Rather than curve balls in the plot, it’s the chilling emotional twists that make the story so intriguing ... Ms. Abbott provides both plenty of drama and a look at the Knoxes’ ordinary routine.
...[a] slickly written psychological thriller ... Abbott—as usual— is a consummate noirist. She plunges the reader headlong, deeper and deeper down a spiraling rabbit hole that is actually an ever growing pit of despair and deception that originally appeared to be nothing more than an innocent looking, slightly run down, single family suburban home ... Simply put, You Will Know Me is THE must read novel of the summer, and perhaps of all of 2016.
