ooh 'The Turnout' is great, I love a thriller set in a claustrophobic setting like this, where our two heroines are running their family ballet school when suddenly a suspicious accident threatens to bring everything crashing down.
The book is packed with detail and beautifully evocative description, in a world where ballet pupils push their bodies and minds to the absolute limits in order to achieve their dreams, you almost ache alongside them. There are more sexualised moments too which I hadnt expected; the physicality of the ballet world reaches everywhere.
Tightly plotted and deftly woven, this is one to keep the pages turning til you find out who, what, where and how!

This was a bit different to what i was expecting but in a good way!

I have read Megan's previous work so i think i was expecting more of a fast paced thriller but instead this was a slow burning suspense thriller with a slight gothic sort of undertone which i liked! A few chapters in and you start to feel this eerie suspense which builds page by page , it has a very claustrophobic / atmospheric edge which is what keeps the reader engaged.

I loved the Ballet school setting ( Black Swan vibes!) and this is done really well giving the reader an insight into the dynamics behind the scenes at such a School. Family secrets, childhood trauma, sisterhood are the main themes of the book . I didnt find any of the characters particularly likeable but i liked reading their story ( if that makes sense!). Gripping read with twists along the way , another good one from Megan!

Megan Abbot managed to capture the beautiful and the ugly and honestlytruth .It was twisted and complex at times.Such a great story, not my favorite yet it was a strong one!This book was a page-turning, it was fast paced and interestin mostly.

"It was the three of them. Always the three of them. Until it wasn't. And that was when everything went wrong. Starting with the fire. Or before."

The book is told in short sections and it was much easier to read, it's dark and lik I said it has some interesing twists that you didn't see them coming.

Dara and Marie grow up as ballet dancers in their Mother's dance school; after she dies they both continue the legacy and teach at the same school they grew up in. However, after a floor a local contractor appears on the scene to fix the damage and breaks into the sisters little world and throws off the balance with devastating consequences.

This was an interesting suspenseful novel but was a little too slow for me. I enjoyed the dance school atmosphere and the strained relationship between the sisters whose characters that although I didn't empathise with was intrigued by; overall, an interesting suspenseful novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

Beautifully written with an intense, claustrophobic sense of menace. A touch of Flowers in the Attic too which was no bad thing!

trigger warning
<spoiler> being orphaned, grief, child rape, alcoholism, domestic violence, chronic illness </spoiler>

Together with Dara's husband, sisters Dara and Marie run the ballett school their mother build up from the ground, and life is fun. Sure, it is exhausting, but this is how a dancer's life is supposed to go - until there is a fire, and somebody from the outside comes in to fix things.

Four stars not because I enjoyed this book but because it gripped me, and if I hadn't needed to sleep, would have read this in one sitting.
Reasons why I did not enjoy this book are manifold, but the sexualisation of children is up a the top.

It starts to draw you in, and suddenly you realise everything is about sex. Every year towards christmas, the ballett school teams up with one for adults, and they put on The Nutcracker of Tchaikowsky fame. The pupils range from just learned to walk to nearly adults, and Dara, the one who teaches the older pupils, constantly thinks about how you don't touch children once they're older than eleven - not even to correct posture, nothing more than a touch of hands is allowed.
That's how it starts, and in the end, even the play of the Nutcracker is sexualised, the nutcracker figurine supposedly seducing Clara.

We start off with a high tension, because we have children in a competition, and the parents create tension for the teachers. It only rises from there, and after finishing this, I still feel the tension in me.

We have a looming building, routines that are disrupted. Three people with a special bond, feeling like it's them against the rest of the world.

I am not sure if I would read another novel by the same author, because I prefer fun reads, but I can hardly fault this book for doing what it set out to do.
The arc was provided by the publisher.

From gymnastics to cheerleading, Megan Abbott has used her novels to examine the pastimes of American teenage girls with acuity and psychological suspense. In The Turnout, she turns to the world of ballet – and also somewhat away from teenagers and towards the adult dance instructors who run the Durant School of Dance. I say ‘somewhat’ advisedly, for the Durant sisters – Dara and Marie – and Dara’s husband Charlie, who run the school between them, give the sense of adults not yet fully formed. Emotionally immature (for reasons that become clear over the course of the book), when their insular world is intruded upon by a building contractor (and resolutely Grown Up Manly Man) who may have ulterior motives, all three of their lives are upended.

Despite heartily disliking basically every character, The Turnout was classic Abbott writing: page-turning and suspenseful and with a keen eye for human interactions and competitions. Recommended summer reading: it would be a great beach read for those lucky enough to make it to a beach this year!

This was a very compelling and intriguing read. I loved nearly everything about this book from the characters, the backstory, the detail, the way Megan Abbott brings outs the darker sides of seemingly fun activities (in this book ballet) and so much more. I do not generally read this genre but I did really enjoy this, the reason for a 4 star review is that I find the start a bit hard to get into. Overall, a really good book and would definitely recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

3.5 stars
This is a novel that grew on me and, like with most Abbott novels, the perspective is so close that you do really feel like you're with Dara throughout. Dara's role is particularly accomplished, the ways memory elides traumatic events, recasts and hides them until you are ready or forced to be ready to see. I think this did take a little while to get going for me, and at times the lack of clarity from the perspective verged on readerly confusion.

That said, I think the evocations of the ballet school, the bodily reality and sensory detail was really excellent. Abbott often, for me, feels at her best exploring these musty, semi violent spaces, particularly with teenage girls. The knife edge of tension between mystery and revelation, paranoia and justified fear is well handled. The motif of the Nutcracker and the descriptions of the ballet are particularly accomplished and absorbing.

All in all, a novel I did find compelling and read in two long bursts but one that didn't wholly hang together for me. Glad I read it, glad Abbott is writing things that are complicated and nuanced and filled with tension.

After inheriting a prestigious ballet school because of a life-changing accident, Marie, Dara and Charlie take over the school classes and carryover their mother’s legacy

This story is unique and unexpected. I have read none of the author's books before, so I went in blind with no expectations

It's a captivating novel overall. It looks like a very easy and shiny sparkling story of ballet dancers, but the author has created a world much more real and raw in some aspects that aren't easy to see in the eyes of the outsiders. The hard work and effort that a ballet dancer will work for all their life is always admirable.

I wasn't expecting to see so much erotic elements in here, but don't think it's a bad thing. Contrary, it's done so well that I actually had to stop and get a hold of what I’m actually reading. The author has a gift with her words that entice you unexpectedly.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, but I also know that it's not for everyone. I will recommend it to everyone that wants to go out of their comfort zone and try something different.

Very grateful to the publisher @viragopress

This was a bit creepy! I thought I might go to a ballet soon but after this maybe not haha
Creepy and disturbing
Oh dear
Good but don;t read at night

I really enjoyed The Turnout. One of the best thrillers I've dead in ages! I loved the dynamic between the two sisters, and Dara's husband. There was a lot of clues throughout the book, that hinted at the past and I felt like they came together well at the end. There were also a few plot twists that I didn't see coming. Marie was one of the most fascinating characters I've read in a long time. Abbott's writing was hypnotic and I raced through the book, desperate to know what was going to happen.

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.

This is the third book that I have read this year, where the thriller centres around ballet school. Let’s just say, I am so glad that I dont go ballet school!!

This book is split into four parts and each part feels more eery and tense. The book is a real slow burner, which just adds to the tension. I was hooked by this book.

The book has a creepy demeanour to it and I devoured it in one day. I really enjoyed the writing, the themes and the deception in this book.

I cannot wait to read more by this author.

Talk about huge disappointment! I had such high hopes in The Turnout. Look at that cover! It’s gorgeous! I had already read this year a book set in the ballet world but I was left wanting more and this looked just what I needed. It turned out it wasn’t.

Have you ever felt uncomfortable and dirty while reading? I can’t exactly put my finger on what it was that made me distressed while reading this, but that’s exactly how I felt from page one.

I did not connect at all with the writing style. Lots of really short scenes ending abruptly, jumping from one to another that, although made of this a quick read (even then it took me 10 days to finish it), it left me with a feeling of lots of unfinished conversations.

Every single character was weird and not in a good sense. It felt like there was no plot for most of the book, just the strange dynamics of sisters Dara and Marie between them and with Charlie, Dara’s husband and Derek, their contractor. Halfway through the story there was a turning point that promised a bit more excitement in the last third, but by then I was so fed up I found the resolution rushed and a bit out of left field.

Towards the end certain aspect of the backstory was revealed and I gotta say I found it pretty disgusting and unnecessary.

Uncomfortable, unsettling and disturbing dark read that sadly wasn’t what I was expecting. I guess I’ll have to keep looking for the ultimate ballet thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book UK, Virago for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in a family run ballet school, this book features all the nitty gritty details of what goes on behind the scenes - the first, general competitiveness, pushy parents. None of it is left out.

It was a bit if a slow burner, but I enjoyed it. It's incredibly descriptive and really well-written.

A fabulous gothic family drama set against the backdrop of ballet. It feels like a cross between a fairy tale and a horror story. Sensual, ominous, beautiful, intense, messy... go read it!

Set in the ballet school this isn't all tutus and pirouettes. Maria and Dara take over a ballet school after the death of their parents. The girls have little experience outside their narrow environment which adds to a brooding sense of claustrophobia. It's a classic gothic set up of confined lives in a crumbling house. Added to Abbot's mesmerising prose it creates a memorable novel.

Dara and Marie Durant inherit a crumbling dance school and a delapidated house when their parents die in a car crash. Together with Dara's now Husband, Charlie, all three live and work together in this hot house of secrets and childhood memories squashed and twisted through time. They are happy as a three, they don't need anyone or anything else. Their lives are ballet and each other. Until someone comes along that begins to dig into their secluded and secretive nature, asking all the sorts of questions they don't want to answer.

I have not read a book by @melizaabbott before but her writing style is so engrossing, from the first page I felt as though she was whispering secrets right into my ear rather than me reading them on the page. Set during the build up to the annual Nutcracker performance the dance aspects of the book come alive on the page. The gnarled, broken, blackened feet and twisted bodies of the ballet dancers so effectively reflect the internal pain these boys and girls are pushing through to achieve what would seem impossible to every day folk. Twisting bones and joints to their limit, the constant feeling of heat through the sweat and the need to be perfect casts an often ugly glow across this outwardly pristine profession.

This suburban Gothic drama simmers with sexual tension and desire. Even in the most mundane things that the author is describing she perfectly pitches a sexual overtone to everything that is happening in the story. Usually this type of writing in a book turns me off the plot but the provocativeness only heightened the claw like grip it had on me whilst reading. As the lives of Dara, Marie & Charlie begin to unravel and memories long repressed begin to rear their ugly head, I found myself tearing through the pages faster and faster and I was not disappointed in what I discovered. The writing is slick and seductive and so deliciously creepy. I'll definitely be checking out more of this authors work.

Thank you to the author, publishers and Netgalley for this review copy. This book was great, I so enjoyed it.
The writing style is immense and adds so much to the story - all the way through Abbott is weaving thoughts in your mind that something is not quite right, a bit creepy, but you're never quite sure what.
This is essentially a family drama, but with a gothic twist, and leans into psychological thriller territory. The backdrop of the ballet was excellent as it is so beautiful but only surface deep, which is the same as Dara and Marie's interwoven story.

Hmmm, where to start? I've read quite a few novels by Megan Abbott and I usually enjoy them very much. I've seen some other reviews saying if you like her work you'll like this too which seems to me not quite correct, and also just a weird thing to say?

This novel is pretty messed up. But, I found certain aspects of the plot to be quite obvious...and I think I wished for a few more red herrings. The fact that I'd guessed quite a lot of things left me unsatisfied with the ending. And, also, less disturbed overall than I think I should have been.

This has quite a slow start, but the middle section I found to be quite engrossing. But then, a big event happens and after that almost all the tension was gone for me.

There are some lovely images and there are many sentences that delight.

But there was also the oft-repeated imagery of the light and darkness of Dara and Marie, and of the fire eater and sword swallower that were used too often and for diminishing returns. I also found The Nutcracker symbolism overused and over explained, losing almost all the power it offered - although it was a relief that the ballet in the background wasn't Swan Lake.

I will definitely continue to read more novels from this author, but this one just didn't do it for me. My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.