I was excited to start this one due to it being set in a ballet School, and Abbott’s writing brings the setting to life so vividly!
The ballet school is run by 2 sisters Dara and Marie and Dara’s husband Charlie. There is a fire at the ballet school right at the start of Nutcracker season, and they are recommended a builder who can take care of everything, however he becomes their worst nightmare.
We get to see the relationships between Dara, Marie and Charlie and discover their secrets. The writing was great and I finished this book very quickly but the storyline was just ok for me, I thought I was getting an exciting thriller but it fell flat in that department. I also found some parts a little odd and wondered why they even needed to be part of the story.

I received a copy of this for free in return for an honest review thanks to the publishers and NetGalley.

We follow Marie & Dara Durant during Nutcracker season at their ballet studio, where things turn from bad to worse and then some.

I will be honest I was left wanting more with this book, I feel like some things were added in for shock factor but were kind of glossed over. I would have loved to have know more about the families dynamic so that I could feel I had a definite ending for them.

All in all though the read was enjoyable, the writing is beautiful and I really could relate to the characters especially Marie. I really enjoyed the flashbacks to their childhood prior to their parents dying as I feel that it really explained the characters behaviors.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, as I do feel there are some really well written and interesting plots going on.

Overall review 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, the Publishers and the Author for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was an incredibly claustrophobic read, with lots of twists and turns. The main characters were morally grey, which added to the story, and it had me on the edge of my seat throughout. I don't read many books in this genre, but I found this book incredibly gripping. I definitely did see the twists and turns that happened throughout the book coming, and was thinking about the story even when I wasn't reading it.

I did feel that the ending was less strong when compared to the rest of the book, but it didn't detract from the book itself - it was more of a personal preference for an alternative ending.

All in all, a really great thriller that was well-crafted by the author!

Megan Abbott's creative skill is mesmerising. Her writing draws you in and doesn't let go. Each character is considered and well-drawn, the plot unfolding gradually, as family secrets unravel. I felt a constant low-level tension, a sense of foreboding, throughout "The Turnout". I also found the insight into the world of ballet fascinating. A thoroughly engrossing read!

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. This was s good read. Unsettling and dark with good writing and a building claustrophobic atmosphere. Enjoyed the building of the story from a slower start to a bigger ending!

This compelling tale is set in a Ballet School run by Charlie, Dara and Marie who are preparing for the annual performance of The Nutcracker.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately I wasn't a fan of this one at all! I found it really boring and too long; the premise of this book is too flimsy, in my opinion, to support the amount of pages, and so it felt like I was reading the same sort of observations over and over again.

I love Megan Abbott books and this was no exception. Brilliant story and I feel I've experienced a journey through the dark world of Ballet. Brilliant. Highly recommended.

Sisters Dara and Marie run their mother's ballet school together with Dara's husband Charlie since their parents died in an accident. They balance their whole lives around ballet.

Every year they do the Nutcracker and they are starting to rehearse it with their classes. They also lived together in their parents old house until Marie moved out in the attic of the ballet school. One night a fire breaks out, so they have to hire a constructor to fix their school while they are rehearsing. Dara finds this guy threatening as he seems to have an odd interest in their family house. However - Marie is attracted to this much older and brute man.

The story is dark, tense, slow and even claustrophobic at times with many hints that something bad will happen. The unusual bond between Durants makes the reader uncomfortable and yet wants to unveil their secrets.

Overall good read.

This book sank its claws deep into me and even now I feel like I'm struggling to emerge from its claustrophobic atmosphere. In my opinion I can't really give higher praise of a thriller.

I had not read any of Ms Abbott's books before this one but I'm certainly going to seek them out now. This novel tells the story of three sisters who run a ballet school together. Set during a production of The Nutcracker, things begin to disintegrate for all of the characters in the wake of a fire at the school. It is truly gripping and while the characters are often difficult to like, Ms Abbott really captures the toxic and hypnotic atmosphere of a ballet school with its careful knife-edge balance between beauty and grotesquery. I was hooked.

i've only read one book by megan abbott, dare me , and it was years ago. but i loved that slow, sultry, modern-gothic noir atmosphere, so of course i jumped at the chance to read abbott's latest offering.

it started off well,with abbott's familiar way of weaving a narrative - cramped, claustrophobic, overlaid with a deep sense of creeping doom. you're immersed fully in the characters' world, in their passions and obsessions, and the world of ballet suits abbott down to a tee - corrupted innocence, monomania, toxic twisted passions allowed to bloom and thrive in adolescence instead of torn off at the root.

but in the end, it all fizzled out a little. instead of leaning into the decay, darkness and incestuous vibes, abbott almost tiptoed around it, never making it clear if there was a menage a trois. i suppose that might have been deliberate, leaving it open-ended, as if the author is saying - "maybe they did, maybe it was just the whisperings of the act. so what? it all boils down to the same thing."

UH, NO, it doesn't. instead, you get this limpid sympathy for the characters that never quite passes over the event horizon. derek was not truly the Big Bad he was set up to be; the Big Revelations were not revelatory in the slightest.

3,5 Stars


Two sisters, Dara and Marie, run their mother’s ballet school together with Dara’s husband Charlie since their parents died in a car accident. Their mother was the dominant character in their family and their whole live circles around ballet. They do nothing else. Their mother homeschooled them and also taught them everything about ballet. Every year they do the Nutcracker and they are starting to rehearse it with their classes. The three also used to live together in their parents old house but a few months ago Marie moved out and lives now in the attic of the ballet school. One night she has an accident and a fire breaks out and leaving behind some damage. So they have to hire a constructer to fix their school while they are rehearsing. Dara finds this guy menacing. She thinks he is watching and listening and he seems to have an odd interest in their family house. But Marie, she is drawn to this much older and brute man.

This is a dreamy story, almost like a dark fairytale. I never read a book by Megan Abbot or about the subgenre of ballet. I loved the movie “Black Swan” and this book is a bit like it. I find it hard to tell exactly what is going on in this story because there is so much going on. There is the dancing and all the pain it brings on the dancers and especially their feet. Dara, Marie and Charlie are in their thirties, but you can easily think they are in their teens. Especially Marie. She has not grown up at all. She is not able to live a life outside their ballet school and when she moves out of their shared house she just goes into the attic of the ballet school. For some hard to understand reasons she falls for this constructor. He is much older, not attractive and devious. Which brings me to the main topic in this book: sex. Everything is about sex. Sometimes it really is but most of the time it is on the surface about something else but the writing is so multilayered that it could also be just about sex as well. Megan Abbot can make sound everything so sensual, so sexy.

This was my first book by this author so I can’t compare her writing to her previous books. I am not sure if I liked it but it is the main thing that kept me reading. The story is weird and you have to have a thing for ballet to enjoy it. There is a dark and ominous atmosphere here. You know right from the beginning that something bad is going to happen. That already something bad happened in the past. Nothing is explained exactly but there are so many hidden hints, so many things casually mentioned but telling so much between the lines. I was mesmerized by this writing although, as I said, I am not sure I liked it. For me it was an unusual read. Fascinating but at the same time it made me sometimes feel uncomfortable, even tainted.

I think I will try another book from this author. I am not sure how to rate this book. It intrigued me, but it was so strange and weird and slow and dark. It was an unusual reading experience for me, which I always appreciate. So I settle for 3,5 Stars.

'The Turnout' is an incredibly unsettling new novel from Megan Abbott. Having previously enjoyed 'You Will Know Me' set in the world of competitive gymnastics, I was ready to experience Abbott's take on the dark side of ballet. Set during a production of the Nutcracker, we witness the themes of temptation, desire and obsession from the famous ballet permeate reality.

Marie and Dara inherited their mother's dance studio, running it alongside Dara's husband Charlie (who was also taken in by their family at a young age). They are a close knit family unit who seem to not have their own identity outside of each other. After a freak fire, along comes a seedy contractor, Derek, to shake the family and threaten the foundations of their very existence.

Abbott successfully establishes a very creepy feeling to this book. Not only is Derek a looming dark presence throughout the story but it is clear that Dara, Marie and Charlie have plenty of disturbing secrets of their own. The novel is a slow burn, the parallel story of the nutcracker, and its two young stars, providing an uncomfortable counterpoint to the odd occurrences happening within the ballet studio. Unfortunately, the ending to this novel may provide some closure but does not quite deliver on its sinister promise. The explanations for events seemed more 'ordinary' and neat than expected.

Overall, the atmosphere Abbott creates in this novel makes it worth reading. Do not expect a fast-paced thrilling plot - it is the slow-burn sense of discomfort which reigns here. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Turnout is a story that builds up very slowly and keeps doing this, until there is an explosion of things happening at a very fast pace

The characters are interesting and the whole premise of the story is fantastic, with ballet as a background. Highly recommend

This was my first book by Megan Abbott and unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it. I found it too much of a slow burner, ended up putting it down for days before reading again. Maybe her other books are better?

Many thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Reads like a fairytale, drew me in straightaway. The odd strange characters of Marie, Dara and Charlie who run a dancing school for children and help young families to fulfill 'the pink dream' - the fantasy magical world of dance. However there are undercurrents of something sinister and evil lurking against a backdrop of the annual performance of The Nutcracker.
The suspense builds and I couldn't anticipate how the story would go because of the creepy characters and their obsession with dance. It all came together and I was surprised by the ending. In all I found this book to be highly entertaining, something different and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group for my digital copy.

This is the second of two ballet-themed books I read from Netgalley in a row, and the second I was super disappointed in. But it's very hot here, and I am really busy and looking for a transportive read, and both books are over written (imo) to the point of being overwrought which is something I struggle with at the best of times. So for this, as well as the last, I have rounded up to three stars because two feels unfair when the plot is interesting even if I disliked it and the characters, and I am aware this could be a case of it's not you it's me. But I did honestly struggle to finish this.
I'll start off by saying I love ballet books (and indeed ballet) and despite the fact I can barely achieve first position and have no turnout, I devoured all the Noel Streatfeild and Lorna Hills I could find as a kid (and still have them all). I don't expect or want an adult book to be a 1930s Girls Own pastiche, but nor am I interested in the Black Swan cliche of repressed erotic characterisation rather than something more nuanced, which is what I found here in this dark tale of stunted sexuality and overworked bodies.
Dara and Marie run a ballet school bequeathed to them by their mother, along with Dara's husband Charlie, the ex golden boy whose career was cut short by injury. The three live in the girls old home until Marie moves out giving no reason, to live in the attic of the school. After she (possible purposefully) starts a fire, a contractor comes into their lives and dominates their lives, stripping away all their secrets.
The Turnout is viscerally written, lots of people really enjoyed it but it wasn't for me.

The Turnout by Megan Abbott

📓Genre: Mystery | Suspense
Star: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (3.9 stars rounded to 4 stars)

🔖This is a slow-burn tale narrating the lives of the Durants and the darkness and secrets that engulf them.
🔖The story centers around the three owners of the prestigious Durant School of Dance – the sisters Dara and Marie Durant, who've had ballet overshadow what appears to be their whole lives, and Charlie – Dara's husband and the former prized protégé of Dara and Marie's mother.
🔖When an unfortunate accident hints at foul play – the systematically managed dance studio begins to crumble as do the owners' seemingly perfect lives.
🔖I do admit that the slow pace of the initial few chapters had made me a bit cynical as to whether or not I would like the story. But the engaging style of writing kept me going and soon I got too invested into the sad, secret-filled lives of the Durants.
Now that I've finished the book – I'm glad I pushed on.
🔖The author has also provided a detailed insight into what it means to be a ballet dancer, by exploring the brutality that remains hidden behind the grace and beauty of the dance form.
🔖As more layers are unveiled and more secrets come to light – the tense and suspenseful plot keeps you guessing.
🔖The characters are fairly complex, demonstrating both negative and positive aspects of the human psyche. The author has given a distinct voice to each one of them and successfully explored their layered emotions.
🔖In all honesty, there are a few disturbingly dark parts in the story, but overall, the book is a compelling read.

🔸Final Verdict: Good
🔸Book Cover: Intriguing
🔸Writing Style: Slow-burn
🔸Character Development: Good

✨Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK (Publisher) & Netgalley for sending me the ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

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#TheTurnout #NetGalley #arc #bookreview

Megan Abbott never disappoints! This is just as dark - deep, deep dark - as Dare Me and her excellent noirs. The language is lush - physical, visceral. Not a word wasted, and these characters and the ballet studio itself will stay with me for a lifetime. I’ll also never think of The Nutcracker with the same little-girl innocence ever again!

Dara and Marie are two sisters teaching ballet in their family-run school, Durant School of Dance, but they are polar opposites in every sense of the word. Dara is the dark, cold, unfeeling sister whilst Marie is the light, warm, adventurous one. Dara's husband Charlie, who has lived in the family home since they were all teenagers, is the medium of them both. After a fire in the school, the three partners are forced to hire a contractor, Derek, who's beguiling words but twisted ways allows him to sink their claws into Marie, the school of dance, and even the family home after learning deep, shameful family secrets. The Durant world is spinning out of control and the three try to navigate their way, one pirouette at a time.

The feature that struck me about this book first of all, is Megan Abbott's hauntingly ethereal writing. Abbott writes in such a way that even the most uncomfortable, taboo topics are open for discussion. The Durant's are simultaneously pure and dripping in darkness. The gothic qualities to the story only add to their beauty. Abbott's writing is reminiscent of Angela Carter and yet truly unique.

There is a consistent theme of opposites en pointe within the story. Dara and Marie. The beauty and brutality of what it means to be a ballet dancing. And The Nutcracker rehearsals, taunting yet admirable.

The plot is a slow burn, yet entirely worthy. The dysfunctional Durant family is fallacious, with their dead mother the driving force behind the sister's defective insight.

The Turnout is not for the faint of heart, it is written for the readers that happily let darkness into the the door in the right atrium of their hearts and revel in it. Truly, truly, a magical and prickly experience.

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Dara and Marie are two sisters teaching ballet in their family-run school, Durant School of Dance, but they are polar opposites in every sense of the word. Dara is the dark, cold, unfeeling sister whilst Marie is the light, warm, adventurous one. Dara's husband Charlie, who has lived in the family home since they were all teenagers, is the medium of them both. After a fire in the school, the three partners are forced to hire a contractor, Derek, who's beguiling words but twisted ways allows him to sink their claws into Marie, the school of dance, and even the family home after learning deep, shameful family secrets. The Durant world is spinning out of control and the three try to navigate their way, one pirouette at a time.

The feature that struck me about this book first of all, is Megan Abbott's hauntingly ethereal writing. Abbott writes in such a way that even the most uncomfortable, taboo topics are open for discussion. The Durant's are simultaneously pure and dripping in darkness. The gothic qualities to the story only add to their beauty. Abbott's writing is reminiscent of Angela Carter and yet truly unique.

There is a consistent theme of opposites en pointe within the story. Dara and Marie. The beauty and brutality of what it means to be a ballet dancing. And The Nutcracker rehearsals, taunting yet admirable.

The plot is a slow burn, yet entirely worthy. The dysfunctional Durant family is fallacious, with their dead mother the driving force behind the sister's defective insight.

The Turnout is not for the faint of heart, it is written for the readers that happily let darkness into the the door in the right atrium of their hearts and revel in it. Truly, truly, a magical and prickly experience.

Click to follow my blog for more reviews