From the award-winning author of The Turnout and Give Me Your Hand : the searing novel of
friendship and betrayal that inspired the USA Network series praised by Gillian Flynn as "
Lord of the Flies set in a high-school cheerleading squad...Tense dark and beautifully
written." Addy Hanlon has always been Beth Cassidy' s best friend and trusted lieutenant.
Beth calls the shots and Addy carries them out a long-established order of things that has
brought them to the pinnacle of their high-school careers. Now they' re seniors who rule the
intensely competitive cheer squad feared and followed by the other girls -- until the young
new coach arrives. Cool and commanding an emissary from the adult world just beyond their
reach Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life. Only Beth
unsettled by the new regime remains outside Coach' s golden circle waging a subtle but
vicious campaign to regain her position as "top girl" -- both with the team and with Addy
herself. Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. After the first
wave of shock and grief Addy tries to uncover the truth behind the death -- and learns that
the boundary between loyalty and love can be dangerous terrain. The raw passions of girlhood
are brought to life in this taut unflinching exploration of friendship ambition and power.
Award-winning novelist Megan Abbott writing with what Tom Perrotta has hailed as "total
authority and an almost desperate intensity " provides a harrowing glimpse into the dark heart
of the all-American girl.
