This book is a murder mystery, but not. It’s not a YA novel by any means but it concentrates largely on teen characters. You Will Know Me has a little of everything – family drama, sports, murder and above all, really great writing.
You Will Know Me concentrates around young gymnast prodigy Devon Knox, her family, and the gym she belongs to. The book follows her story both through flashbacks and in present day story telling, mainly via her mother Katie. We get straight to the heart of the suspenseful murder in the first chapter and spend the rest of the book trying to unspool what exactly happened, when, and how. Which kind of sounds backwards from a lot of stories but Abbott does this really well – revealing 1 specific detail and then pulling back wider and wider for the reader to get the full picture of the murder.
While the story is about a murder the murder was mainly in the background. The focus of the story is the family drama of raising an actual Olympic hopeful and what that can actually mean for both the parents and a sibling. The story is about the community of the gym, the gymnasts, and their parents have all become and what happens to them when that community begins to erode.
Abbott excels at writing about teenage protagonists and depicting their world. She lifts the veil on the mania of being a teen and all that involves – from the heartache to the joy and anger female friendships can bring at that age. That’s what I loved so much about Dare Me and she brings that here once again in spades. On top of the usual, add in the stress of competitive sports and you get even more drama. I was looking forward to this one and I’m looking forward to Abbott’s next!
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewer: Melinda
Title: You Will Know Me
Author: Megan Abbott
Release Date: July 26, 2016
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