Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Dare Me: Booktrack Edition
    Unavailable
    Dare Me: Booktrack Edition
    Unavailable
    Dare Me: Booktrack Edition
    Audiobook9 hours

    Dare Me: Booktrack Edition

    Written by Megan Abbott

    Narrated by Khristine Hvam

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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.

    Editor's Note

    On the screen…

    Megan Abbott’s cheerleading psychological drama is set to catapult onto the screen in a collaboration between USA Network and Netflix. To-die-for manipulative drama is coupled with a whodunit murder mystery to near perfection here.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJul 31, 2012
    ISBN9781611134698
    Unavailable
    Dare Me: Booktrack Edition
    Author

    Megan Abbott

    Megan Abbott is an award-winning author of noir fiction including Queenpin and Bury Me Deep (nominated for the Edgar Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize). Her novel The End of Everything was a Richard and Judy selection and Dare Me was shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger. She is also the author of the gripping psychological thrillers, The Fever and You Will Know Me. She is co-writer of the smash-hit Sky Atlantic drama, The Deuce. Born in the Detroit area, she now lives in Queens, New York City.

    More audiobooks from Megan Abbott

    Related to Dare Me

    Related audiobooks

    Coming of Age Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Books

      Dec 15, 2022

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      Great Reads

      Feb 21, 2024

      by Stacy Willingham (£18.99, HB, HarperCollins) Shy, studious Margot is haunted by memories of her dead best friend. But beginning college in South Carolina means a fresh start. By the end of her sophomore year, she’s been invited to move into a shar

      2 min read

    • Article

      Better Books

      Mar 14, 2024

      Better Books
      2 min read

    • Article

      Bridgerton

      Mar 10, 2022

      Bridgerton
      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Jul 21, 2021

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Senior Sleuths Step In To Solve The Crime In ‘The Thursday Murder Club’

      Sep 22, 2020

      With wry British humor, and a cast of intrepid retirees, Richard Osman’s delightful mystery caper offers surprising depth.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Suri’s Not Safe!

      Mar 1, 2020

      Suri’s Not Safe!
      1 min read

    • Article

      Book CLUB

      Aug 3, 2021

      Book CLUB
      1 min read

    • Article

      Treat Your Shelf

      Feb 5, 2024

      Treat Your Shelf
      1 min read

    • Article

      Great Reads

      Mar 27, 2024

      by C. L. Taylor (£14.99, HB, HarperCollins) Always watching over their shoulders, days filled with terror – Alexandra, Lucy, River, Bridget and Natalie are being stalked, and it’s a lonely place to be. Finding each other online, they form a support g

      2 min read

    • Article

      Great Reads

      Mar 13, 2024

      by Claire Douglas (£14.99, HB, Penguin) During a week’s life-swap in Venice, Tasha and husband Aaron receive an urgent call to say her sister, Alice, has been attacked and her brother-in-law murdered. Tormented by unanswered questions, they assume it

      2 min read

    • Article

      Forthelove Of Novels

      Oct 16, 2020

      As the temperature rises in Gaborone, Precious Ramotswe, founder of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, wonders if the heat is the reason business is particularly slow. When a cousin of hers comes to the agency with a plea for help, she and her assoc

      2 min read

    • Article

      In The Friend Zone

      Oct 1, 2022

      In The Friend Zone
      3 min read

    • Article

      What’s On Netflix?

      Sep 13, 2020

      What’s On Netflix?
      3 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Dec 18, 2020

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Dec 15, 2023

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Jul 7, 2020

      by Sabine Durrant (£14.99, Hodder & Stoughton, HB) Verity has lived in Trinity Fields all her life, resisting change and desperately clinging on to the past and memories of her mother and sister, Faith. But when her new neighbour Ailsa Tilson moves i

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Screen

      May 6, 2021

      The Screen
      1 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Oct 21, 2019

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      In 'Dead Queens Club,' Henry VIII Is The Homecoming King

      Feb 2, 2019

      Hannah Capin's zippy new young adult novel follows intrepid journalist Annie (she's from Cleveland so her pal Henry calls her Cleves) as she investigates the mystery of Henry's dead girlfriends.

      2 min read

    • Article

      What’s On Stan?

      Sep 13, 2020

      What’s On Stan?
      2 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Mar 28, 2024

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Myths and Fables: On Sexual Violence in Fiona Mozley’s ‘Elmet’

      Feb 16, 2018

      Elmet, Fiona Mozley’s sparse stunner, contracts where other debut novels might tell too much. Departing from current narrative conventions of dialogue-heavy realism, Elmet strips a mythic, unnerving fable down to its bones. Ex-hitman Daddy has built

      5 min read

    Reviews for Dare Me

    3.5/5

    394 ratings58 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      DARE ME is one of those books that even in its modest length takes a while to get where it's headed. However, that's not to say that it takes very long to build up tension and turmoil in the lives of its characters. Built around a high school cheer squad, DARE ME injects you into the love/hate relationships of young girls as they vie for position in their cheer/friend clique.
      Addy Hanlon has always played the right-hand girl to Beth Cassidy. They were friends from the time they were young, and except for a few isolated incidents, have remained so, with the hierarchy always remaining the same.
      Then a new cheer coach, Collette French, arrives and upsets the status quo. She is young, good-looking and disciplined, totally the opposite of the prior coach that Beth controlled at her whimsey. Coach refuses to acknowledge, or allow, Beth as the "Top" cheerleader, setting in motion a test of wills and wit that the "Bad Seed" Beth is determined to win.
      Coach begins to build friendships with the girls, having them to her home and sharing wine and stories late into the night while her young daughter sleeps and her workaholic husband does...work. Addy becomes Coach's confidante. Beth keeps herself removed from it all and plots.
      A golden opportunity presents itself to Beth. Coach begins an affair with a National Guard sergeant who leads a recruiting team at the school. Beth befriends the other recruiters, creating a pathway for information from them about the affair while Addy tries to stay loyal to them both.
      Then the sergeant is found dead of an apparent suicide. Was it suicide, or was it revenge, and if so by whom?
      Abbott has created a nasty, noirish cheerleader world, where parents are present only as passing references, and friendships are only as strong as the limbs holding up the shaky cheer formations. It can be a chilling place, and Abbott does a fine job making sure your time in it is well spent.
    • 5/5
      It's like a "Beauty Queens" but with more suspense, and cheerleaders. It will make you fear for your daughters in high school and hope they never get involved with cliques.
    • 1/5
      I listened to the Audio Version of this and all I could think about was how unimportant the story felt to me. Had I been reading the book, I don't even know that I would have been able to complete the book. I must say that the narration itself was the best part about this book.

      I am still trying to figure out exactly where the title falls with this book, as it seems to have no direct correlation to the story, at least not to me anyway.

      None of the characters were likable nor was I able to identify with a single one of them. I understand that kids are cruel in this day and age, but I can't help but think that these characters were stretched to new levels of ordinarily meanness.

      The story was pretty straight forward and predictable, although right at the end it did have one slight twist that I didn't expect, but it wasn't the main part of the story. Even after thinking about what Beth did, it leaves you wondering why and exactly what the author was thinking when she wrote it that way. I understand that Beth's character was dramatic, but her actions at the end were beyond extreme dramatics. I was pretty sure I knew the who-done-it from at least the middle of the book if not earlier, so it was quite predictable.

      I can't quite predict if this story is enough to completely turn me away from reading future stories from Megan Abbott but I certainly can say that I did not care for this book, nor would I ever dream of attempting to read it ever again!

    • 4/5
      I would give it three and a half stars if allowed... I really enjoyed this book, but I didn't LOVE it. This was a part mystery/suspense and part coming-of-age novel. It centers around high school cheerleaders (which would not normally lead me to pick it up, but it was a gift from my brother and his books are always interesting at the least). This is a dark, tense book and the descriptions of the cheer aspects fit remarkably well to both parallel the other aspects of the story and to propel the tale forward.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this. Reminded me of Foxfire in some ways. Great, complicated characters in Ms. French, Addie & Beth.
    • 2/5
      After spending a day with Coach, Addy, and Beth I feel dirty. All of them are pretty crappy people...they lie to each other, themselves, everyone. I don't really have word for the book other than. It takes Mean Girls and mixes it with Bring it On...takes away the funny and makes these girls more cruel. Interesting enough to keep me reading, but not a book I would usually look for, you know?Aside -- What does the title have to do with ANYTHING that happened in the book? And vague much about the whole sexuality business? What happened over the summer? Addy made a new friend and Beth got jealous? The more I think about this book, the less I like it.
    • 4/5
      Reads a bit like Killing Mr. Griffin for adults or older teens, though maybe that's just because I read very few thrillers. I think my favorite thing about this book, honestly, was how believable and relatable it made some of the infuriating things that characterize my students' generation: the diet of nothing but sugar, the constant texting, the overt use of sexuality as a weapon. (I don't mean to imply that all or even most of my girls do these things; they don't. But I do see it and this book helped it make a little more sense, where that's coming from and how it feels from the inside.) I also love that the main characters are cheerleaders and proud of it. The first-person narration is intelligent and thoughtful, and is clear up-front that she is aware of the dumb cheerleader perception and intends to subvert it.

      Overall, tighty written and extremely intense; I read it in one stretch on the train from Boston to DC without putting it down once.
    • 4/5
      Dare Meby Megan AbbotMy" in a nutshell" summary...Angst...cheerleaders...Coach Collette...discovery...mayhem...murder.My thoughts after reading this book...Our minds can mix us up so much in our youth making us ask ourselves who we are. I sense this with in this story...which begins as a mean girl cheerleader story and then takes off into so much more. Beth, Addy, and Coach...a weird triangle where Coach is off balance and shares far too much with Addy. Beth...used to being in charge...is not in charge any more. Coach Collette sees to that. Coach seems to have a sad marriage, a four year old and suddenly a steamy affair. And again...shares far too much of her life with Addy. Beth...has always had an evil side that scares everyone. Beth is going to do something over the top that involves Coach. Addy is afraid because no one knows Beth the way Addy does. Not sure about Addy...damaged...yes...girl crush on Coach...I think so...plus many issues with Beth even though they have been friends forever! The cheerleaders are hateful to each other...mean and hateful and nasty. They don't eat and are forever throwing up. They appear to live to cheer, drink and eat jello.Beth, Addy and Coach are involved in a crime with Beth manipulating everyone. You can almost guess how the leaping flying cheering layouts will lead to a terrifying ending.What I loved about this book...The angst and the relationships in this book are priceless. They run deep, they are mean spirited and they are fierce.What I did not love...This cheering squad with Beth leading, Addy following and Coach cheating was a hot mess.Final thoughts...Sad characters and a great story
    • 4/5
      Interesting story in a gossipy way. I wanted to make it to the end so I could find out what happened to the characters, despite the fact I did not really like them. Cheerleaders from Hell or was every girl just a stone cold psycho? I think this novel would do well turned into one of those teenage movies (starring Reese Witherspoon back in the day, which probably shows my age).
    • 5/5
      Dare Me is a delightfully wicked, suspenseful and compelling crime novel set in the world of high-school cheerleaders. The prologue describes the discovery of a body and then the novel begins four months earlier, describing with increasing tension the sequence of events leading up to the murder, and ends somewhat later having described the aftermath.But it is not really a whodunnit, in fact it is much more about the ultra-competitive, manipulative and sometimes vicious girls on the cheerleading squad, as recounted in the first person by the "Lieutenant" to the long-time team Captain Beth and the adopted close ally of the new coach. Beth is a compelling, charismatic and controlling figure who orchestrates much of the novel. But don't be fooled by the seemingly decent, bland narrator...
    • 4/5
      Very dark and very well-written. The girls seem to be typical teenagers and then the story becomes sinister and you realize how complex and damaged they are. Left unsupervised by her parents, the narrator becomes the adult in her relationahips with characters that should be role models. It's not until the end that you realize her accounting may not be reliable.
    • 4/5
      Pretty Little Liars of the cheerleader world. At little disturbing at times knowing that these girls are the same age as mine!
    • 4/5
      The basics: Addy Hanlon, a high school senior, has been best friends with Beth Cassidy for years. Within the hierarchy of high school royalty, Addy is the lieutenant to Beth's queen bee. When a new cheerleading coach arrives at their school, Addy and Beth's world changes, and coach draws Addy into her world.My thoughts: Megan Abbott is the master of realistic thrillers. On the surface, this novel might not read like a thriller, or what we've come to think of as a thriller. The more I thought about this novel, however, the more similarities I saw between this novel and The End of Everything, in which an abduction quietly moves at its realistic pace. Dare Me is a thriller because the characters don't realize they're in a thriller, but the reader soon does. This rawness gives Dare Me its edge.I read Dare Me compulsively in less than a day. I loved inhabiting Addy's mind and discovering her connectedness and disconnectedness to reality. Addy provides a fascinating window into this story, as she narrates what she doesn't always understand. Her observations sometimes illuminated the story and sometimes darkened it. At times, I longed to have another view into these characters, but Addy's perspective kept a certain layer of both creepiness and normalcy.The verdict: Dare Me is modern day noir. At first, this novel seems innocuous, but as Abbott drew me deeper into the underworld of these teenage girls and their coach, it soon becomes more sinister. On the surface: these girls may be typical teenagers, but what's beneath is truly frightening...and darkly thrilling.
    • 1/5
      I read a review that gave this book a lot of credit, I for one do not agree
      There was a lot of wording that did not need to be there and totally bland throughout the book
    • 2/5
      Beth and Addy are best friends and cheerleaders at their high school. Then, they get a new cheer coach and the dynamics of their friendship change. Beth is no longer captain is jealous of the sway the coach has over the team. When someone dies, Addy wonders about Beth's role in things. This book is a nasty look at teenage girls, presenting them as drugged, drunk, and sleazy. The relationship with their coach is inappropriate. I was not a fan of this book.
    • 4/5
      There’s so much going on in this book — adultery, murder, eating disorders, bi-curiosity, cheerleaders being out of control, competitive, and perhaps a little cultish. Never saw those twists coming, either!
    • 5/5
      What DIDN'T I love about this book? The writing was gorgeous. The characters, setting, and situation rang completely true to life. I loved the increasingly complicated relationships between Beth, Abby, and Colette. The ending reveals a painful secret that sheds a whole new light on Beth, Abby, and the events that transpired between them. A fantastic read.
    • 4/5
      If you want to know what it's like to be a high school bitch, then read this book. High school girls can be really mean, I know that and I saw it when my daughter went through high school. There are a few who think they are the queens of the school and they treat people horribly to get what they want. I always look at those people not having a very happy life. That is what I think about Beth in Dare Me. She is a bitter girl who is going to have a horrible life if she doesn't let it go. This also showed how a coach/teacher can get wrapped up in their student's lives and how students get too close to their teachers or idolize them. Very well written. I'm glad I never encountered a Beth and I'm glad I was never a Beth.
    • 1/5
      dull and lifeless
    • 4/5
      Dare Me is another glimpse at the darkness that lies behind female friendships. There is always jealousy, one-up-manship, secrets, and lies. This time, Megan Abbott takes to the underworld of high school cheerleading. It's a compelling, twisty read.
    • 4/5
      Once again, Megan Abbott creates some unbelievably horrible high school girls and I'm intrigued.

      This time, the girls are cheerleaders and they are twisted, mean, manipulative and just plain bitches. Even their coach is horrible.



      None of them realize how good they have it, with their nice homes, their cell phones and their varsity jackets.

      I'm not sure how Ms. Abbott does it, but somehow she makes things I'm not interested in, well- interesting. Cheerleading? Couldn't care less. But in this book, I learned about it, understood it better, (these girls sometimes get seriously hurt), and came to respect it. (Same thing happened with gymnastics in her book You Will Know Me.)

      Anyway, I'm on board the Abbott train and I'm off to see what else she has that I can gobble up over this summer.
    • 4/5
      Megan Abbott takes the Mean Girls trope to extremes in her novel Dare Me, about a team of high school Cheerleaders who revel in their sense of entitlement and perceived immortality. Addy Hanlon is the sixteen-year-old narrator who identifies herself as the “lieutenant” to her best friend and Team Captain, Beth. Even as she kowtows and follows Beth’s every command, Addy recognizes how cruel and ruthless her idol can be. The alpha-beta balance of their relationship is threatened however, when the squad comes under the leadership of a new coach. Colette French is not about to be dazzled or overtaken by Beth. Coach French is also a domineering force with a magnetic personality that upsets the team’s hierarchy and engenders loyalty and adoration from the girls, including Addy. Beth is so furious with this competition for Addy’s affection that she embarks on a campaign to sabotage the interloper at any cost. That includes implicating the coach in the suspicious death of a young Guardsman recruiter working at the school. It is also possible, however, that Beth’s theory is correct- that their Coach is as guilty as she would like her to be. Addy is torn between the two possessive women, the focus of their power struggle and a pawn susceptible to their deceit. In this novel, all of Abbot’s female characters are depicted as either rapacious and cruel or passive and vulnerable. Still, the women fare better than the men, who are mostly shadows in the background- all apparently weak and completely clueless. The themes of domination/submission are omnipresent, with no representation of a healthy relationship in any form. Still, Dare Me is a well-written and gripping read, with some decent (if implausible) plot twists. Wicked fun if a reader likes their thrillers dark and does not require likeable characters to root for.
    • 4/5
      If you like stories about bitchy teenage girls and their horrible lives as teenagers you’ll love this one. I actually really did enjoy this book. I’ve been wanting to read it for a while but kept putting it off for some reason. Although it was predictable, it was kind of like taking a step into that place no one wants to admit going for a while. Kind of like being a teenage girl, I didn’t have to do a whole lot of thinking for a while.
    • 1/5
      dull and lifeless
    • 1/5
      dull and lifeless
    • 4/5
      3.5 brutal stars.

      According to sports injury research, cheerleading is more dangerous than any other sport, with the rate of such injuries doubling between 1990 and 2002. For members of the Cheer Squad, captained by Beth Cassidy, there is less chance of being hurt by doing cheer stunts than by getting between Beth and Colette French, the new cheer coach. Beth rules the roost and she will do whatever it takes to anchor her position at the top of this pyramid.

      The story is told from the viewpoint of Addy Hanlon, Beth’s life-long lieutenant. Cheerleading is of such importance to her that high school only exists so these girls can have a cheerleading squad. Coach French’s appearance offers the possibility of the Squad to move from a bunch of girls who shaking their pom-poms into a competitive team of athletes. Beth sees the threat to her power immediately. Coach French initially behaves as any professional sport coach would be expected to behave – driven, disciplined, hard-shelled - until many of the members begin to see the progress they are making. At that point, the coach becomes part coach, part parent, part defiler of youth. All the women who make up this squad are “mean,” no one is exempt from the venom so easily and frequently sprayed and everyone is injured by the atmosphere that is allowed to fester. When a tragic event occurs, Beth is offered the opportunity to regain her place as “owner” of the Cheerleaders. Addy is caught between loyalty to her friend, her coach, and her team. She is not innocent in any of the events which seem to envelope her, but neither is she party to the subterfuge that sparked those events.

      The book shows the writing talent of Ms. Abbott. She highlights well the tension, confusion, anger, angst, and isolation experienced by all the girls. The world she creates is largely parent-free, which is difficult to comprehend. Addy and Beth are out at all hours of the night, leave home whenever they want, yet are never confronted by anyone in authority for their behavior. They ingest various substances, most illegal, rarely eat (or even retain what they do eat) but have no ill-effects from such behavior. For athletes in training for the “Big Game” where “the scout for regionals” will be in attendance, they show little commitment to staying healthy for that event. This undercurrent caused the story to be less believable and less plausible.

      The ending is well done, having drawn the reader in an entirely different direction until the moment when the curtain is lifted high enough to reveal the hidden truth about each of the characters.
    • 4/5
      Sheesh. Twisty delicious creepiness with an undercurrent of true malevolence powered by the deepest and most shallow of creatures-- girls. Girls are way scarier than women. Or men.
    • 1/5
      Cheerleaders, high school drama, murder and yet just meh. Could have been good but just didn't do it for me. I didn't like any of the characters. I didn't get their motivations and I didn't really care who did it or if they got caught. I really don't know what else to say. Other than I did manage to finish it. I think I just couldn't wait for it to be over so I could get on to a book I would enjoy.
    • 4/5
      A gripping, mean story about "mean girls" in a cheer leading squad. As the girls compete for positions ("high flyer" most coveted) they also compete for boys, attention, and each other's friendship. The pot is stirred even more when the new Coach (Collette French) arrives. At first, it seems Coach is just a Type A drill sergeant but she is not what she seems. Addy is the main character and while pretty and smart, she always feels #2 to Queen Bee "Beth." Throw in an illicit love affair (Coach and another adult), drinking, promiscuity, bad language, worse manners and it seems, according to this book, teenage girls are doomed. And, of yes, someone gets killed. Too tough, too jaded for this reader.
    • 4/5
      Well, this was a pleasant surprise! First book by Megan Abbott that I've read. The surprise was that I read a book about cheerleaders and couldn't put it down! The other reviews tell the story, but rest assured, this is one exciting book!