Give Me Your Hand

Megan Abbott

Jul 2018 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this eBook

A life-changing secret destroys an unlikely friendship in this "magnetic" psychological thriller from the Edgar Award-winning author of Dare Me and The Turnout (Meg Wolitzer).

You told each other everything. Then she told you too much.

Kit has risen to the top of her profession and is on the brink of achieving everything she wanted. She hasn't let anything stop her.

But now someone else is standing in her way: Diane. Best friends at seventeen, their shared ambition made them inseparable. Until the day Diane told Kit her secret -- the worst thing she'd ever done, the worst thing Kit could imagine -- and it blew their friendship apart.

Kit is still the only person who knows what Diane did. And now Diane knows something about Kit that could destroy everything she's worked so hard for.

How far would Kit go to make the hard work, the sacrifice, worth it in the end? What wouldn't she give up? Diane thinks Kit is just like her. Maybe she's right. Ambition: it's in the blood . . .

Shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award

Ratings and reviews

Megan Abbott has received rave reviews for her previous novels especially You Will Know Me and The Fever. Her knack for creating engrossing plots with complex characters is evident again in her newest work, Give Me Your Hand. Abbott manages to weave a taut, addictive tale while also addressing many timely themes and contemporary issues. In this book, just some of the topics she touches upon: symbiotic/parasitic friendships, the stigma of mental illness, guilt and self-punishment, gender inequality in the STEM fields (both as a focus of research and in workforce representation), lack of NIH funding, class privilege and cronyism, and competition between women. Give Me Your Hand takes place in a medical research lab staffed primarily with male post-docs. Kit, the main character, and their boss Dr. Severin are the only women, even though the focus of the study is PMDD (Premenstrual Dysmorphic Disorder). The staff are vying for spots on Dr. Severin’s special team, an opportunity that could cement their careers. They are all dismayed to see a new female employee entering their fold, especially Kit. It turns out that Diane Fleming is not only fierce competition for the limited slots, she and Kit have a shared history that contains a disturbing and life-altering secret. The novel pivots back and forth in time between the drama in the lab and the background story of how Kit and Diane met and became enmeshed as teens. Abbott cleverly keeps the reader guessing and glued to the pages. She challenges traditional ideas of ethics, especially for women who have been marginalized and forced to fight for advancement and recognition. A page turner that also provokes deep contemplation, Give Me Your Hand is a great pick for the summer. It will certainly reaffirm Megan Abbott’s deserved popularity and create anticipation for her next endeavor.

Sad ending. I wish we could've learned more about Diane.

An enjoyable read. Authentic.

About the author

Megan Abbott is the award-winning author of nine novels, including You Will Know Me, The Fever, Dare Me, and The End of Everything. She received her PhD in literature from New York University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Guardian, and The Believer. Currently, she is a staff writer on HBO's David Simon show, The Deuce. She lives in New York City.