You Will Know Me

A Novel

By: Megan Abbott

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

A "shocking and perfect" best seller about family and ambition from the award-winning author of Dare Me and The Turnout (New York Times Book Review​).

How far will you go to achieve a dream? That's the question a celebrated coach poses to Katie and Eric Knox after he sees their daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful, compete. For the Knoxes there are no limits - until a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community and everything they have worked so hard for is suddenly at risk.

As rumors swirl among the other parents, Katie tries frantically to hold her family together while also finding herself irresistibly drawn to the crime itself. What she uncovers - about her daughter's fears, her own marriage, and herself - forces Katie to consider whether there's any price she isn't willing to pay to achieve Devon's dream.

From a writer with "exceptional gifts for making nerves jangle and skin crawl" (Janet Maslin), You Will Know Me is a breathless roller coaster of a novel about the desperate limits of parental sacrifice, furtive desire, and the staggering force of ambition.

©2016 Megan Abbott (P)2016 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The book to beat...in the 'Is it the next

Gone Girl?' sweepstakes." (Janet Maslin,

New York Times)

"Thriller Award-winner Abbott ( The Fever) takes a piercing look at what one family will sacrifice in the name of making their daughter a champion.... Abbott keenly examines the pressures put on girls' bodies and the fierce, often misguided love parents have for their children." ( Publishers Weekly)

"In true Abbott style, nothing is predictable here; the plot consistently confounds expectations with its clever twists and turns. Admirers of Patricia Highsmith, Laura Lippman, and Kimberly Pauley are in for a treat." ( Library Journal)

Fast paced, easy read.

A murder mystery within a competitive gymnastics community.

It was a fun read, but didn't rock my world.

So good!

This story was engrossing - hard to stop listening. I just kept wondering what was coming next. The narrator was excellent! Don't know if the book would have been as good with someone else narrating. Would highly recommend.

End...

Performance of this book was great and the rise and fall of the action within was very good. I could not tell if there was to be a sequel or not but if this is given to a young adult to read, I think a good discussion should be in order about the ending.

Creepy

While at the beginning it seems to be an average story the outcome is quite creepy. There's quite a bit to discuss about this book so for that reason I recommend it. Most of my club members didn't really like the characters very much and felt sorry for the boy

Gymnastics!

**I did not enjoy this as much on the reread

How well do we know our spouses? Our children? Our neighbors?

What's brewing beneath the icy eyes of fifteen-year-old gymnast Devon Knox? More than the fierce determination of a talented athlete?

Her mother Katie sees an angelic, hardworking, innocent teenager in a younger girl's body. Her father sees a future champion. Her coach and the younger gymnasts see an aspirational role model.

Everybody has a role in Devon's future success. Eric, her father and biggest cheerleader heads the boosters. Katie, her momager, finder of lost hand grips and leotards watches on the sidelines. Younger brother Drew, nearly an afterthought observes more than anyone realizes.

When a young man affiliated with the gym is killed the police investigation centers around the coach's niece, but could the accident be murder and could the murderer be even closer to Devon and her inner circle?

Megan Abbott has an uncanny way of getting inside the twisted minds of disturbed women and girls like few writers and creating deliciously complex characters that ooze dysfunction in an almost sensual manner. YOU WILL KNOW ME is essentially Katie's story, in her third person POV, but the story centers around Devon and her gymnastics. The Knox family centers around Devon and her gymnastics. The entire gym centers around Devon, but we never really get to know who she is. Devon is certainly much more than her mother knows, in part because all teenage girls are and in part because Katie has blurred the boundaries between Devon and The Business of Devon.

I love Abbott's writing and was drawn in from the blurb, even before page 1. YOU WILL KNOW ME is a mystery that's not entirely mysterious. I was much more interested in the whys than the who and what happened. The ending felt a bit anticlimactic.

My expectations for this novel could probably never be met, but I still highly recommend YOU WILL KNOW ME and I'll probably reread at some point.

Terrific

4.5 stars. Even though I figured out the reveal about halfway through, it did nothing to diminish my enjoyment of this book. The writing is terrific—so many wonderful, thoughtful turns of phrase, and the way the author pulls you inside the head of the protagonist as her thoughts spiral steadily downward. That, combined with the plot and pacing, all come together to make a great story. And the narration was perfect—she really captured the emotion and subtlety of the characters.

Interesting read..

Great narration , thought provoking , kept my interest.i thought the writer did a good job with this story .Not a literary masterpiece maybe , but entertaining for sure .
Eerie !

Enjoyed very much

When I first purchased this book, I was skeptical. There are a lot of negative reviews, but I truly enjoyed it. The story is well written & the narrator does a good job of keeping one's attention. The plot is somewhat predictable, but not entirely. This is one of the few books I've listened to for long periods of time and not just in the car or while cleaning house.

not a bad story

this is not a bad story. the writer didn't take advantage of what she started.

Great book but ending was just ok

It was interesting to see the behind the scenes details of the gymnastics world. I enjoyed the book overall but the ending was weak at best.