The Turnout

By: Megan Abbott

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Best Book of the Year

NPR • Wall Street Journal • Boston Globe • Library Journal • CrimeReads • LitReactor • Air Mail

• Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize

• A TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick

• An Instant New York Times Bestseller

New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Megan Abbott's exquisite and disquieting new novel, “dark and juicy and tinged with horror” (The New York Times Books Review), set against the hothouse of a family-run ballet studio.

With their long necks and matching buns and pink tights, Dara and Marie Durant have been dancers since they can remember. Growing up, they were homeschooled and trained by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents' death in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago, the sisters began running the school together, along with Charlie, Dara's husband and once their mother's prized student.

Marie, warm and soft, teaches the younger students; Dara, with her precision, trains the older ones; and Charlie, sidelined from dancing after years of injuries, rules over the back office. Circling around one another, the three have perfected a dance, six days a week, that keeps the studio thriving. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school's annual performance of The Nutcracker—a season of competition, anxiety, and exhilaration—an interloper arrives and threatens the sisters' delicate balance.

Taut and unnerving, The Turnout is Megan Abbott at the height of her game. With uncanny insight and hypnotic writing, it is a sharp and strange dissection of family ties and sexuality, femininity and power, and a tale that is both alarming and irresistible.

©2021 Megan Abbott (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

A finalist for:

International Thriller Writers Award

Housatonic Book Award

Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize

One of:

TIME’s 36 News Books You Need to Read This Summer

Entertainment Weekly’s Best Books of August

Washington Post’s Eight Thrillers and Mysteries to Read this Summer

The Boston Globe's Summer Reading 2021 Picks

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Great New Books to Read in August

Wall Street Journal’s 11 Books to Read: The Best Reviews of August

Oprah Daily’s 33 Best Thrillers That’ll Keep You Turning the Page

Vogue’s Best Books to Read This Summer

Real Simple’s Up-All-Night Thrillers

Harper’s Bazaar’s 46 Books You Need to Read in 2021

Refinery29’s 38 Books You’ll Want to Read This Summer

The A.V. Club’s Four Hard-Hitting Crime Novels to Get You Through the End of Summer

CNN's 20 Most Anticipated New Books to Read This August

New York Post’s 30 Best Books on Our Summer Reading List in 2021

Seattle Times’ Most Anticipated Books of 2021

Insider's 10 Best New Books to Read in August

Apartment Therapy’s Must-read Book of the Month

Adore Magazine’s New Releases to Enjoy this Season

Inside Hook’s 10 Books You Should Be Reading This August

Glitter Guide’s 8 Books To Add To Your Reading List This August

The Millions's Most Anticipated Books of 2021

"Abbott's novels are often described as crime fiction, and, while indeed she works with mystery and suspense and draws on noir and Gothic tropes, her goal seems less to construct intricate, double-crossing plot problems than to explore the dark side of femininity....In other words, Megan Abbott is a mood."–The New York Times Book Review

“Abbott is a legend for good reason. No one combines the style of classic noir with the psyches of sophisticated men and women who are willing to do anything—anything—to succeed better than Abbott. Her latest is a dizzyingly fascinating story of a family-owned dance studio and the weight of unrequited ambition. An instant classic.”–Washington Post

“Compelling…Abbott leaves her audience riveted with each twist and turn, leading to a dramatic denouement. It’s a fantastic work in every way.”–Manhattan Book Review

Interesting

It’s a book that I think will stick with you. Some of the plot was too on the nose but otherwise well written. If you liked Macbeth the novel at Halloween, you’ll like this mystery at Christmas.

Wear OUT!

I was so invested in this book, I didn’t realize how worn out I was by the end.
So many adjectives.. words on words on words.
This is one book that the “abridged” version might be better.
Storyline is great… but again..a wear out!

Maybe Just a Bit Much

Right when I just wanted to be finished with this book, it got crazier. Maybe a bit too much. I have friends who loved it, but I think it was just…too much. Although definitely a crazy, creative storyline.

Eh

Found it difficult to want to listen. Strange story. I liked the reader, her voice did not annoy me

The Turnout 4½ ⭐

Audio Recording
The reason this audio recording got 4½ stars instead of 5 stars is that part of it was predictable. But the parts that weren't predictable were unforeseeable. I really liked that part of the story.

The story is about a family of ballerinas (mother and 2 daughters) and a young boy dancer that is enveloped into the family. The father is not a a dancer. The story starts several years after the deaths of the parents and one of the girls is married to the boy dancer. They run the ballet school that their mother ran for many years. The highlight of the of the school's year is The Nutcracker Ballet. The story revolves around the family dynamics and the ballet.

l highly recommend.

Thrilling.

Gripping, thrilling, you never know where it’ll go. This is a lovely novel. A must read.

Loved it!

I don't really understand all the pearl clutching reviews. I understand some can be put off by sexual content, but that doesn't mean the book isn't for everyone. I disagree that Abbott sexualized children. To me, it was about abuse. About being taken advantage of. And yes, sometimes about adolescent desires, hormones, etc. This doesn't have to be a taboo topic. And especially in the world of ballet where girls ARE sexualized from a young age, develop eating disorders, perform on injuries, forced to retire so young, etc. I could go on and on. None of this is new. But Abbott uses the backdrop of sisters who own a ballet studio and the Nutcracker, arguably as famous or more than Swan Lake, and it really worked. It's a murder mystery and also an inside look at the ballet world. Abbott also did this well with cheerleaders in Dare Me.

Anyway, that was a long way of saying I really enjoyed the book. Maybe I like metaphors. And the allusion to smells, setting the scene. Maybe I like the realism. Some say they don't warm to the characters, and I say you're not exactly supposed to. The sisters are supposed to be odd and mysterious. That's why they're interesting.

But I also really enjoyed the narration. Cassandra Campbell is excellent at what she does. I've listened to several books she has narrated and actually only just realized it was her. Her voice takes you into the story without calling attention to herself. She's a pro, at her best.

Decent story

This was a decent story, some of it was predictable. Other parts were unexpected. I enjoyed it, but felt like the middle of the book dragged on. There was lots of drama and it was a lot to unpack the childhood trauma of the main characters. Emotionally it was heavy, but redeemed itself in the end.

Weird

I wanted to enjoy the story because it was book of the month with Jenna Bush but this book was just too strange. The plot was shallow and improbable and the characters were too odd to really understand.

Compelling

I really enjoyed the gritty descriptions of what ballet is actually like-as opposed to the beauty of what performances exhibit. The veiled menace of the antagonist was truly frightening. The psychological twists and turns of the characters’ memory and perceptions were captivating.