“Dare Me” is Disturbingly Insightful into the World of Teenage Girls

“There I am, Addy Hanlon, sixteen years old, hair like a long taffy pull and skin tight as a rubber band. I am on the gym floor, my girl Beth beside me, our cherried smiles and spray-tanned legs, ponytails bobbing in sync.”


This was a disturbing look at the lives of cheerleaders. 

Cheerleaders—they are often portrayed as ditzy, shallow, flighty things, giggling while shaking their pompoms, but this is the second book I’ve read—the first being Exit, Pursued by a Bear—that portrayed them as the complete opposite.

These cheerleaders were tough, hardworking, determined, and out for blood. Abbott showed just how much work goes into cheerleading, and these girls treated it like their very lives depended on it.

“That’s what people never understand: They see us hard little pretty things, brightly lacquered and sequin-studded, and they laugh, they mock, they arouse themselves. They miss everything. You see, these glitters and sparkle dusts and magicks? It’s war paint, it’s feather and claws, it’s blood sacrifice.”

Abbott showed the nasty side of cheerleading, too—the eating disorders, backstabbing, jealousy, and dangerous stunts. The girls’ deeply unhealthy lives made me feel rather sick at times.

When a new coach, Colette French, takes charge of the team, she turns things around. Addy quickly becomes attached to Colette. Her obsession was so creepy. Colette buttered Addy up, inviting her over to her house and helping her train . . . soon Addy found herself too caught up in Colette’s life to escape.

While the character study was interesting, I think this would have worked better as a contemporary. When Abbott introduced the murder mystery, it felt like an unnecessary distraction from the story revolving around Addy, Beth, and Colette. The barely-there mystery didn’t have me invested.

Dare Me’s weak plot and the way the ending boiled down didn’t work for me. I’ll definitely try more of Megan Abbott’s novels, because I loved her amazingly gorgeous writing, and hopefully one of her other books will have a more agreeable storyline.