Give Me Your Hand
A New York Times Editor’s Choice selection
One of Entertainment Weekly’s Most Anticipated Books of 2018
A mesmerizing psychological thriller about how a secret can bind two friends together forever...or tear them apart.
Kit Owens harbored only modest ambitions for herself when the mysterious Diane Fleming appeared in her high school chemistry class. But Diane’s academic brilliance lit a fire in Kit, and the two developed an unlikely friendship. Until Diane shared a secret that changed everything between them.
More than a decade later, Kit thinks she’s put Diane behind her forever and she's begun to fulfill the scientific dreams Diane awakened in her. But the past comes roaring back when she discovers that Diane is her competition for a position both women covet, taking part in groundbreaking new research led by their idol. Soon enough, the two former friends find themselves locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that threatens to destroy them both.
Give Me Your Hand makes the Best of 2018 lists for NPR, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, The Guardian, Associated Press, Booklist, Irish Times and more
Give Me Your Hand tops the best-reviewed books of 2018
“The reason to read this compelling and hypnotic novel is not the execution of the plot or the sleight-of-hand final revelation. What makes it stand out is Abbott’s expert dissection of women’s friendships and rivalries. She is an investigator of the human heart and mind, and ‘Give Me Your Hand’ is a fine addition to her body of work — one that should cement her position as one of the most intelligent and daring novelists working in the crime genre today.”
— New York Times
"Megan Abbott’s Bloodthirsty Murderesses" — New York Magazine Profile
Named one of the best books of the month by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books
Already named one of the most anticipated reads of the summer by: L.A. Times · Vulture · Chicago Tribune · Redbook · Cosmopolitan · Nylon · Refinery29 · InStyle · Seattle Times · Newsday · Kirkus · Minneapolis Star Tribune · Family Circle · Chicago Reader · Medium · CrimeReads · BookBub · Hypable · Bustle · PopSugar
Praise
“GIVE ME YOUR HAND is further proof that Megan Abbott is the 21st century's answer to Patricia Highsmith—she has that uncanny insight into the dark and treacherous depths of the human heart.“
— Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will
“Megan Abbott manages to be a master of suspense, a gifted literary novelist, and a brilliant voice on gender, power and obsession, all at once. GIVE ME YOUR HAND is mesmerizing.“
— J. Courtney Sullivan, bestselling author of Saints for All Occasions and Maine
“This is Megan Abbott at her very best. Cool, crisp, chilling.“
— Paula Hawkins, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Girl on the Train
“GIVE ME YOUR HAND is dark, smart, twisty, and thoroughly addictive. No one maps the thrilling and sometimes dangerous intensity of female friendships better than Megan Abbott.”
— Tom Perrotta, bestselling author of Mrs. Fletcher and Little Children
“While Megan Abbott’s magnetic new novel mines themes of ambition, competition, excellence, and friendship, what perhaps struck me the most was its exploration of the long, undeterrable reach of memory. GIVE ME YOUR HAND is darkly effective, uneasy-making, and beautifully, absorbingly written.”
— Meg Wolitzer, bestselling author of The Female Persuasion and The Interestings
“SO. GOOD. A tense, pitch-perfect thriller about ambition and female friendship and a forensic examination of what it takes for women to rise through male-dominated spaces. It felt in places like a dark inversion of The Secret History.“
— Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said