You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

Reviewed by Jeanne

We’ve all seen the little inspirational biographies of young athletes in the media: how the child developed a passion for baseball or soccer or ice skating and the parents sacrificed and saved to help the child achieve his or her dream.  In Megan Abbott’s You Will Know Me, we get a close-up view of what that’s like.  Kate and Eric Knox’s daughter Devon is a gymnast—a very gifted gymnast, possible Olympic material.  The Knoxes are one of several couples with daughters in the program, all parents who want their daughters to have the best chance of reaching the heights, and Devon is the engine who is going to pull the rest of the girls along with her.

The BelStars Gym parents are a close-knit group, so when Coach Hailey’s boyfriend is killed one evening by a hit and run driver, everyone –parents and gymnasts—are shaken to the core.  Practices are cancelled, girls see their performances slip, and parents begin to get very nervous.  They have invested a lot in time, money, and effort and there’s a major meet coming up soon.  They need for the gym to get back on track.

But when the police keep asking questions, it begins to look as if someone connected with BelStars may know more about exactly what happened that night.

Abbott has been lauded for her well-crafted psychological portraits of young women, and this book is no exception. Told primarily from Kate’s point of view, the reader gets a vivid picture of the family dynamics; how Eric and Kate met, the accident Devon suffered as a child, the struggle of a middle-class family among some big spenders, how having an exceptional child has changed everything about their lives.  Abbott also explores how well we can know other people. . . and even ourselves.

I enjoyed how this book slowly but steadily ratcheted up the tension as Kate begins to wonder about any number of things she’s never had cause to question—and the reader begins to have doubts about some of Kate’s own choices.  The layers of mystery and motives (not just for crimes) are revealed slowly but surely.  Even though I had a number of things I needed to do, I found myself reading “just one more chapter.”

I’ll be reading more Megan Abbott in the future. I’ll also never watch gymnastics quite the same way again.