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A slow-burn thriller with neck-breaking twists and turns, Megan Abbott's The Turnout swirls complicated questions of family, loyalty and how far you would go to protect your own — or yourself.

"We grew up together," Dara finally repeated.
But Marie only looked at her and said quietly, "Did we? Grow up?"

The Turnout, Megan Abbott's tenth novel, swirls complicated questions of family, loyalty and how far you would go to protect your own — or yourself. Like so many of Abbott's stories, it also revolves around female-dominated spaces — as she describes it, "the misty pink hothouse of ballet" — and the feelings of impossible joy, rage, lust and wonder they generate. Focusing on twin sisters Dara and Marie Durant and the ballet school (Durant School of Dance) that they run with Dara's husband Charlie after inheriting it from their mother, The Turnout is a slow-burn thriller with neck-breaking twists and turns throughout.

With Abbott making the allusion herself several times, it's easy to see the Durant School and the lives the sisters lead at the beginning of the novel as Edenic. They grew up sheltered, homeschooled by their ballerina mother so that they could devote as much time as possible to shaping their bodies and minds into those of perfect dancers. It becomes readily apparent throughout the course of the book, however, that evil has always lurked under the leaves in the garden, even before a snake slithers into their midst. Abbott's descriptions of their falling-apart suburban town — with special attention paid to the Durants' childhood home — mirror the plot of a once tight-knit family coming apart at the seams. The strange and dark relationships between the twins, their parents and Charlie are finally flung into sharp focus when a mysterious accident occurs at the school and brings a newcomer into their world, forcing them to recall trauma and abuse throughout their shared childhoods. The Turnout showcases how the most beautiful things can hide the darkest ones within the shadows, and how, sometimes, we must go through horrific ordeals to reach the light.

As in Give Me Your Hand, Abbott's 2018 novel about the grueling world of scientific research through the eyes of two high-school friends forever bound by a shocking secret, every line of prose in The Turnout sings with the author's unique, poetic voice. One of my favorite lines is her description of the young male ballet dancers in the Durant School — she paints a picture of "…their chests like ship prows yet waists so dainty, like prim bows." The would-be rhyme of "prows" and "bows" is a microcosmic example highlighting Abbott's character, plot and world building skill: Whatever you expect her to write will give out on you like a snapping pointe shoe. I also loved a turn of phrase in Dara's memory of Marie and another character, as she remembers her "neck thick and ringed red, his hands on her shoulders, wringing them red." The "ring/wring" parallel here is simply beautiful. I don't know how Abbott's poetic writing translates to TV (she is also a television writer, and The Turnout is slated to become a television series) but her ability to turn language in on itself is a major factor in her novels becoming hits.

I wholeheartedly recommend The Turnout to those looking for their next page-turning, murderous thriller, fans of suburban gothic and dark themes, and anyone with even a passing interest in dance. This novel will make you strap your spiritual pointe shoes on — or maybe tuck them under the bed with the monsters you fear.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in October 2021, and has been updated for the June 2022 edition. Click here to go to this issue.

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