It is a slow burn to begin with, but once Megan Abbott’s latest crime novel Give Me Your Hand finds its stride, it turns into an exciting, heart-pumping thriller. From then on we are thrown into the guilt-ridden mind of young scientist Kit Owens, as she finds herself at the mercy of friend-turned-rival Diane Fleming.
The intricacies of this relationship is one of the most stimulating parts of Give Me Your Hand, demonstrating Abbott’s flair for crafting female characters that aren’t easily defined by conventional fiction tropes. Diane in particular is particularly interesting; she is the narrative’s closest thing to an antagonist, as she subtly undermines Kit’s sanity and stability, but also proves herself to be a helpful ally to her friend in tough circumstances. Consequently, Diane is a paradox—a sympathetic sociopath who elicits affection through power plays.
Kit, Diane, and Dr Severin exist in a world that underestimates their capabilities, and yet they consistently prove their value by working relentlessly against the odds in a male-dominated profession. But this isn’t what Abbott chooses to focus on. It is evident that she is more interested in the female psyche on a much deeper level.
Whether the darker tendencies of our leading characters are a product of nature or nurture is deliberately left unclear. That’s not to say it is ignored completely—the study of PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) that Dr Severin is leading aims to tackle the very issue. However, even with the arguments for both sides taken into account, it is still impossible to determine the source of Kit and Diane’s extreme behaviour. In the end, we are never entirely sure whether it stems from society’s incessant discrimination against women in professional contexts, or whether it is some kind of deeply imbedded affliction that they are powerless against.
As a result, Abbott breaks a rule of character writing that is very rarely broken—she obscures their motivations from the reader. In this case, though, it isn’t a terrible thing. After all, the motivations are often unclear to the characters themselves, and this makes for a riveting mystery that parallels and underscores the narrative’s main thematic beats.
The story takes its time to set up Kit and Diane’s characters before any huge developments occur, choosing to leave the reader in the dark for a long time on certain things that could easily be revealed much earlier. Although Abbott is confident in her ability to create intrigue and suspense, this is a quality that may not always prove to be successful, depending on individual readers’ levels of patience.
The novel’s structure of switching between the present and past is a highlight in these early parts, building tension towards a reveal that the narrative hinges on. However, towards the end it turns into a bit of a drag, distracting from a story that has finally settled into the noir-style narrative it aspired to be from the start. Despite this, the flashbacks still offer valuable nuggets of information that, while unnecessary, fill in blanks and connect some dots that we had forgotten about.
Give Me Your Hand examines the corrupting influence that sharing secrets has on the innocent, and although it never determines the source of this corruption Abbott teases out the possibilities in exciting and revealing ways. Her development of such strong, varied female characters is a testament to her understanding of how complex the notion of gender is in our contemporary society, and her ability to articulate these ideas is remarkable. Although the suspense that drives Give Me Your Hand is certainly absorbing, it is Megan Abbott’s examination of modern femininity and its adversities that proves to be the novel’s primary strength.
Give Me Your Hand is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
You told each other everything. Then she told you too much.
Kit has risen to the top of her profession and is on the brink of achieving everything she wanted. She hasn’t let anything stop her.
But now someone else is standing in her way – Diane. Best friends at seventeen, their shared ambition made them inseparable. Until the day Diane told Kit her secret – the worst thing she’d ever done, the worst thing Kit could imagine – and it blew their friendship apart.
Kit is still the only person who knows what Diane did. And now Diane knows something about Kit that could destroy everything she’s worked so hard for.
How far would Kit go, to make the hard work, the sacrifice, worth it in the end? What wouldn’t she give up? Diane thinks Kit is just like her. Maybe she’s right. Ambition: it’s in the blood…
