The Turnout

 By Megan Abbott

G.P. Putnam’s Sons         2021

352 pages     Thriller

It has been several days since I finished reading The Turnout by Megan Abbott, and the book is still haunting me! Abbott writes, “Ballet was full of dark fairy tales.” And for Marie and Dara Durant the fairy tale darkness comes true as they prepare their young ballet students for this year’s coming production of the Nutcracker. Marie, Dara, and Dara’s husband Charlie run the school that the girls’ mother started in the 1980s. Charlie was a dancer, but because of a variety of injuries, he can no longer dance. The three live in the same house that the family has owned for years and teach in the building that has been the studio since the beginning. This is the foundation for the "dark fairy tales."

Marie is at odds with her sister and husband and has moved to the attic of the studio to live. The heater she is using causes a fire which burns one of the studios just as the Nutcracker practices begin in earnest. The insurance agent recommends Derek, a local contractor, to do the repairs, and Derek invades the space, the lives, and the minds of Marie, Dara, and Charlie. Tension builds, illusions are shattered, and lives are destroyed.

The Kirkus reviewer says that “the mesmerizing prose will keep you turning the pages.” Abbott does a spectacular job of setting the scene. For example, after Derek begins the work on the ruined studio, she writes, “All day there were thunderous tremors from Studio B, the floors coming up, leaving a haze of debris. The old planks like matchsticks, the smell of mold, mice. The silt from decades of young girls: stray earring studs, hair elastics, dusted ribbons, Band-Aids curled with browned blood.” Every moment is filled with these captivating images.

 While there is no murder to solve, the plot is surprisingly propulsive. Abbott knows a lot about ballet, and while the main plot concerns the relationship between the ballet studio owners and Derek, the contractor, the sub-plot of putting together the Nutcracker ballet with all the tryouts, the practices, the pre-teen girl drama, the injuries, and the costuming is enlightening and repulsive at the same time. I don’t believe that I will ever look at ballet lessons and/or The Nutcracker with the same eyes again. One reviewer notes, “For all its beauty, ballet can be born out of pain.” Abbott explores that concept relentlessly, and the reader moves from fond childhood Nutcracker memories to visions of turned ankles, spiteful girls, and unraveled dreams.

Last week, I had a timeout trip to the family cottage on Lake Michigan. The Turnout was the book I took with me to read. I knew it had been well reviewed, and I felt that it would be an excellent respite book. I was in and out of the house all day and took several walks—every time the tension in the book got to be more than I could stand. It was about 10:30 at night when other family members arrived. According to my Kindle I was 97% through the book. How dare they come when I was this close to getting some final closure on the horrifying events! I excused myself as quickly as I could and retreated to my bedroom to bring the whole sordid affair to the end.

Here is a fascinating interview with Megan Abbott on the Book Page website.

Just published, The Turnout is on many lists of the best books of summer 2021.