The Fever By Megan Abbott

[amazon_link id=”1447226321″ target=”_blank” ]As Good As It Gets[/amazon_link]’The Fever’ is the latest book by Megan Abbott.

The Nashes are a close-knit family. Tom, a popular teacher, is father to the handsome, roguish Eli and his younger sister Deenie, serious and sweet. But their seeming stability is thrown into chaos when two of Deenie’s friends become violently ill, and rumours of a dangerous outbreak sweep through the whole community. As hysteria swells and as more girls succumb, tightly held secrets emerge that threaten to unravel the world Tom has built for his kids, and destroy friendships, families, and the town’s fragile idea of security.

Another book I was really looking to reading this Christmas was ‘The Fever’. I was raging with myself that it took almost nine months to read it, but once I started I was unable to put this frenzied book down, even though it was New Years Eve!

The story primarily revolves around the lives of the Nash family, Deenie, the daughter, her older and much lusted after brother Eli and their father Tom, who is a teacher at their high school.

Deenie is having a normal school day when one of her best friends, Lise has a seizure in class resulting in her ended up in a coma, shortly after Lise’s seizure, Deenie’s other friend Gabby also becomes ill and suddenly there is an outbreak at the school, as other girls also are struck down with the same mystery illness. The town becomes chaotic as there is no reason as to why the girls are becoming ill and fingers are being pointed at the school for bringing in a new vaccine and other people are saying that it’s the toxic lake with its suspicious green algae.

The background of the book was originally inspired by the recent story of a school in Le Roy, New York, where 18 girls suddenly developed tics and seizures without any explanation, even calling in Erin Brockovich to investigate the town for pollution.

‘The Fever’ follows in a similar way, but in a more sinister and intriguing fashion, as a small town comes to a standstill when a strange illness takes over and every girl potentially becomes the next victim.

The Nash family are fantastic leads and give the perfect insight into the situation. Deenie is best friends with the two original victims and because of this people expect her to be the next target. Terrified with what is going on, she regularly visits her friends trying to figure what has happened and could indeed she be the next person to fall victim to the strange illness. Her brother is the reluctant heartbreaker of the story. As the star of the ice hockey team, Eli is much lusted after, with girls found regularly staring up at his bedroom window, he is uncomfortable with the attention but he rarely refuses it. Tom has an interesting role, as both a parent and a teacher, his primary role is to protect and teach but this is impossible when there is no information provided and he feels that he is letting his children down because he doesn’t know what is going on. Other leading characters in the story included Deenie’s mother left her family when Deenie was a child and she regularly phoned Deenie in tears of fear never once coming to her daughters side.

This is a brilliant high school story that is cleverly written and travels at a fast pace. Packed with tension and sexuality, it was impossible to put it down. Each page offered a new twist, as speculation grew with what was causing the girls to become ill and the power of social media escalated the fear making the book chilling reading as rumours spread like wildfire.

With a terrifying cover, this book is an original story that is reminiscent of a dark and twisted fairytale about lust, jealousy and a sleeping beauty. ‘The Fever’ is a dark and worrying psychological thriller and just as its title suggests makes for extremely exciting and agitated reading that will stay with you long after you finished the final page.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”1447226321″ target=”_blank” ]The Fever from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.

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