All that glitters and sparkles; candy-made for thirsting eyes - It's all smoke and mirrors - plumage full of sweet smelling delights, serving as a hideaway for the stingers that lay in wait. 'Dare Me' is home to those stingers. Full of pretty faces with indecent thoughts. These characters of cheer spread terror. While their eyes and sickly sweet mouths promise honey, the bee sting sharpens its point laying in wait for the perfect moment to penetrate normalcy and brandish a bloody streak across the teen and adult populace alike.

'Dare Me' is the absolute personification of suburban noir delivered in breathtaking subtleness and edge of your seat mystery. For cheer leaders Addy and Beth, the new coach will influence more than their aerobic capacity and hardened bodies but also entrance them with the murderous adult world where sex and lies are paramount to every day life.

Not only did Megan Abbott educate the reader on the finer points of cheer leading and the competitiveness of the sport on both an inter-squad and broader level but she also redefined the boundaries of noir. Along with her previous novel 'The End of Everything' she's turned the gray and solemn inner city world of noir into a bright, tension bubbling, gum smacking, distinctly suburban feel which could transform any neighbourhood into a harsh and cold place despite the sunny facade.

It's difficult to find a comparative piece to this book, such is it uniqueness - a rare commodity in modern fiction. The fresh perspective and mean-girl-like characters are a pure joy to read from beginning to end. Yet again, does Megan Abbott deliver an engrossing tale full of teenage angst, laced with the tension of a tightly coiled spring. 5 stars.