A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
DAILY TELEGRAPH * DAILY MIRROR * DAILY EXPRESS * WALL STREET JOURNAL * BOSTON GLOBE * LIBRARY JOURNAL * CRIMEREADS

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The mesmerising new thriller, set in the hothouse world of a ballet school, from the bestselling and award-winning writer Megan Abbott.

Dara and Marie were trained as ballet dancers by their glamorous mother, founder of the Durant School of Dance. After their parents died in a tragic accident nearly a dozen years ago, the sisters took over running the school together with Charlie, Dara''s husband and once their mother''s prized student. But when a suspicious accident occurs, just at the onset of the school''s annual performance of The Nutcracker - a season of competition, anxiety, and exhilaration - an interloper arrives and threatens their delicate balance.

''Compulsively readable'' RUTH WARE

''A book you will not be able to forget'' MARK BILLINGHAM

''My thriller of the year'' JAKE KERRIDGE, DAILY TELEGRAPH, BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR

''A twisting, turning story of revenge and redemption'' STYLIST

''The feeling of menace grows stronger with every page'' GUARDIAN

''Slow-burning and feverish, with all the intensity of a classic American film noir'' MAIL ON SUNDAY

''Charged with foreboding, the novel throbs with gothic tension'' IRISH TIMES

''Dark and juicy and tinged with horror'' NEW YORK TIMES

''Dark and mesmerising'' HARRIET TYCE

''This is Megan Abbott working at the absolute height of her talent'' ATTICA LOCKE

''There''s no one who captures the atmosphere of a tight-knit hothouse world, in all its feverish beauty and brutality, quite like Megan Abbott'' TANA FRENCH