When I was younger I used to watch ABC’s Wide World of Sports which had the famous tagline; “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport! The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat!” The shows with gymnastic events, whether it was national or world events, were my favorites. The rivalry and the competition between countries and the individual gymnasts were mesmerizing. So imagine my delight when I heard a book reviewed on NPR about a young gymnast and her ambition to be on the US Olympic team!

Devon, is a 15 year old gymnast at the Belstars Gym and is an Olympic hopeful. She just needs to get through win one more competition to earn a new ranking and then she will join the elite world of Olympic bound athletes. Her parents, Katie and Eric Knox, who have been fostering her talent since she was 3 years old, have sacrificed a lot for this dream, including a normal family life for their younger son who along with Katie spends hours at the gym watching Devon practice. But suddenly a violent death rocks their world, and puts everything at risk. As rumors swirl, Katie finds herself questioning her marriage, the choices they have made and wonders if there is anything that she and Eric would not do in order to realize Devon’s ambitions.

Katie is the narrator of this story and from the beginning we are impressed with her ability juggle their complicated lives, takes care of her children and handle the financial pressure they are under, all while enduring the envy and jealousy from the other moms in the gym. But then we start to notice little signs of trouble that she seems to be oblivious to, like the nightmares that her son tells her about, or the way Eric seems to be spending a awful lot of time with Gwen, a rich new mom at the gym and we begin to doubt whether Katie is even aware of the fault lines that are emerging in her world.

Gripping and skin-crawlingly suspenseful, this book reminds me of the nail biting moments watching live gymnastic events, only this is a behind the scenes look at how ambition and the promise of success can exert such a hold it compromises our moral compass.  I can’t wait to read another book by Abbott!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Lauren and Sharon.

Book Study Worthy: Yes

Read in ebook format.