The Fever

by Megan Abbott

Her hands flying up, she grabbed her throat, her body jolting to one side.

Then, in one swoop, her desk overturned, clattering to the floor.

And with it Lise. Her head twisting, slamming into the tiles, her bright red face turned up, mouth teeming with froth.

"Lise," sighed Mrs. Chalmers, too far in front to see. "What is your problem?"

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.

The Fever is a chilling story about guilt, family secrets, and the lethal power of desire.

• ISBN10: 0316523631
• ISBN13: 9780316523639
• Publish Date: 25 September 2018 (first published 2 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little Brown and Company
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

My initial feelings about The Fever were pretty lukewarm. While conceptually interesting, this book doesn’t get very good ratings on Goodreads and nobody has really been talking about it. In short, the buzz about The Fever has been (if anything) that it’s just “fine”. And after reading it, I agree.

There are a lot of things that could have happened in this novel. Megan Abbott is not a bad writer. There was a minute when I thought this was going to end up a gruesome swamp-thing-esque horror novel and damn I was there for it because that would have been SO unique and the writing was on point for it. And there were certainly edges of The Cruicible to the way the afflicted girls banded together. There was a lot of potential here for a very original, very interesting YA horror.

That isn’t the direction Megan Abbott chose to go.

Instead, her twist and true plot were so dramatic and cliche that I found myself groaning aloud and asking, “Really?!”. I won’t reveal here what her actual twist was because, you know, spoilers. The only points Megan Abbott gets from me are based on how awesome this book might have been if it followed its original feed.

There’s nothing going for it in the characters. All the characters, except Skye, were flat as pancakes. And Skye was such a stereotype of a bad Wiccan girl (which I hate). This book has three POVs – Deenie, her father, and her brother. In my opinion, the father and brother’s POVs were pointless. Especially the father’s. A POV of the afflicted could have been far more interesting, or of the villain, but those choices weren’t made. The father’s POV, in particular, seemed to be there for adult appeal as he himself is brooding and looking for love, but in regardless to plot there was no need for his perspective. An argument could be made for Eli, but he added very little.

Then you have the writing? There is so much sexuality in the writing that it made me uncomfortable. I should have known, right from the firs chapter when time was spent describing how the girls’ lips would be “forever open” and how many time’s Lise’s legs and underwear were mentioned in her episode. Particularly, there was so much erotic language in Eli’s POV and his father’s… it was like all these two were thinking about was sex. And, most of the time, it was about the high school girls. Which was so creepy. There also felt like there was an edge of incestuous thought towards Deenie from both men. It was all a bit disturbing… and definitely out of place.

The Fever gets a hard pass from me.

[jamiereadthis]

Megan Abbott does it again. It’s the natural world and the human relationships that invoke the most paranoia. Parts of this affected my heart rate. You Will Know Me did the mystery better, sticking to one POV, but this one is less about plot and more about the collective psyche of a small town. If the plot gets irrational, it’s because the people get irrational. And that’s all too plausible.

The chapters are short, the sentences are clipped and relentless, upping the pulse. But far more effective to me: the fact it comes down to the air, the water, the parents and best friends and brothers. Dismantle that feeling of safety, of home, and the world starts to feel like it’s spinning out of control.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said. The eternal parent lie, a hustle.

[payton]

I mean the book started out as what I would like to think of as uncanny. I like the style but it's the same one many authors try to achieve and butcher in the process, the one that looks like shit in contemporary books. The full plot didn't seem to be completely revealed in the end but because it is interwoven in the whole story, and you just didn't know it, it almost seems as if the very climax of the book was strong and cool as hell. The book wasn't bad but it was one of those books that tries to hard and uses cheap tricks to make it seem as something it is not.

One of my biggest problems happened to be with the characters. It seemed almost as though the author tries to plot you against each one and even more so with every little thing she reveals about them. It seems every in every contemporary I read one of the biggest plots is teens living in an obscure place no else gives a flying fuck about and they are all obsessed with sex and hating each other and gossip, they all are people from a little town full of dramatic stories and drama. Not my cup of tea, and I don't even like tea.

[Angie]

The Fever was strange, and mostly boring. One day, Deenie's best friend suddenly has what appears to be a seizure in the middle of class. Then her other best friend suddenly freezes up during a performance. Then a few more girls have random spasms. No one knows what's going on. At first they think it's something in the lake, then the HPV vaccine, but maybe it's Deenie. She's the only common denominator between the affected girls.

I think my main problem with The Fever was that the author started the suspense too early, so it felt like everyone was overreacting instead of being terrified at some strange occurrence. There was no reason for the community to freak out after Lise has her seizure. These things happen! It's not like anyone knew it wasn't a normal seizure at first, so why all the concern? It would have made more sense for the speculation and fear to start once the second girl was taken to the hospital. Or maybe even the third, since the first two were best friends so it wouldn't be too strange for them to both suddenly fall ill.

The Fever also seemed like a campaign against vaccines, the HPV vaccine in particular. Why would a school care if girls were vaccinated or not? Other airborne viruses, sure. But not a sexually transmitted one. That seemed very strange. It wasn't required to get the shots to be enrolled, but lots of girls got it. Then all of their parents are in an uproar because it's the school's fault that girls are getting sick because they forced them to get a series of unnecessary shots. First, no one forced them. Second, there was no evidence that it was the shot! One mom just latched onto it because her daughter had gotten the final shot a few weeks prior. But really it could have been anything! Again with the too early suspense.

The big reveal at the end was interesting. I really never would have guessed that, but it was a pretty out there cause. The blurb mentions a series of secrets coming to light. Well, that's not exactly true. There's really only one secret. It's pretty silly though. Also, it only explained why the first girl got sick. There's some kind of, but not really, maybe, sorta reasons why the other girls got sick, too. It was like the author was grasping at straws to wrap up that mystery.

The Fever was just okay. It was kind of intriguing at the beginning once more girls start being sent to the hospital, but the ending was very unsatisfying. I also found the multiple POVs to be distracting, since two of them didn't really contribute at all.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[A Darker Shade of Rosie]

✨ A Darker Shade of Rosie + Twitter ✨

→ DISLIKED: Time passed agonizingly slowly in the book. • Just about every chapter had a cliffhanger. • I could not get the character's names straight. If the character wasn't a main character in the book, I had to go back and figure out who they were because I couldn't remember where I'd seen their name before. • I finished The Fever with a feeling of incompleteness. One girl's sickness was solved, but with all of the others, I didn't feel satisfied with the answer at all.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

"The first time, you can't believe how much it hurts."
"It just kind of burns," says another. "You're sore for a few days. I heard the third time you don't even feel it."
~Prologue

I will admit that I was a little nervous to continue reading The Fever due to the straight off sexual innuendos of young girl’s first times; was I walking into a teen Fifty Shades of Grey? Although I would not have given the novel a fair chance if I gave up on page two so I read on.

Like an epileptic seizure, panic ensues. This leads to a fast paced storyline and characters who acted as though they had just exited a haunted house.

Gabby and Skye were as mysterious as a bowl of “brains” in a juvenile Halloween Party only later finding out it is truly spaghetti, or in other words, for what they really are, slimy and in teenage speak eew. Grapes are usually next down the line, and it is through Deenie’s eyes who we see most of the story. Considering the chaos that surrounds her, she seemed like a normal high schooler, grasping the situation as best she can. Lise and her ailment is the shiver one experiences. It is always there, just out of reach and preparing to descend. The gentlemen of The Fever should not be left either, Tom and Eli grounded the book and while I don't have a suitable haunted house reference I think if it wasn't for them The Fever could have gone "Gossip Girl" fast.

I read the novel as fast as the girls dropped like flies and with each convulsion and PTA meeting “I want to be one less one less” drummed louder in my mind. While I was reading I soon realized that even with an effervescent lake and the debate of the HPV vaccine The Fever was a whodunit novel with the understanding that it wasn’t the Butler.

I have only two complaints, the first is that Lise woke up. I’m not trying to sound morbid as I didn’t want Lise to die, just left in a perpetual coma. I thought this would have left a more suitable finality to The Fever and perhaps a bigger affect, affirming the atrocity of the scenario. Second was Tom and Mrs. Bishop hooking up. I didn’t think it added anything to the story and like a one night stand ended as quickly as it had begun.

The Fever reminded me of The Children’s Hour, one misconstrued glance and malevolence can create havoc and unease. Megan Abbott’s novel produced a spooky uneasiness that was hard to shake and stayed with me long after the last page had turned.


I received a copy from the publisher

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

If you have not read Megan Abbott before then you need to do so as soon as possible. Originally working in the noir genre she has recently switched and become the Queen of suburban noir. Combining the elements we all know and love about noir and adding it to a modern back drop. Dare Me was a dark glimpse into the world of competitive cheerleading; think Mean Girls but meaner. Now Megan Abbott is back with The Fever, set in a small community, a mysterious contagion is threating their suburban utopia.

I may have said this before; just because a book has a teenage cast does not make this a YA novel. Dare Me may look like chick lit or YA but it is not; don’t let the cover fool you. I’ve seen on Goodreads that The Fever has been shelved as YA and horror and I can’t help but shake my head in disgust. While I’m sure plenty of young adults may enjoy this novel, I see nothing that connects The Fever with the YA genre. There are no horror elements within this novel either, a little suspense and I’m guessing this genre tag came from the cover. Now that my rant is out of the way, time to look at the novel.

Like Dare Me (and I’m sorry to keep mentioning this novel, I really need to read more Abbott) The Fever is a compelling noir that exposes the secrets that might be hiding in a suburban community. The Fever is a dark and chilling story that explores the ideas of desire, guilt and secrets. The mysterious contagion that is causing seizures to a group of girls is also promoting mass hysteria in the community. In an effort to make sense of this mystery, the community focus their blame on anything they can think of, from HPV, vaccinations, toxic algae and whatever else might make sense of the situation.

At the heart of this novel, I found an interesting exploration into sexuality, especially between the groups of teenage friends. These girls are in the midst of blossoming into women; their emotions are running wild and boys are become a popular source conversation. In the darkness and confusion they are dealing with these changes all alone. Abbott is putting the focus of the community on the contagion and this really amplifies that feeling of being alone and dealing with a budding sexual awaking without any help or guidance.

The Fever has everything you expect from a Megan Abbott novel; it is deliciously dark and sinister, it packs a huge punch and in the end you are left contemplating life. She has once again got the voice of the teenage generation perfect, not only the way they talk and interact but their thoughts as well. I like how Abbott integrates mobile phones and social media into her novels so effortlessly, I’ve seen it down poorly far too many times.

I know I’ve only read two novels to judge Megan Abbott on but she continues to impress, I know The End of Everything will be consumed pretty soon before moving onto her old school noir novels. I love her modern suburban noir style, she has really found her voice and style and it is working well for her. Don’t go in expecting a nice coming of age story; this is gritty and this is what Megan Abbott does better than anyone else.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/05/15/the-fever-by-megan-abbott/