‘YOU WILL KNOW ME’: MURDER-IN-THE-GYM MYSTERY
Either an accident or a murder propels one athlete’s Olympic aspirations
Anyone who likes elite gymnastics, championship figure skating or even the TV show “Dance Moms” will probably be fascinated by Megan Abbott’s latest novel, “You Will Know Me.” Told mainly from a mother’s perspective, its focus is teenage gymnast Devon Knox and her relentless efforts to compete on the world stage. With the Summer Olympics so recently behind us, the book is a timely look at what young athletes, and their families, are willing to endure for a chance at the spotlight.
At the center of “You Will Know Me” is a mystery: Was a hit-and-run death accidental or murder? But the narrative does not follow a police investigation. Instead, it stays inside the gyms and homes of those affected by the tragedy. Rather than curve balls in the plot, it’s the chilling emotional twists that make the story so intriguing.
Ms. Abbott starts with a party for 15-year-old Devon, who has won her first regional title on the vault. The entire local gymnastics community is celebrating. Her parents, Katie and Eric, are there with their 10-year-old son, Drew. Teddy Belfour, “the most decorated coach in the state,” tells the family: “The world is hers now. Is yours. Is ours.”
Teddy’s BelStar Gym boosters are also present. Molly Chu, whose dream was to be a majorette, says drunkenly of Devon’s desire: “Remember that kind of wanting? The kind that’s just for yourself?” Along with other parents and kids are the junior tumbling instructor and the coach’s niece, Hailey, and her handsome boyfriend, Ryan, who dances with all the moms.
Ms. Abbott provides both plenty of drama and a look at the Knoxes’ ordinary routine. “Days sardined with school, practice drop-off, dry cleaner, grocery store, practice pick-up, homework, booster emails, dinner, laundry, collapse,” Katie says.
The gym is 28 miles from their house, and Devon may train four, five, even seven hours a day, so the physical demands on everybody are exhausting. Add to that the financial costs: gym tuition, meet and booster fees, travel. “Every leotard costing more than any item of clothing Katie had,” Ms. Abbott writes. In addition to a second mortgage, the couple have $25,000 in credit card debt, all in hopes of Devon attaining an elite “career” that lasts five or six years, max.
But to the Knoxes, none of the hardships matter: “Gymnastics became the center, the mighty spine of everything,” Katie says. Through her recollections readers learn of the physical attraction that first drew her to Eric; how despite having “Fight Like a Grrrl” tattooed around her thigh, she found herself married and pregnant at a young age; the accident as a toddler that led Devon to the gym as therapy; and the guilt and recriminations still left from that early incident.
As the action moves forward, Devon is seen through Katie’s eyes: Never bothered by the ripped hands and shredded feet from the bars and beam, her concentration is almost puritanical. Katie believes Devon to be a “marvel, a girl wonder, a prodigy, a star.”
But Devon’s competitors call her “Ice Eyes,” and some school mates think of her as a “freak.” Katie admits she “had always thought her daughter never confided because she had nothing to confide,” so she is shocked to find out what Devon has been telling her father.
During the Olympics it’s breathtaking to watch the gymnasts. Their leaps and flights seem impossibly difficult. “You Will Know Me” reveals that it’s also hard for those family members on the ground.