Deenie Nash is a diligent student with a close-knit family: her brother, Eli, is a hockey star and her father is a popular teacher. But when Deenie's best friend is struck by a terrifying, unexplained seizure in the middle of class, the Nash family's seeming stability dissolves into chaos.
Soon more local girls start to experience bizarre symptoms, leaving health officials puzzled and parents in an uproar. As hysteria and contagion swell, a series of tightly held secrets emerges, threatening to unravel friendships, families, and the town's fragile idea of security.
Booklist called the book "a powerful portrait of community, with interesting echoes of The Crucible."[4]Kirkus wrote, "Nothing should be taken at face value in this jealousy- and hormone-soaked world except that Abbott is certainly our very best guide."[5]Library Journal said The Fever was Abbott's best novel to date.
The New York Times described Abbott as "a skilled storyteller," and The Fever as "a gripping and unsettling novel."[15]
Publishers Weekly wrote, "Abbott’s adolescents are close to pitch-perfect with their sudden switches between childlike vulnerability and calculating maturity," though mentioned "the narrative lacks in depth."[16] Ultimately, they called the novel "a gripping story fueled by the razor-sharp treachery, jealousy, hormones, and insecurities of teenage girls."[16]
