The Cheerleaders

There’s been no cheerleading squad at Sunnybrook High for the past five years, following three separate tragedies involving cheerleaders. Bethany and Colleen were the first to die, killed in a car accident when their car hit a tree. Then, Susan and Juliana were murdered – strangled by Susan’s neighbour (who was stalking her) while the girl’s were home alone – the neighbour then subsequently shot by police. Finally, Jennifer (who was supposed to be at the sleepover the night Susan and Juliana died, but fell ill at the last minute), unable to come to terms with her friend’s deaths, commits suicide. Jennifer’s sister, Monica, living in the shadow of her perfect sister, is trying to move on, even though her life eerily mirrors her sister’s five years ago – she’s popular, has two best friends, and is a member of the dance team (the club that replaced the cheer squad). But the past won’t let her go, and upon discovering an ominous note citing a connection between all the cheerleaders deaths, Monica starts to unwittingly look into her sister’s past. But unravelling the truth, is a dangerous game, one she just might not survive! Back in April, I was so impressed with ‘Little Monsters’ that I promptly pre-ordered ‘The Cheerleaders’, and then waited impatiently for the 31st July to roll around. And I’m pleased to report that this one was just as good – suspenseful, tense, shocking, and emotional. Have to say I was definitely led down the garden path on this one. The author did something different and clever that I totally fell for, that still has me thrilled. Chapters were told in the present, from Monica’s POV, as well flashbacks in Jennifer’s POV. Timelines set five years apart meant there were two sets of students (since Monica was only in middle school when Jen was in high school) so there were quite a few characters to keep straight. But that’s what I love about Kara Thomas’s books, is that her characters don’t live in a bubble – they have parents, family, friends, acquaintances, frenemies, teachers, faculty, friend’s parent’s, parent’s friends – most only get a mention, or a small role, but this high calibre of attention to detail really bring her characters to life. And not just her characters, but the setting and lay-out of the town as well – like how every October the businesses on Main Street compete to display the best dress-up scarecrow, and when two characters walk into a cafe one mentions to the other that it’s just down the road from where her mother works – had me thoroughly engrossed in her fictional world. Kara Thomas is now my top current author in the YA mystery/suspense genre, as well as the queen of the high school setting, and I will be racing to pre-order her next book.

After reading Kara Thomas’ two thrillers last year, I knew that this year’s thriller, The Cheerleaders would be just as terrifying and suspenseful as her previous ones. It definitely fit the bill for eerie thriller, though I wasn’t as creeped out as I had hoped to be. Life the past five years for Monica has been hard, ever since her sister died, and her four friends died as well, things have just been rough. Two separate incidents killed four of her sister, Jen’s friends and when everything became too much for her, Jen took her own life. Now as the five year anniversary starts to roll around, Monica begins to question things. Starting with wondering why her stepfather still has Jen’s old cell phone. Soon Monica and a girl from her class, Ginny, begin to look into the events that surrounded Jen’s friends’ deaths and even Jen’s herself. Tracking people down who knew Jen and the cheerleaders five years ago isn’t exactly easy, especially trying to see if they can remember something. All the while we watch as Monica deals with her own life struggles. She had an event happen to her over the summer that has pretty much left her shaken and has changed her whole attitude on life. She’s not quite the same person she once was, though since we didn’t know her then, we can only take that at face value. Everyone always assumed that the accident involving two of the cheerleaders was just that, and that the murder of the other two cheerleaders was solved as they caught the man they suspected of being the murderer before he died. Case closed. Monica’s stepfather was one of the police officers who worked the case latter case. But something never sat right with Monica, hence all her digging and investigating. This book kind of surprised me in some ways. The majority of Monica’s investigating was trying to figure out what really happened to the cheerleaders who were murdered and what Jen’s connection to it all was, that maybe she was murdered too for knowing something. She strives to find answers, but doesn’t expect a part of her past to catch up with her. I feel like the pacing might have been a little different this time around than in Kara’s previous thrillers. It wasn’t overly slow with Monica’s investigating, but I felt like there was a definite change in pace to what I had initially anticipated. It was enough to keep me turning the pages though as Monica continued to get closer before hitting yet another brick wall. There was definitely a lot of tension to the story, especially as Monica struggles to keep her life from falling apart. I felt like I wasn’t really able to devise my own speculations with this one. There was simply so much going on and I was trying to find that connection to all of it. When it’s finally revealed by the end, I knew there was no way of me having seen any of that! Lol! I enjoy being taken by surprise like that! I really enjoyed Monica’s character in this one! Her struggles that she was dealing with felt very real. Granted some of her choices were so far beyond what I would’ve done, I still felt like the majority of her actions were very relatable and realistic. She’s definitely a heroine I could get behind and root for. What also made the story interesting was that every now and then, we would get a chapter’s worth of details from Jen five years ago before and during all the events that took place. These segments were well-timed and placed and became relevant to the part of Monica’s investigation and kind of let us know whether she was on the right trail or not. The ending, as I said, was surprising! There was a lot more to it all than I had expected. Knowing the full scale of whodunit and all the whys wasn’t something I would ever get close to realizing. Maybe I got to part of the conclusion of the story, but definitely not the latter half! It never bothers me when that happens because I get so wrapped up in the mystery, I just sometimes forget to try and solve it! The Cheerleaders was a most interesting thriller with quite the twisted string of mysteries! There’s more than one that will need to be solved and just when you think you might see a connection between them, be prepared to be turned in another direction! The Cheerleaders was rather twisted but in the most enjoyable of ways! Definitely a read to keep you guessing long before it’s over! Overall Rating 4/5 stars

Cheerleaders review I’m not great at leaving detailed reviews without giving away spoilers. So let’s go with a quote... “There are some things not everyone has to know.” But ya’ll.... you NEED TO KNOW THIS BOOK. If you’re looking for a traditional suspense thriller that gives you goosebumps and raises the hair on the back of your neck in the DAYTIME, read this. There are no supernatural elements to this plot, which for me (as a pretty hardcore SF/F reader) is a breath of fresh air. Most especially the fact this is YA is what makes it even more compelling. A teenager lives in the shadow of her older sister, a one time Uber popular cheerleader who has since died...along with four others on the squad. No one thinks anything suspicious if these seemingly unrelated tragedy... until our main character stumbles across some anonymous letters.

There is a lot to like here, but I found the story too dragged out, with some aspects barely explained. The final 'confession' was contrived, and it was hard to believe that a person wouldn't have lawyered up and refused to talk.

I’m a sucker when it comes to a good thriller and this book was absolutely what I love about thrillers. I was on the edge of my seat during this whole story. I couldn’t put this down because I just had to know what happened to all the cheerleaders. While this book is definitely a suspense/thrillers I think it also brought a lot of emotion as well. The main character Monica, is trying to put all the missing pieces together to solve to murder of two cheerleaders, a car crash that killed another two cheerleader and the suicide of her sister, who was also a cheerleader. I loved all the turns in this story and all the answered questions along the way.

Good

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook. Five years ago, the town lost five cheerleaders within the course of a few months. There was the car accident, the murders, and the death by suicide. But what if they were actually all related? What if it was a conspiracy? Monica, the sister of one of the dead cheerleaders, begins to investigate this very question as the five year anniversary of this all occurring approaches. Finding an unexpected series of creepy letters locked away in her stepdad’s desk as well as her sister’s old cell phone, Monica begins her investigation into the possibility that maybe her sister didn’t actually kill herself–perhaps she was murdered because the real murderer of the other two girls was never caught. Monica finds an unexpected friendship in one of the other dance team members–Ginny. Monica and Ginny begin to investigate the past, and as they do so, Monica begins to have her own creepy experiences. Perhaps the killer is still out there and wants to prevent anyone from ever knowing the truth. With The Cheerleaders, Kara Thomas once again proves herself a force to be reckoned with in YA Lit, especially in the thriller category. Go check this one out.

I found this to be a good thriller that kept me guessing to the end, however, I was initially drawn to this book because the backstory is based on actual events... In October, 1996, two popular cheerleaders fail to show up for the Friday night football game...normally, this wouldn't be cause for alarm, but in the bucolic village of Dryden, New York, there has been an unprecedented rash of murders since 1989 and townspeople fear that murder has paid a visit to their village once again...Dryden High School cheerleaders Jennifer Bolduc and Sarah Hajney were kidnapped, murdered, dismembered and their remains scattered by Sarah's next door neighbor...he is ultimately arrested but commits suicide ...sadly, death has not left Dryden yet...in June 1999, cheerleader Katie Savino is killed by a drunk driver...her death ends a 10 year nightmare for Dryden and surrounding communities... There is a short e-book available about the cheerleader deaths and is titled "The Cheerleaders". It is written by E. Jean Carroll and available on kindle...there is also a 5 episode mini-series available for purchase on Amazon VOD titled "Village of the Damned" which profiles the entire 10 year period of murders, suicides and accidental death which plagued this area...the e-book and mini-series are very entertaining and worth the money...