Review: The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

Welcome to the blog tour for The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas. Check out our review and make sure you enter the giveaway for a chance to win a copy of your own:

The town of Sunnybrook got rid of its cheerleading team five years ago, after five of the girls died within a month. Five years later, Monica – whose sister, Jen, was one of the cheerleaders that died – is still hung up on the loss of her sister and struggling to believe that Jen would have committed suicide. When she finds her sister’s old phone in her stepdad’s drawer, she begins to investigate the deaths to determine what really happened in Sunnybrook five years earlier.

Told through chapters from both the present and the past, Kara Thomas weaves together an intriguing mystery that is likely to hold your attention until the very end. There are a lot of subplots going on: Monica having trouble with friends, dance team, dealing with a tough breakup and a rebound relationship that went off the rails, and solving the mystery, among other things. Monica has a lot going on and you can’t help but feel for her as you learn what her life has been like since her sister’s death.

When Monica finds Jen’s old cellphone and sees that an unsaved contact had been texting with Jen the morning she died, Monica takes it upon herself to figure out what happened to her sister and her friends. However, there’s an additional problem in that her stepdad is a police officer and the murder suspect was killed by him in a chase. There’s no going back and getting a do-over or questioning the creepy old man who everyone assumed murdered two of the girls, so she’s at a bit of a loss. But with the help of a new friend and some creative forms of evidence gathering, the girls begin to piece together the truth surrounding the different deaths.

Thomas clearly excels at weaving together threads of the truth throughout the crime solving process and I truly did not anticipate the ending, something which she gets bonus points for. And while the ending went in a direction different than expected, the causes of all five deaths are eventually revealed to the reader in a satisfying and surprising manner.

It should be mentioned that there are some potentially triggering topics discussed in this novel, including rape, abortion, student-teacher relationships, domestic abuse, and murder. It’s definitely not a light, fluffy read, so that’s something to be aware of before starting The Cheerleaders.

However, despite the dark themes that are discussed, The Cheerleaders is an entrancing novel, perfect for fans of true crime.

Rating: 9/10

About the book:

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.

First there was the car accident—two girls gone after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know why he did it. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget. Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow Monica is at the center of it all.

There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe. 

Pub. Date: July 31, 2018

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Pages: 384

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Audible, B&N, iBooks, TBD

About the author:

Kara Thomas is a true crime addict and the author of THE DARKEST CORNERS, LITTLE MONSTERS, and THE CHEERLEADERS, all published by Delacorte Press. You can find her on Twitter (@karatwrites), Instagram (@kara__thomas), or at http://www.kara-thomas.com.

 

 

 

Giveaway:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE CHEERLEADERS, US Only.

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