Review of Kara Thomas's The Cheerleaders

One sentence plot summary:

A high school student attempts to connect three seemingly disconnected events after five cheerleaders, one her older sister, die within a month's time.

A mystery about a bunch of high school cheerleaders, you say?

I'm glad for what this book was missing: stereotypical, cliched cheerleader tropes. There were no snotty, two faced girls manipulating their friends, stealing boyfriends, or bullying the unchosen. There was barely even a nod to the existence of a high school hierarchy, which was refreshing and, anecdotally, a lot more in line with what high school's today look like (not that there aren't still the elite and the lower caste, just that they aren't as rigid and predictable as they once were). The cheerleaders were, for the most part, normal teen girls who exhibited typical insecurities and issues. Incidentally, the cheerleaders aren't even shown that much because . . . (non-spoiler spoiler) most of them are dead.

The new focus is on the dance team. Monica, the little sister of Dead Cheerleader Jen, is a member of the team, but she's losing her focus as she becomes more and more obsessed with the death of her sister. Better do some super sleuthing!

And sleuth Monica does, along with her new pal, Ginny (Jen? Ginny? Does the similarity in names hint at a connection? No). While she's not exactly Veronica Mars level, she does okay. With some fiddling on social media and less than stellar social graces, Monica stumbles her way to the answer. The question, then, is will she be happy with what she finds?

I'm not going to lie. Monica made the book pretty annoying in a lot of places, even though I really, really enjoyed it overall. She was boring, dim-witted, horrible at speaking to people, and super reactive. She made snap judgements without even half the facts. She was not a great heroine.  Ginny was likable enough to make up for it, though, as a much more down to earth, thoughtful sort.

Characters are not the books strong point and at a certain point I felt like they were all interchangeable composite teens, BUT don't let that put you off because what the book lacks in character development, it makes up in plot. It's a well-plotted book. Themes unwind and play off each other, moments, tiny moments, end up being relevant, and all the threads tie together in a pretty bow. And it's readable! Super readable. I'm not going to say it was a complete page turner because I wasn't alway dying to know what would happen next, but I was never bored.

This was a good one.

4/5

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC I was provided in exchange for a fair and honest review!