The Cheerleaders

The Cheerleaders

YA mystery
"I should be happy enough for my mother and Tom, because the old
house took so long to sell that it nearly destroyed their marriage. I
should be thrilled I don't have to hear the words terrible real estate
market and bad location ever again. Neither they nor the listing
agent had the balls to come out and say that no one wanted to buy a
home on the street of horrors."
Five years ago Sunnybrook High had cheerleaders. Then bad
things started happening. Two cheerleaders, Colleen and Bethany, died
in a car crash so horrific it was hard to tell one from another and a
first responder threw up. Then two, Julianna and Susan, were killed
by a neighbor who was shot by a police officer. Finally one took her
own life. At that point the school disbanded the team.
"Some people say a curse fell over our town five years ago.
What else could explain the tragic deaths of five girls, in three
separate incidents, in less than two months?"
Monica, protagonist of Kara Thomas' The Cheerleaders, younger
sibling of the last cheerleader to die, is sure that, even though no
note was ever found, Jen didn't kill herself. One day she makes a
startling discovery in stepfather Tom's home office desk. Tom is the
police officer who had arrived at the murder scene and shot Juliana
and Susan's alleged killer. There is a stack of four envelopes, each
postmarked on an anniversary of Jen's death. Each contains the same
message: "I KNOW IT WASN'T HIM. CONNECT THE DOTS."
"Key, key, I rifle through the rest of the drawers. There's a
ring of tiny keys in the top drawer. I don't even know what I'm
looking for. There has to be something else here that could explain
these letters. Why Tom would keep them--and what the hell they mean."
Could the letters be the reason Monica's parents abruptly
decided to move? Is it possible that Tom shot the wrong person?
Might the real killer still be at large--maybe poised to strike again?
Read the book and see.
On a purrrsonal note, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I sure
did. The best part for me was when Eugene and I zoomed with our kids
and their partners. As always we had a lot to talk about between our
current lives and favorite memories. At one point the kids were
showing off the grandcats. Much to my surprise Eugene got Tobago and
held her up to the laptop to get her admiration. She has bewitched
him. Anyway our family get together was precious beyond measure. I'd
thought I'd get to sleep in with no kids in the house. Wrong. Tobago
woke me at 5:00, eager to see what was in her stocking. She was quite
pleased with all her gifts. I made Eugene an eggs and sausages
breakfast. Then we opened our gifts. Between family and friends I
was totally spoiled. I got money toward school, lots of nice gifts,
and enough candy to tide me over til Valentines Day.
Today Eugene is at camp. There was a lot of wind and rain yesterday.
He went up to do any repairs that might be necessary. We agreed that
leaving a cat and a Christmas tree home alone overnight might not be a
great idea. So I'm chilling with Tobago, reading near the tree,
eating stuff that does not involve cooking, and wearing my new
awesomely velvety Snoopy and Woodstock pajamas from Eugene. (Jules)
He came. He came. The big SC. He filled my stocking. I tried to
stay awake to see the flying reindeer. Oh, well, there's always next
year. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to our loved ones near and far.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Oh, yeah, this is the 1800th book I've reviewed in 9 1/2 years for
this blog. Not too shabby. Maybe I can make it to 1900 before 2021
is over.


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