February 10, 2026
Publisher: Ballantine
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Synopsis:
In this propulsive debut, a Buffalo Bills cheerleader will stop at nothing to solve the disappearance of her best friend and teammate, navigating the dark underbelly of a hardscrabble city, the grime and glamour of professional cheerleading, and her own tangled family history.
Virginia is a Jill—a professional Buffalo Bills cheerleader—living the life she’s always dreamed of. She spends her weekdays practicing, her weekends cheering, and her nights hopping between events and bars and clubs with her close-knit band of teammates, especially her best friend, Jeanine, whose dynamic friendship has given Virginia confidence in spades and allowed her to put aside her troubled past with her sister, Laura. But one Sunday, Jeanine fails to show up for a game, and all her calls and texts go unanswered. Aided by a worried network of Jills, ex-boyfriends, and seedy fixtures of Buffalo’s criminal underground, Virginia embarks on an investigation into Jeanine’s disappearance. But as her search grows increasingly dangerous and spirals into obsession, disturbing questions about who Jeanine really is begin to emerge. Soon, Virginia finds herself wondering how well she knows her friend, if she can trust the people and institutions she thought were protecting her, and whether—when trying to save the people she cares about most—she’s capable of saving herself, too.
Part bingeable mystery, part character-driven tale of a woman claiming her own power in systems built by and for men, The Jills is a sharply observed, witty, and poignant novel about the stories that constrain us and the healing power of sisterhood.
Review:
The Jills by Karen Parkman had all the right ingredients to be a hit for me, which honestly made the letdown sting a little more. A professional NFL cheerleader at the center of a mystery? A behind the scenes look at the culture, pressure, and sisterhood of a team like the Buffalo Bills Jills? Sign me up immediately. And to be fair, those elements were the strongest part of the book. The cheerleading world felt researched, textured, and genuinely interesting — especially if you, like me, have spent years watching Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team and love that mix of glamour, grit, and emotional investment.
Unfortunately, the mystery itself never fully came together. The plot felt overly long and scattered, somehow anticlimactic and wildly over the top at the same time. What started as a compelling disappearance spiraled into something increasingly chaotic, with twists that felt less shocking and more exhausting. There were moments that really worked and flashes of what this story could have been, but the overall execution felt unfocused and unsatisfying. I wanted sharper tension, cleaner answers, and a stronger payoff, especially given such a promising premise. In the end, The Jills lands at a generous three stars for me: parts I genuinely enjoyed, but not a mystery that ever fully stuck the landing.
Overall rating: 3/5
Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.
Novelgossip 