The Jills
A Novel
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3.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
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.
“A nuanced, incisive exploration of the world of NFL cheerleading—and the complex power of sisterhood, both familial and chosen.”—Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists
Virginia is a Jill—a cheerleader for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills—living the life of her dreams: she spends her weekdays practicing, her weekends cheering, and her nights hopping between bars and clubs with her teammates, including the fearless, charismatic Jeanine, whose friendship has given Virginia confidence in spades and helped her forget her troubled past with her estranged sister, Laura.
One Sunday, Jeanine fails to show up for a game, and calls and texts to her go unanswered. Virginia embarks on an investigation into Jeanine’s disappearance, aided by a network of Jills, ex-boyfriends, seedy fixtures of Buffalo’s criminal underground, and unexpected figures from her past. But as her search grows increasingly dangerous and spirals into obsession, disturbing questions about who Jeanine really was begin to emerge.
Soon, Virginia finds herself wondering how well she knew her best friend, if she can trust the people she thought were protecting her, and whether—when trying to save the ones she loves most—she’s capable of saving herself, too.
Part bingeable mystery, part character-driven tale of a woman discovering her own strength in a system built by and for men, The Jills is a page-turning novel that brims with wit and heart while reminding us of the healing power of sisterhood.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Parkman debuts with a thrilling mystery that offers an immersive view into the lives of NFL cheerleaders. Ginny Barton is a Jill, as the Buffalo Bills' cheerleaders are called. One Sunday, her best friend and fellow squad member Jeanine Chanowitz fails to show up for a game. As the days pass and Jeanine remains a no-show, alarm bells go off in Ginny's head and she begins to investigate on her own, frustrated by the cops' lackadaisical response. She questions Bobby Paladino, the son of a local mobster with links to Ginny's family; Jason Morley, a drug dealer who once supplied Ginny's sister with heroin; and Ray, a cheerleader groupie who thinks of himself as the squad's guardian angel. After Ginny searches Jeanine's apartment and finds paperwork related to a wellness clinic in Ohio, she travels there. The deeper she looks into Jeanine's disappearance, the more she comes to suspect she never really knew her friend at all. Ginny narrates in an appealing voice that is both strong-willed and vulnerable. Her investigation leads into noirish territory that is as convincing as the cheerleader workout scenes, which take place under a cloud of hair spray and self-tanner. It's the best novel about cheerleaders since Megan Abbott's Dare Me.
