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A Novel
by Karen Parkman
Book Reviewed by: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.
Chapter 1
On Sundays, Jeanine and I got ready for games together. We'd trade off whose apartment we met at. My place had the smaller bathroom, but in my bedroom was a big vanity mirror where we could smear on makeup, outline our lips and eyes with slick crayons, and watch our faces brighten and sharpen without bumping elbows. Jeanine's apartment had the bigger bathroom, complete with double sinks to clutter with our makeup and appliances, the air growing humid and close from the heat of our curling irons. These were the conditions under which we labored, piling on products until we looked like we were supposed to, until we looked like Jills.
It was better to get ready together. We could laugh and fret through our pregame nerves, we could reassure each other and fix each other's hair, and exclaim about how hot we were becoming in front of our own eyes. Alone, I was more aware of the shakiness of my hands and the churn in my stomach. I'd been dancing in competitions or on football fields ...
As a member of the Buffalo Bills' "Buffalo Jills" squad, Virginia is subject to poverty-level pay, strict appearance requirements, and the attention of creepy men. But for Virginia, a lifelong dancer, the trade-off is worth it. When her friend Jeanine goes missing, Virginia is desperate to find her. Did she really just take off to go partying? Or is her disappearance the work of one of the Jills' obsessive fans—or someone even more dangerous? While Karen Parkman's debut novel is character-driven with a strong internal growth arc, it also delivers enough twists and turns to satisfy thriller fans, with a cast full of intriguing and untrustworthy characters. Even after Virginia learns what happened to Jeanine, more mysteries continue to unfold in the book's final chapters. Though these questions are eventually resolved, Virginia's own future is more ambiguous—but readers will come away with the sense that she is ready to face whatever it throws at her...continued
Full Review
(632 words)
(Reviewed by Jillian Bell).
Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists
Karen Parkman's debut offers a nuanced, incisive exploration of the world of NFL cheerleading—and the complex power of sisterhood, both familial and chosen. Spending these pages with Virginia and her teammates was a delight: Parkman views her characters through a compassionate lens, with a keen eye for authentic detail and a knack for humor. Perfect for fans of thoughtful thrillers like Liz Moore's Long Bright River, The Jills is an observant page-turner with heart. Lauren Ling Brown, bestselling author of Society of Lies
With this powerhouse debut, Karen Parkman has established herself as a brilliant new voice in fiction. The Jills is both a page-turning mystery and a moving portrait of sisterhood, offering a glimpse behind the scenes of NFL cheerleading and a fictional New York crime syndicate. I brought this book on my honeymoon and couldn't put it down. Smart, sharply observed, and at times laugh-out-loud funny, The Jills is perfect for readers of book-club fiction and fast-paced thrillers alike. Without question one of my favorite reads this year.The main character of Karen Parkman's novel The Jills is a cheerleader on the Buffalo Jills cheer squad, and the terrible working conditions she faces are based in reality. The Buffalo Jills were the Buffalo Bills' official cheerleaders from 1967 to 2014—when the team disbanded after a lawsuit by former members. The legal action came amid a wave of similar suits by NFL cheer squads seeking fair pay.
The Jills squad was owned by the Buffalo Bills organization until the mid-1980s, when a series of outside contractors took it over. The Jills briefly unionized in 1995, after which the management company shut down the squad. A new company restarted the Jills—without union protections—the next year.
The 2014 ...
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