Five years ago, five cheerleaders died within months of each other. Everybody had chalked it up to a tragic accident. But is there something more going on?

Reading this book was like riding a rollercoaster. The majority of the book felt like I was running in circles. But then the ending happened, and let me tell you, I was NOT prepared! No spoilers here, but that ending… I gasped… multiple times!

I really liked how we got to read from Monica’s perspective in present time and then from Jen’s (her sister) perspective five years ago throughout the book. I feel like it really added to the story and helped us, as the reader, understand the circumstances surrounding the deaths rather than all the information coming through hearsay from other characters.

On another note, let’s talk about the names of the characters in the book. We start with the main character–Monica–then we meet one of her best friends–Rachel–and then *drumroll please* What is Monica’s mom’s name you may ask? Phoebe! I mean I love Friends, so I’m not mad about it. I do wonder why she didn’t use any of the guys' names from friends? You can’t tell me using the three girls' names was a coincidence…

The concept of this book reminded me of A Good Girls Guide To Murder. Both are stories about a kid investigating a crime that happened years ago that the public majorly agrees happened one way but the kid disagrees. These books did come out within two years of each other, so perhaps that was just the hot concept at the time. I have read both, and enjoyed both.

Overall, I quite enjoyed my time reading The Cheerleaders. I found myself eager to read in order to find out what on earth actually happened to those girls. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good thriller that really throws you for a loop! I do suggest you look at the content rating of this book before reading, it is pretty high on most of the scales.