The Jills

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. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, WME. (Jan.)