The Jills

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.

Karen Parkman is holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The Jills has been supported by fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, the Sozopol Fiction Seminars, and the Vermont Studio Center. Karen’s stories have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Joyland, and elsewhere. She is based in Knoxville.