Kara Thomas unveils gripping follow-up to The Cheerleaders novel, blending mystery and high-stakes drama.
Long Island native and award-winning author Kara Thomas is back with The Champions, a highly anticipated follow-up to her 2018 thriller The Cheerleaders. Known for her captivating plots full of twists, Thomas continues to enthrall readers with her latest young adult thriller, blending high-stakes drama, mystery, and psychological tension. The Champions (Delacorte Press, Aug. 27, 2024) promises to keep readers on edge with a shocking narrative set in the same small town that was shaken 11 years ago by the deaths of five cheerleaders.
In The Champions, readers return to Sunnybrook, a town still reeling from its tragic past. A new mystery emerges when a member of the all-star high school football team dies under suspicious circumstances. As more players fall victim, Hadley, a newcomer to Sunnybrook, begins to suspect that the mysterious deaths are somehow connected to the cheerleader tragedy from over a decade ago. She’s determined to uncover the truth, even if it means delving into Sunnybrook’s darkest secrets.
Although The Champions is a follow-up to The Cheerleaders, Thomas reassures fans that it also stands alone.
“I had no intentions of writing a sequel,” Thomas explained. “But after reflecting on a real-life scandal from my own high school days, I realized there was a story worth telling here. The Champions shares a lot of DNA with The Cheerleaders—both books explore how a town tries to move on from its tragic past.”
The novel’s protagonist, Hadley, is new in town and an outsider to Sunnybrook’s history. As a budding reporter, she initially sets out to write a simple piece about the football team, but soon finds herself uncovering a deadly scandal. Like The Cheerleaders, The Champions delves into the complex lives of teenagers and how past trauma can resurface in unexpected and dangerous ways.
Thomas revealed that her inspiration for the book stemmed from her own high school experience.
“There was a scandal at my school involving a football coach and grade fixing. Years later, I found out that the coach was rehired despite the controversy,” she said. “The real story didn’t involve murder, but it got me thinking about accountability and how certain people in positions of power can get away with so much.”
In The Champions, Thomas uses this backdrop to explore themes of toxic masculinity, power dynamics, and how far a town will go to protect its golden boys.
Thomas’s talent for creating gripping, character-driven thrillers has earned her a dedicated fan base, many of whom are adults. Despite writing for a young adult audience, Thomas finds that her readership spans a wide demographic.
“I know my primary audience is teens, but a large portion of my readers are adults, especially millennial women who grew up reading young adult fiction,” she said. “It’s always heartwarming to hear from adult readers who connect with my books.”
Like her previous works, The Champions promises to appeal to a broad range of readers. The novel is perfect for fans of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and One of Us is Lying, and continues Thomas’s tradition of crafting dark, thought-provoking stories that tackle real-world issues. Thomas isn’t afraid to push boundaries in young adult fiction, confronting topics that others might shy away from.
“Holly Jackson and I share a similar tone in our books,” Thomas noted. “We’re not afraid to go darker, because that’s reality. Unfortunately, these are things teenagers deal with.”
As The Champions hits shelves, Thomas hopes the book will resonate with a new generation of readers, particularly boys, who might be hesitant to pick up young adult thrillers.
“It’s always a challenge to get boys to read YA,” she said. “But this one has football, and while it’s about more than the sport, that element might draw them in. The story touches on how the boys on the football team are victims of the toxic masculinity they have to perform to fit in. I think it’s an important story for boys to read.”
With her signature style of weaving together suspense and complex emotional undercurrents, Thomas’s return to Sunnybrook will surely captivate readers again. For longtime fans of The Cheerleaders or those discovering her work for the first time, The Champions is poised to be another must-read thriller in Thomas’s ever-growing repertoire.
