Sunnybrook loves its football team, The Tigers. The players are treated like royalty, the coaches like gods, but Hadley isn’t really interested by the whole love fest.
Newish to town, and with other goals in mind, Hadley has settled into her new high school. A keen journalist, she is respected by the teacher running the school paper, and is waiting to know whether she made editor in chief. There is only one other vying for the role, which worries Hadley. Peter won a scholarship the year before that she had her heart set on, and it has made Hadley work even harder to achieve her dream of a byline in the NY Times.
To her dismay, the teacher in charge gives her the job of a piece about their beloved football team, and the anticipation of a third high school championship title there for the taking. The team’s wins over the past two years have helped push a terrible past of murdered cheerleaders to the back of Sunnybrook’s minds.
Hadley bites the bullet and seeks out players and coaches to interview. It doesn’t take long before she is welcomed into the inner circle of the football team and even to a party. Some players are dubious, and even more so when it’s Hadley who rushes one of their players to hospital. It seems that none of the team want any bad press.
When poisoning is suspected, Hadley is shocked. Just before the party, she had received a message – not to go to the party. The journalist in her investigates who might have sent her the message, and then even more revealing ones, but to no avail.
Is there a darker layer to The Tigers and their coaches? When a player dies on a dark road one night, the plot thickens for Hadley, and no matter how many threats she receives and then all out hate from all around, she cannot leave the mystery alone. But are the answers worth her life?
The Champions is a high school murder mystery delving into the power of a football team’s success, its players and coaches, at the expense of anything else.
Main character Hadley isn’t a fan of football, and even less so when she begins to discover terrible secrets behind the school team. This outside view of her peers is revealing as she observes their adoration for a team that is far from faultless.
Her pursuit of the truth is ever menacing and builds to a crescendo where her life is in the balance. This gradual building tension is built on a web of secrets, lies, and supposed glory and becomes a gripping read.
Keep track of the characters, as there are many, but this just makes the plot more intricate and interesting.
The Champions is the second novel about the town of Sunnybrook, (the first is The Cheerleaders), but can be read on its own without losing any of its punch.
Author – Kara Thomas
Age – 13+
(2024, Delacorte Press, High School, Football Team, Coaches, Murder Mystery, Secrets, Lies, High School Newspaper, Tension, Investigation, Secret Messages, Relationships, Friendships, Reveals, Family, Ambitions, Editor in Chief, Sport, Betrayal, Courage)