Author Spotlight: Kara Thomas

The Champions By Kara Thomas

“An engrossing, thrilling…. mystery with a likable protagonist.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the author of The Cheerleaders comes another dark YA thriller set in the same town of Sunnybrook. When a mysterious accident befalls a member of the all-star high school football team, the town’s deadly history stands to repeat itself—and the price of discovering the truth is higher than anyone could imagine.

It was the deaths of five cheerleaders that made the town of Sunnybrook infamous. Eleven years later, the girls’ killer has been brought to justice, and the town just wants to move on. By the time Hadley moves to Sunnybrook, though, the locals are more interested in the Tigers, the high school’s championship-winning football team. The Tigers are Sunnybrook’s homegrown heroes–something positive in a town with so much darkness in its past.

Hadley could care less about football, but shortly after she gets assigned to cover the team’s latest championship bid for the school newspaper, one of the Tigers is poisoned at a party, and almost immediately after, Hadley starts getting strange emails warning her to stay far away from the football team.

It’s becoming clear Sunnybrook’s golden boys have secrets, and after a second player is mysteriously killed, Hadley’s beginning to suspect that someone wants the team to pay for their sins. Or does this new target on the football team have something to do with what happened to the cheerleaders all those years ago?

As an outsider in Sunnybrook, Hadley feels like she’s the only one who can see the present clearly, but it looks like she’s going to have to dig up the darkness of the past to get to the bottom of what’s happening now. Luckily, there are still some Sunnybrook High grads who never left—people who were around eleven years ago—and if she can just convince them to talk, she might be able stop a killer before another Tiger dies.

The Cheerleaders By Kara Thomas

A YALSA Best Book for Young Adults
A Goodreads Best Young Adult Book of the Year Nominee

“At times eerie, exciting, and even frightening…this deliciously deceptive thriller and provocative drama is a must-have.”—SLJ
 
“Keeping the audience guessing until the very end…[The Cheerleaders is a] satisfying, whodunnit with a solution as complicated as its premise.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Thomas builds her novel around an appealingly gruesome case…beset by herrings, and it keeps the pace moving at a solid clip….A solid pick for mystery fans.”—Booklist

From the author of The Darkest Corners and Little Monsters comes an all-new edge-of-your-seat thriller set in upstate New York about an eerie sequence of seemingly unrelated events that leaves five cheerleaders dead.

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.

First there was the car accident–two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know his reasons. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they’d lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget.

Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow, Monica is at the center of it all.

There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe.

Little Monsters By Kara Thomas

A Junior Library Guild Selection

“An eerie and masterly psychological thriller…[that] culminates in a shocking and disturbing ending. Thomas expertly captures the pointed nuances and the fickle, manipulative bonds of adolescent girls’ friendships.”—SLJ

“Taut and suspenseful...this gritty page-turner will easily hook a broad range of readers”—Booklist

“An intense psychological thriller that all but ensures the lights will be left on between dusk and dawn.”—Publishers Weekly

“Gritty and realistic…this mystery will leave readers in awe.”—VOYA

For fans of Pretty Little Liars, comes a psychological thriller about about how when you’re the new girl in town, you can’t trust anyone, especially other teenage girls.

Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life. A life with a stepbrother, a stepmother, and strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister.

Kacey’s new life is eerily charming compared with the wild highs and lows of the old one she lived with her volatile mother. And everyone is so nice in Broken Falls–she’s even been welcomed into a tight new circle of friends.

Which is why it’s so odd when her closest friends, Bailey and Jade, start acting distant. And when they don’t invite her to the biggest party of the year, it doesn’t exactly feel like an accident.

But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly, Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all–especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers.

The Darkest Corners By Kara Thomas

An International Thriller Writers Award Finalist
An ABC Best Book for Teens
A Junior Library Guild Selection

★ “Thomas carefully crafts the suspense, leaving present-tense narrator Tessa—and readers—to doubt even those she loves the most…An unsettling story of loss, lies, and violence lurking in the shadows of a small town.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

★ “On the heels of Making a Murderer and The Jinx comes a psychological thriller strongly rooted in the true-crime tradition… Expertly plotted with plenty of twists and turns—never mind a truly shocking conclusion—this gritty thriller is sure to find a wide audience among teens and adults alike. Equally concerned with a quest for the truth and the powerful motivation of guilt, this compelling novel won’t linger on the shelf.” —Booklist, Starred Review

★ “Thomas keeps it real with a jaded heroine from the have-nots societal segment who holds onto her humanity, and a frank illustration of failure in the justice system. Hand this one to older teens who love dark mysteries or fans of Netflix’s Making a Murderer.”—Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

“Clearly drawn…[and] alive until the twisty end.“—The Bulletin
 
“Strong character development and thrilling reveals…this novel is a sure bet.“—SLJ

For fans of Gillian Flynn and Pretty Little Liars, The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.

There are secrets around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about what happened there that last summer.

She and her childhood best friend Callie never talked about what they saw. Not before the trial. And certainly not after.

But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.

Only the closer Tessa gets to what really happened, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

That Weekend By Kara Thomas

“Quick-fire pacing, sharpened dialogue, and clever reveals make for an addictive read.” —Publishers Weekly

“Effortlessly compelling, That Weekend will thrill you from start to finish, leaving you breathless as you learn what truly happened on the mountain.” —Rachel Strolle, Teen Services Coordinator, Glenside Public Library District

From the author of The Cheerleaders comes a thriller about best friends on a weekend getaway that goes horribly, dangerously wrong.

THREE BEST FRIENDS, A LAKE HOUSE, A SECRET TRIP—WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

It was supposed to be the perfect prom weekend getaway. But it’s clear something terrible happened when Claire wakes up alone and bloodied on a hiking trail with no memory of the past forty-eight hours.

Now everyone wants answers—most of all, Claire. She remembers Friday night, but after that . . . nothing. And now Kat and Jesse—her best friends—are missing.

What happened on the mountain? And where are Kat and Jesse? Claire knows the answers are buried somewhere in her memory. But as she’s learning, everyone has secrets—even her best friends. And she’s pretty sure she’s not going to like what she remembers.