The Cheerleader

A Novel

By: Marina Evans

Narrated by: Rebecca LaChance

Everyone wants to be a Dallas Lonestars Cheerleader, but fame can have a deadly price....

The Dallas Lonestars Cheerleaders are untouchable. They are the epitome of glitz and glamour, reeking of hairspray and perfection. But everything changes when America’s Angel and cheerleading captain Jentry Rae Randall is found murdered in the squad’s locker room.

Filmmaker Nikki Keegan has the opportunity of a lifetime. Brought in to document the Lonestars’ potential comeback after four disastrous seasons, Nikki is now perfectly placed to investigate the murder of the team’s iconic frontwoman.

Nikki turns to cheerleader Shaunette Simmons, the deceased’s best friend, for help. As Nikki becomes closer to Shaunette, the more she suspects that Shaunette is hiding something.

But when Shaunette is run off the road and left to die, it’s clear that nobody on this cheer squad is safe. Because some people would kill to be a Dallas Lonestars Cheerleader....

Marina Evans, a former NFL cheerleader herself, takes listeners “behind the gloss” of this iconic American subculture in this high octane debut that is filled with twists, turns, and high kicks. Weaving between sisterhood and ambition, survival and scandal, The Cheerleader will keep you riveted until the very end.

©2026 Marina Evans (P)2025 Hodder and Stoughton, Limited

Fun

The Cheerleader: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.33 set in Texas…. Cute mystery …. A Pod cast about a murder of a Lone Star Cheerleader 📣 if you like a good murder mystery podcast mixed with some Dallas Cowboy reality show…. This is your book…. Very much a light hearted murder mystery

How did this make it to print???

This was so bafflingly bad that I couldn’t look away. I made it to the end out of sheer morbid curiosity, just to see how much worse this literary car crash could get.

The dialogue is weak and painfully unrealistic, the characters are poorly developed and blur together without any distinct personalities, and the plot is riddled with gaping holes. Overall, the writing is laughably flimsy, lacking any complexity, and often downright ridiculous. Scenes that were clearly meant to be dramatic or emotional came across as unintentionally funny.

I couldn’t take this book seriously. Early on, I had the distinct impression I was listening to the first draft of an unpublished fanfiction piece—an impression that was impossible to shake. I spent most of the book rolling my eyes. Frankly, the most impressive thing about this novel is that it made it to print—and that my eyes didn’t permanently lodge themselves in the back of my head. The only saving grace for this audio version is that the narrater is pretty good.