Review Detail

Alex Myers moves to a new town because his parents are divorcing, and finds, to his dismay, that the football position he plays, and is good at, is taken by the coach’s son. He’s not alone—there are other players who are not going to be able to play quarterback not so much because of Matt Gordon (who has some weakness in his throwing abilities) but because of Coach Gordon. No one doubts Coach’s results, but his methods leave something to be desired. In fact, one of his rules is that NO ONE questions his plays or his judgement. When Alex is nearly badly injured by a member of another team because of a call the Coach makes, the school newspaper runs an article about it, resulting in the reporter being banned and the coach (and newspaper editor) being fired. Alex is struggling with the move, missing his father, having a crush on a girl reporter who thinks he’s an entitled jock, and dealing with the politics of the team, but when he is accused of something he knows he did not do, he fights back with the help of his reporter friend as well as his teammates.

Feinstein is a sports columnist, so I always expect that the description of the football plays will be top notch. What always surprises me is how well-written his characters are, as well. Alex is human and conflicted—he wants to succeed in football, but doesn’t know if he can respect Coach Gordon as much as he feels he needs to. Coach Gordon himself is a complicated piece of work who adds an interesting level to the story. The romantic story line, with Alex crushing on a girl who won’t give him the time of day, will appeal to readers even if they aren’t specifically expecting a romance in a sports book!

The plot is a bit convoluted, with a lot of different things going on, which makes it a good choice for either older or more advanced readers. This is fantastic, since many sports book can be too simplistic, concentrating only on the sport at the expense of the story. It’s refreshing to see a book that is willing to take on a lot of complicated, sports related topics.

The Walk On is the first book in trilogy, and I will be very interested to see The Sixth Man, the second book in the series, which is due to come out in September of 2015.