Mac is the top wrestler at his school and has scholarship offers from multiple sources. All this changes during the state semifinals, when his anger gets the best of him and he punches a referee. Terrified and facing arrest, he accepts an offer to join the Brawlers, an elite underground mixed martial arts fight club. Brawlers matches are televised via the internet, promising ultraviolent content. Mac moves in with his trainer, fellow high-schooler Khajee, an expert in Muay Thai, and soon finds himself winning matches. It quickly dawns on Mac that the Brawlers are run by a gang-style boss, as he is forced to participate in mob-like terrorizing of people who stand in the boss' way. Will Mac and Khajee be strong enough together to overthrow the Brawlers? Connelly has written an interesting take on a wrestler's personal journey that does require a bit of suspension of disbelief at times. Readers interested in MMA bouts will enjoy the realistic descriptions of the matches the teens face, but may tire of the relentless graphic violence that is heavily featured.

High school wrestler Eddie MacIntyre's scholarship-filled future evaporates the moment he loses control in a violent outburst at the Pennsylvania state semifinals.Facing arrest, Mac, who is white, accepts a shady offer to join a secret fighting organization called the Brawlers, a lucrative mixed martial arts-style organization that broadcasts ultraviolent, pay-per-view fighting matches on the internet. Leaving his mother behind, he is given a couch to crash on with his trainer, Khajee, a Thai-American high school girl, and her uncle. Channeling his anger at his abusive father (who is currently in jail), Mac is a natural at the brutal fights but quickly gets in over his head as he is forced to accept side jobs strong-arming and terrorizing the fight club owner's business partners. Meanwhile, Khajee and her uncle are his only lifelines to the world outside of violence, and as their friendship grows Mac is able to face his own past and his relationship with his father. Detailed descriptions of brutal fights and unrepentant violence may be too much for some, but Connelly (Into the Hurricane, 2017, etc.) also conveys the skill, training, and finesse required to win. While Mac's internal transformation and the ultimately happy ending may require some suspension of disbelief, it is satisfying when the bad guys get their due.Nonstop graphic violence takes center stage in this otherwise solid story of self-discovery and redemption. (Fiction. 14-18)

Gr 10 Up-Eddie MacIntyre is a champion wrestler living with his mom in suburban Harrisburg, PA. While Dad is in prison, Eddie's mom struggles to make ends meet as a waitress. A middling student, Eddie sees wrestling as his only ticket to college. But he's got anger issues. And he's known as a cruel and dirty competitor. When he loses his cool during a match and breaks a referee's jaw, he knows that all his dreams are snuffed out. But within a few days of being expelled from school over the incident, he's approached by a shadowy figure and invited to join a circuit of illegal, underground fighters who brawl without rules for an online gambling audience. He'll train with Khajee, a high school junior and kickboxer, who lives with her uncle Than, a former muay thai boxer dying from diabetes and lung disease. Frequent descriptions of the illegal bouts highlight extreme violence; these passages are also long and detailed and can be difficult to follow for readers with little background in fighting. Some plot threadscomparison between Eddie's intermittent Catholicism and Khajee's traditional Buddhism, his "prophetic visions" of fight outcomesare only vaguely developed. The ending is rushed and leaves more questions than answers. The subject will likely attract some reluctant readers. Though it's clear the fight organizers are criminals and Eddie's motivation is unresolved resentment of his violent father, the subject matter will be disturbing for many. VERDICT A secondary purchase. Bob Hassett, Luther Jackson Middle School, Falls Church, VA