Always in the shadow of his older brother, Scott, Nick begins to catch his father's attention when Scott gives up basketball to spend more time on his music, and Nick's basketball prowess develops. Nick's talent is further nurtured by nightly one-on-one games with a disturbing neighbor, Trent Dawson. A master at writing good basketball sequences, Deuker vividly depicts every fast break, every trap, but as with On the Devil's Court (1988), he uses basketball as a device to tackle larger issues. This time, Deuker is writing about choices: Scott elects music instead of basketball and his father's approval; Trent seems to be choosing school (via basketball) instead of a life of crime; and Nick decides to support Trent despite his father's advice and his peers' disapproval. Complex characters make the story compelling. The basketball coach, Mr. O'Leary, is particularly endearing, gruff, and exacting but also willing to gamble on the kids when the moment seems right. Deuker offers no easy answers; he's honest enough to leave Trent's future unresolved. The conclusion isn't entirely realistic, but the story is satisfying and hopeful, and the book will be an easy sell. (Reviewed May 1, 2000)

Narrator Nick Abbott enters high school determined to play basketball, despite the presence of his antisocial neighbor on the varsity team. Trent has an explosive temper and may have been involved in a local shooting, but he and Nick forge an uneasy alliance during nightly games of hoops in Nick's backyard. The sports action is plentiful, and the characters of Nick and Trent are well drawn.

Deuker ( Painting the Black , 1997) weaves wide bands of fastbreak, pulse-pounding basketball action into this piercing exploration of family loyalties and parental failure. Prepared by years of practice, Nick marches triumphantly into high school, through basketball tryouts and onto the team—along with, to his disgust and amazement, despised Trent Dawson, a vicious ne'er-do-well neighbor who has never seemed more than a smaller version of his very bad-news big brother, Zack. But Trent can play, with the same intensity that Nick finds in himself. On the boards, Trent shows signs of wanting to turn his life around, and there, Nick can also escape both the pain of his parents' divorce and the influence of his bullying, manipulative father. In the end, the two lead their team into a district championship despite a two-and-five start and, in a climax that will have even readers not up on bball jargon riveted, a 19point deficit in the fourth quarter of the final game. It's only the beginning for Nick, but the triumph is bittersweet for Trent, who turns his back on the fragile stability he's achieved to follow his brother, now a wanted felon, into hiding. Expertly juggling a sackful of subplots, Deuker gives his characters understandable (if not always defensible) motives, and role models whose strengths and flaws are laid out with painful precision. Deuker adds further luster to his reputation for top-flight sportswriting matched to uncommonly perceptive coming-of-age stories. (Fiction. 1115)

Gr 8-10-Nick Abbott finds himself trying to deal with his parent's divorce and a host of other problems that face him during his sophomore year. He wants above all else to be a star player on his high school basketball team. As the story progresses, Nick learns how to control the tempo of a game as a point guard, and he also begins to reach a greater maturity in his life. Central to the story is his relationship with his disturbed and angry teammate and neighbor, Trent Dawson. The young men form an uneasy bond as they quietly practice each night on Nick's backyard court. Eventually, they become a dominating duo on the court, with Trent's aggressiveness complemented by Nick's feel for the game. This is an excellent novel. Nick's first-person narration is authentic throughout. The author perfectly captures the swirl of ideas in the adolescent mind. The descriptions of the games are well written and accurate. Best of all, the complexities of basketball are contrasted with the complexities of life. Nick learns how important it is to make adjustments during the course of a game, and he learns that adjustments are also important in life. This message is imparted subtly, though. Deuker delivers a story that features rounded characters dealing with real problems, set against the backdrop of a varsity basketball season.-Todd Morning, Schaumburg Township Public Library, IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.