We Begin Our Ascent

Starred review from April 1, 2018
Cycling, family life, illegal substances--Reed twines them all together in his exceptional debut. Our narrator, Solomon, is a professional cyclist racing in the Tour de France. His wife, Liz, is a research biologist with an "interest in adaptive theory." They are both ambitious, devotedly searching for "a right way to do things, a sense of control." But Sol is not racing to win; his job is "to get our team leader, Fabrice, across the twenty-one stages of this tour in as little time as possible." To properly perform this job, and to remain competitive against their likewise unscrupulous rivals, Sol and his teammates dope--a practice Sol uneasily supports: "I am no fan of the danger of the process, but when I consider the way the team has got into me--altered my chemistry to my own advantage--I am grateful." The novel unfolds over several days midtour. Sol's team has a bit of good luck, and a lot of bad, and eventually Liz, who's driving in from England to watch the race's later stages, is drawn into the doping scheme...then further into it, then further. "Just one little thing more," she says. Reed's first novel lives squarely within Don DeLillo's sphere of influence. In addition to their mutual preoccupation with systems--the systems we live beneath, the systems we design for ourselves--Reed shares with DeLillo certain aspects of pacing, voice, and character: Sol's wryly thoughtful narration is reminiscent of Jack Gladney's in White Noise; Rafael, the team's coercive and brilliantly rendered directeur sportif, could be a relative of Gladney's friend Murray Jay Siskind. But Reed relies more heavily on plot than DeLillo, and the effect is remarkably successful: Alongside the ideas and the jokes, there is real suspense and human drama. Reed shows us the allure of conducting our "days...not for their own sake but for the light that will be cast back upon them by success"--and then he shows us how awful this method of living can be when things go wrong. "We are doing all this for a bicycle race?" Fast and smart, funny and sad, this is an outstanding sports novel, and Reed is an author to watch.

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April 23, 2018
A cyclist competing in the Tour de France narrates Reed’s strong, lean, compact debut novel, sharing his bruises and breakaways, cramps and collisions, and shedding light on the life of a competitor. The novel opens halfway through the race, with about two weeks left until the finish. Solomon’s goal is not to win but to help team leader Fabrice win by providing pacing and protection, fetching food and water, and accelerating or falling back as needed. Solomon has trained hard for this event. His wife, Liz, a London research biologist and mother of their one-year-old son, understands ambition, dedication, and risk, and when Rafael, the team’s director, asks her to deliver banned performance-enhancing substances, she agrees. Reed captures the rigors of competition as well as the complexities of competitive spirit in scenes such as when riders compare injuries en route to the hospital. With its taut, unsentimental prose, Reed’s novel is both an exciting depiction of the prestigious bike race and an intimate portrait of a couple coming to terms with the cost of pursuing difficult goals and determining whether they’re worth the price. Agent: Amelia Atlas, ICM Partners.

June 15, 2018

You don't have to be a competitive athlete or even know much about professional bicycle racing to get caught up in this gripping novel that captures exceptionally the feel of high-stakes racing. Sol and Liz, a young English couple, are each striving for success in their separate fields. Sol is about to compete in the Tour de France and Liz is a research scientist who has come up against a major stumbling block in her work. She plans to stay home with their baby son while Sol races, but they both end up embroiled in a doping scandal. Rafael, the director/coach of Sol's team, is a ruthless taskmaster who pretends to care about his riders' welfare but is only interested in winning at any cost. Sponsors and sports media people must be appeased. As the suspense builds and the racers push themselves to the finish line, Sol finds that this grueling competition will demand more of him and the team than he ever anticipated. VERDICT An unflinching, compelling, and fast-paced look at the personal cost of winning in today's overhyped world of professional sports. [See Prepub Alert, 12/11/17.]--Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2018
Reed's debut offers a fascinating, darkly funny look at doping in professional cycling. Set during the harrowing middle stages of the Tour de France, the novel follows Solomon, a new father and cyclist whose job is to help his teammates maintain their pace and make sure their tireless leader, Fabrice, crosses the finish line. Their boisterous and calculating directeur sportif, Rafael, hasn't been pleased with the team's performance and is counting on the next dose of stimulants to get them in gear. But when a team doctor gets nabbed for unrelated offenses, the riders are in danger of losing their supply?and their chance to win. Lucky for them, Sol's wife, Liz, is on her way from London with their baby to stay with Sol for the remainder of the tour. Despite Sol's protestations, Liz is all too willing to help out and gets roped into their not-so-well-kept secret. As the team's problems go from bad to worse to disastrous, Reed's wryly profound narrator uncovers insights into groupthink, dependency, and the dangers of mixing personal and professional lives.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)