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Starred review from January 30, 1995
Resounding with the familiarity of recent sports-page headlines, Lupica's (Limited Partner) saga of a Michael Jordan-like basketball player accused of rape crackles with tension, excitement and hip authenticity right from the opening tipoff. Ellis ``Fresh'' Adair has it all, his most significant asset being an above-the-rim game that elevates the fortunes of the New York Knicks. But Adair's hoop dream turns nightmarish when he and his right-hand man, white Knicks point guard Richie Collins, are accused of rape a year after the fact by struggling N.Y.C. actress Hannah Carey. Threatened by the loss of their cash cow, the Knicks hire Mike DiMaggio, a former athlete and lawyer turned ``sports snoop,'' to get the inside skinny. DiMaggio must make sense of Hannah's bizarre manipulations, Collins's brutal sexuality, Adair's falsely innocent facade and a ruthless sports columnist bent on sleazing up an already tawdry story. When the plot's rape angle begins to flag, the introduction of a murder, a suicide and a character's startling revelation maintains the fast-break pace. Though the novel is not without flaws (the similarity of many characters' voices, a stereotypical female protagonist), Lupica backs up his wiseass, street-smart storytelling with credible basketball details. His amalgam of tightly written sports story and crime fiction sinks a winning basket.

January 1, 1995
Summoning up her courage after a year, once-aspiring actress Hannah Carey accuses two Knicks basketball stars of raping her. When her younger brother leaks the story to ambitious New York sportswriter Marty Perez, the allegations become a source for media hype and personal agendas. Hired by the Knicks for damage control, ex-jock lawyer DiMaggio looks into Hannah's accusations. Sportswriter Lupica (Extra Credits, Villard, 1988) builds suspense by ending chapters at crucial moments or by dropping little narrative bombshells. This athletic mystery will especially appeal to sports fans.