Hit Count

March 16, 2015
In this brutal, no-holds-barred drama, Lynch (Killing Time in Crystal City) paints a grim portrait of a teen addicted to the physicality of high-impact sports like football. Arlo Brodie, an up-and-coming freshman linebacker, discovers a talent for taking down anyone in his path on the field, and he revels in the contact and the rush. Over the next few years, he grows obsessed with training and working out, becoming a star varsity player as a sophomore and earning the nickname “Starlo.” But the harder he hits, the more abuse his body takes, worrying his friends, family, girlfriend, and teammates. Arlo’s entire identity is rooted in dominating the field and crushing his opponents, but he may have no choice but to stop, as injuries take their toll. Lynch offers a powerful, provocative look at the dark side of popular sports and their potential cost, using Arlo as a cautionary, even tragic tale. Arlo’s rise and fall is handled skillfully, allowing readers into the self-destructive, self-deceiving mind-set of an addict without condemning him. The ending is abrupt, however; Arlo’s story feels far from done. Ages 14–up.

March 15, 2015
A high school football player is relentless in his effort to become a ferocious linebacker, ignoring the damage his body may be experiencing. Arlo loves football and happily follows his brother, Lloyd, on the school team. His family is divided: his dad supports their playing, but their mother is so concerned about the sport's dangers that she keeps her own file of information about concussions. The two brothers begin to move in opposite directions with the team, Lloyd quitting and Arlo becoming more determined to get faster and stronger. Lloyd enters a downward spiral, seemingly unable to stop it; meanwhile, Arlo becomes a nearly unstoppable star, but his fierce play begins to trouble his coaches and his girlfriend. Even when he is removed from the team due to his high "Hit Count," he refuses to face what football may be doing to his brain and his body. The strength of this hard-hitting novel is Lynch's portrayal of the drive and hunger of young football players. The action is authentic and captures the game's speed and violence. The family dynamic and Arlo's relationships with his girlfriend and friend add texture. These combine to counteract an uneven pace and relatively loose structure. This intense, timely story provides incredible insight into the reasons why knowledge of football's potential danger is not enough to keep young players from taking the field. (Fiction. 14-18)

March 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Arlo Brodie's devotion to football progresses throughout his high school years, even as evidence mounts that repeated head injuries are affecting him both cognitively and emotionally. In four sections that correspond to the four years of high school, Arlo describes the manner in which the sport gradually becomes an obsession, driving him to train incessantly and take ever greater risks in practice and games. He ignores the warnings of his mother, his girlfriend, and his own body until he is forced to confront his violent nature after grabbing his girlfriend during an argument in school. Comparisons are sure to be made with the author's groundbreaking Inexcusable (S. & S, 2005). Readers expecting the intense, concentrated focus of the earlier book, however, may be disappointed in this more diffuse effort, which features, for instance, a never-resolved subplot involving Arlo's jealousy of an older guy he thinks his girlfriend may be seeing. The novel also has some issues in terms of voice and narrative arc. In the first section, the 14-year-old Arlo comes across as entirely too erudite and sophisticated for a freshman, and the entire final section seems confusing as Arlo takes up boxing, of all things, to substitute for the football he has had to abandon because of his head trauma. His motivation for doing so is never sufficiently explained and the closing chapters are likely to leave readers scratching their heads. VERDICT An intriguing work that raises troubling questions about the culture of violence in American high school sports.-Richard Luzer, Fair Haven Union High School, VT

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2015
Grades 9-12 For Arlo Brodie, every love is second to football. His older brother spiraled into a sullen obscurity after the end of his own high-school career, but Arlo is determined to be better and go farther, and he does it the only way he knows how: by hitting harder. He plays violently and ferociously, ignoring the head-injury statistics his mother obsessively collects and brushing off warnings from his girlfriend, his coach, and his own body. Lynch's intensely focused narrative takes the reader through all four years of Arlo's high-school time on the field, from his meteoric rise to MVP through his swift and sudden decline. This will be perhaps somewhat less accessible to teens without the sports and competition gene but is nevertheless an in-depth look at athletic drive and the real, lasting danger of repeated head injuries so often overlooked in contact sports, both in fiction and reality. An important addition to the sports canon from a National Book Award finalist.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)