First Team

Gr 5–8—Picking up right where New Kid (HarperCollins, 2014) left off, the shadowy "bad guys" are chasing Brock and his dad out of town. Another vehicle blocks their escape route and rams them down the side of an embankment. They not only escape unhurt, but also manage to evade the bullets being shot at them. Brock's dad stops their slog through the woods in the pouring rain to check his GPS on his cell phone. They are conveniently close to the runway where the man has parked an airplane. That's when Brock learns that his dad knows how to fly and isn't afraid to play a game of chicken with their assailants, who may be Russians or the "agency." There's plenty of action here, only it's not quite adrenaline-inducing because, while there is menace, there is no bite. The unidentified pursuers are just too inept and Brock's dad is just too lucky. The contrivances become increasingly difficult to believe and are not relegated to the espionage. Readers are expected to believe that the pitching prodigy is also a football prodigy, a quarterback no less. The mentor is the high-school star quarterback son of his dad's love interest. The issue of classism in the football-obsessed town they settle in would be interesting if the coaches were not cardboard stereotypes. A bewildering twist at the end may portend a third book.—Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ