Shutout

Shutout is a story, but not a hockey story. It is a mystery, a very good one. The main character, Alex, is a great student and the school’s number one goalie, but someone keeps setting him up to look like he is a punk kid, one with no respect. First, someone uses Alex’s long-forgotten about art stencils to vandalize the school; next someone posts a picture of Alex at a party holding a beer! With his team in the finals, Alex gets suspended from playing by the principal. Alex has a suspicion that two boys, one being the backup goalie, are responsible for this frame-job! While Alex tries to figure things out, his girlfriend puts their relationship on hold. Alex is also very angry that the principal doesn’t consider any other options for the source of this terrible delinquency. His team makes the finals, and with Alex suspended repeatedly, he is forced to sit out the first couple of games and the team loses both! Alex’s family proves to the principal that, during one of the vandal-times, Luke was at the theater with his dad. Then Alex and his best buddy Luke set up a sting operation and record the culprits on a cell-phone. Finally, Alex clears his name and finishes out the playoffs with his team.

At first, I thought I was going to be put through the play-by-play life of a goalie or that I had to know the ins and outs of the game of hockey, but I didn’t! The author did include details of the game(s) that the main character was involved in, but Shutout is about the game that was afoot off the ice. Of course, readers who like hockey will enjoy this book more than most, but it is one that should be promoted to readers who like good sports stories or high school mysteries. The author chose to avoid having the obvious suspects guilty and instead selected a rather surprising character to take the fall!

Shutout is definitely recommended to sports fans who don’t read a lot. It is not too long, the characters are engaging and relatable, and the plot is believable.