Last Shot: Mystery at the Final Four (The Sports Beat, 1)

(Paperback)

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New York Times bestselling sportswriter John Feinstein exposes the real "March Madness"-behind the scenes at the Final Four basketball tournament. When Stevie wins a writing contest for aspiring sports journalists, his prize is a press pass to the Final Four in New Orleans. While exploring the Superdome, he overhears a plot to throw the championship game. With the help of fellow contest winner Susan Carol, Stevie has just 48 hours to figure out who is blackmailing one of the star players . . . and why. John Feinstein has been praised as "the best writer of sports books in America today" (The Boston Globe), and he proves it again in this fast-paced novel. "A page-turning thriller and a basketball junkie's bonanza." -USA Today

Reviews

Last Shot is a brisk novel set in the madness of the NCAAs Final Four. Exceptionally knowledgeable about the college basketball world, Feinstein has a fine time lampooning broadcaster Dick Vitale and the bureaucrats who populate the NCAA itself. The blackmailing plot that unfolds over the course of Final Four weekend threatens a student-athlete who isnt a student, implicates an ethics professor with no ethics, and otherwise introduces to young readers the sleaze beneath the glitter of college basketballs biggest show. Remarkably, Feinstein pokes holes in the illusions without diminishing the excitement of the games themselves as seen through the eyes of two eighth-grade reporters. He writes as if hes having a fine time at the keyboard, and the result will entertain not only young readers, but the oldsters looking over their shoulders as well. Boston Globe

Score! Thats exactly what author John Feinstein does with this mystery.Dallas Morning News

Youll feel as if you have a courtside seat at the SuperDome. Last Shot is Feinsteins first entry into fiction for young people, and its an impressive one. The story is intriguing, the dialogue snappy and the finale exciting. Bookpage

Author Bio

JOHN FEINSTEIN is the author of many bestselling books, including A Season on the Brink and A Good Walk Spoiled. His books for young readers offer a winning combination of sports, action, and intrigue, with Last Shot receiving the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best young adult mystery of the year. He lives in Potomac, Maryland, and Shelter Island, New York, with his family.