Change-Up

By John Feinstein

Sport: Baseball

Rating: 4 1/4 stars

Fans of Stevie and Susan Carol, the young sportswriters, will be thrilled to see them return to investigate another mystery at a major sporting event. This time, the pair are at the World Series, covering the Washington Nationals versus the Boston Red Sox. Stevie quickly realizes that Norbert Doyle, a late call up of a minor league pitcher--is a great story and manages to catch an interview with him and his kids before the big news breaks--Norbert is actually going to be a starter in the World Series! In his interview, Doyle mentions that his wife was killed by a drunk driver years ago, but when Stevie and Susan Carol hear a slightly different story, wheels begin to turn in their heads. Then Doyle's son David confides something in Susan Carol that she is not at liberty to repeat and even through Stevie's jealousy, he realizes something isn't quite right about Doyle and his story. Bobby Kelleher, Stevie's mentor, sends him down to Lynchburg, Virginia to dig up the truth of the car accident and as he digs into Doyle's past, the details become more and more confused. What really did happen on the night that Norbert Doyle's wife died, and why is it being covered up? And what should Stevie and Susan Carol do about it? Plenty of baseball fills in the action around this bit of investigative reporting, and readers will be reluctant to put the book down. A good sports read!