SWAGGER, by Carl Deuker

The story: When Jonas moves to Seattle his senior year, he's afraid his chances for a basketball scholarship are going to fizzle. But his new team turns out to sizzle, not fizzle--and even a state championship could be within reach. But something creepy...something downright wrong...is going on with one of Jonas's new friends, and he's left with a gut-wrenching choice: out the bad guy and lose his chance for the scholarship, or just keep quiet, keep playing, and keep his chance to go to college?

June Cleaver’s ratings: Language PG-13; Nudity G; Sexual Content PG-13; Violence PG; Substance Abuse PG-13; Magic & the Occult G; GLBT Content G; Adult Themes R (sexual predation and suicide); overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: One thing I really like about Carl Deuker is that he never settles for the cheap-and-cheesy feel-good ending. In his books (as in real life) things don't always turn out the way you expect, and sometimes even decent people get screwed. If you run explosives for terrorists, someone or something around you is going to get blown up. If you take steroids, you may eventually kick the habit, but there's no denying that you're still always thinking about it, no matter how much it messed up your life. Here, Jonas wants to do what's right--but he finds out that sometimes life paints you into a corner and you end up losing no matter which way you choose. For me, the book's only downside was that I thought there was too much basketball. I know, I know: Deuker writes sports novels. I get it. I also grant that kids who are sports fanatics will like the descriptions. But I (admittedly not a big sports fan) just felt that a trip to every game in the season was a bit much--one would have been plenty. More just felt like it was getting in the way of the real story, which was what was going on off the court. Just saying.