Hangman's Game
A Nick Gallow Mystery
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
After losing his starting position as a college quarterback to a shoulder injury, Nick Gallow has remade himself as a punter. Now in his fifth year in the pros with the Philadelphia Sentinels, Nick spends most of his time on the sidelines. He no longer makes winning plays, and when the team visits a hospital, the sick kids would rather talk to the players they've actually heard of. But Nick is unexpectedly thrust back into the spotlight when he witnesses the murder of the new all-star draft pick on the eve of the team's summer minicamp.
Nick has no plans to get involved. Despite the murder, his focus is squarely on an uppity rookie player eyeing his roster spot. But after a second attack hits closer to home and the police go after the wrong man, Nick finds himself driven by the chance to be a hero again.
In Hangman's Game, Syken offers a seasoned sportswriter's take on the contemporary culture of football and the will to play on despite the game's toll on the body and mind.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former Sports Illustrated reporter Syken makes his fiction debut with this well-told first in a football-themed mystery series. Punter Nick "Hangman" Gallow of the Philadelphia Sentinels and his agent, Cecil Wilson, take first-round draft choice Samuel Sault to a steakhouse, where they're greeted by the Sentinels' obnoxious star linebacker, Jai Carson, who invites them to join his party. The diffident Samuel insults Jai by saying no. After dinner, the three visit the Sentinels' empty stadium, where a drive-by shooting kills Samuel and wounds Cecil. Detective Rizotti, the lead investigator, homes in on Jai as the chief suspect, but Nick knows that pass rusher Samuel left a trail of broken quarterbacks during his college career, any one of whom may have wanted him dead. Syken really nails the world of professional football, including the training camp competition between Nick and a rival rookie punter, as well as the violence, conspicuous consumption, and tragic endings endemic to the sport.
