Raider's Night, by Robert Lipsyte

This is definitely a boy book. One of my girls started to read it and suggested I just watch "Remember the Titans" and cuss a lot more. She was quite a bit off on the connection, but, it's still a boy story.

The publisher says it's a "hard-hitting look" at high school sports. Sure, it's a harder look than I think most books would provide, but I still don't think it's quite hard enough. The kind of "hazing" that goes on in this story is felonious. It just is.

Then again, if you get too hard on this subject, I can see it turning off readers. No one wants to read about high schoolers going to prison, least of all high schoolers. I don't know.

I did like the story. Just wish it was a little meatier.


From the publisher's blurb...

At Nearmont High School, football stars are treated like royalty, and Matt Rydek has just ascended to the throne. As co-captain of the Raiders, he's got it all, or so it seems: hot girls, all the right friends, plenty of juice to make him strong, and a winning team poised to go all the way. If he can keep his eye on the ball now, his future will be set, with a full ride to a Division One school, a shot at the pros, and-most important-his dad off his back. But when the team turns on one of its own, should Matt play by Raiders rules, or should he go long alone?

Robert Lipsyte, an award-winning journalist, in consultation with Dr. Michael J. Miletic, a leading sports psychiatrist, takes a hard-hitting look at the world of competitive high school sports in a novel straight from today's headlines.