HEAD FAKE by Scott Gordon - Review

 

"We're all just a bad turn away from allowing our worst self, the one we keep hidden in the shadows, from emerging and taking over."  #HeadFake (MaxwellStreetBooks).

HEAD FAKE is one of the best books I've read this year. It shares an important message without pontificating and it's funny.

For all intense purposes, Mikey Cannon has had a run of bad luck. Not only is he an addict, depressed, has ADHD, he was homeless for a while and hates his father who he has to turn to for help. His dad, Andrew Cannon has called Mikey a loser all of his life. He wants Mikey to be a winner like him. He's a winning basketball coach who holds the record for most high-school basketball wins and ESPN has a crew following him this season.

Mikey gets a job, with Dad's help, driving a school bus for kids one step away from jail or the psyche ward. The Mary Friedman Alternative High School. The principal and other staff think he's a loser too, but he starts connecting with the kids. They start trusting Mikey and behaving in positive ways that can't be ignored.

The school's basketball coach quits, tired of trying to get a "group of violent misfits" to play ball. Mikey is offered the job and reluctantly takes it. The big joke now is the bus driver is the basketball coach. It's not lost on his players or the players they have to play against.

The season doesn't start out well. They lose and are taunted at every game, but after a huge amount of humiliation, they start believing and winning. It's a big if, but if they win their division, they'll have to play Mikey's dad's team. That's not lost on Mikey, the school adminstration, his dad or the ESPN crew.

I'll leave you there, but HEAD FAKE only gets better.  The characters are really flushed out and you get to know each one individually. The story is told so well, you can't help but root for everyone.

You will love HEAD FAKE. I promise.


Scott Gordon’s fiction has appeared in the Green Hills Literary Lantern (GHLL), Modern Times Magazine, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, The Satirist, and Mobius Magazine.

In addition to writing fiction, he has written and directed films and television series, including A History of Black Achievement in America, Great American Authors, and more.

Scott spent years working as a Youth Advocate for juvenile offenders with mental illness. Head Fake is inspired by the strength and courage of the kids he worked with.

Originally from New Jersey, Scott lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Samantha, and their two rescue pups, Mel Brooks and Khaleesi Bee.

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