Sooley will soar into your heart like Michael Jordan taking off on a gravity-defying flight from the foul line towards the basket. An underdog story that will make you stand up and cheer like you’re watching the actual NCAA March Madness tournament live on TV.
There are a ton of parallels between the characters and storylines in Sooley and real life events but referencing them would spoil the book. So I won’t make comparisons or references to protect the reading experience. What I will say is that basketball fans will easily connect with this story because it’ll remind them of players, teams and experiences from the past. Which combined with John Grisham’s easy-to-read writing style and passion for the topic result in a book that feels more like historical non-fiction than straight fiction.
However, this book is about much more than basketball. Grisham dives deep into poverty and armed conflicts between ethnic and political factions in Central Africa. He paints painfully vivid pictures of desperation through the eyes of displaced and starving characters going through major trials of survival. But despite the despair and heartbreak, there is hope of enduring to find a better life on the other side of tragedy.
Sooley will tug at your heart strings, running you through a gamut of emotions. The late great former college basketball coach Jim Valvano said the following during his iconic 1993 ESPYS acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award: “If you laugh, you think and you cry, that's a full day.” Well, Sooley will make you laugh, think and cry. That’s a full book.
Follow Steve on Twitter or contact him via the site.
Purchase Sooley
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)
Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen
