THE FAN

by Peter Abrahams ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 1995

This powerful suspense novel revolves around two characters: a baseball superstar who falls upon hard times after joining a new team; and an intense fan whose obsession turns from awe-struck admiration to vengeful hatred. Abrahams has produced a steady stream of enjoyable thrillers, but several of these, such as last season's Lights Out (1994), were a bit too convoluted for their own good. This time, he relies on forceful, straight-ahead storytelling, a tale of two fascinating characters set against the backdrop of Major League Baseball. Bobby Rayburn is a great hitter and a perfect example of the self-centered modern athlete. In one defining moment, he buys a new car and is so bored with it by the time he arrives at the stadium -- with 18 miles on the odometer -- that he's already decided to give it to his wife. Mentally thrown off track because he can't get his lucky uniform number from a teammate and because of his encounter with a dying boy with the same name as his son, he starts the season in a horrendous slump. Worse yet, the light-hitting player wearing the desired number 11 embarks on a career year. Meanwhile, baseball fan Gil Renard, who thinks Rayburn's arrival will mean the pennant for his favorite team, is mired in a lifelong slump. His wife and son have left; he's a failure at his job selling knives for the company his father founded; and he's haunted by his one shining moment of personal baseball glory -- in Little League. As Gil goes off the deep end, aided in no small part by falling in with his boyhood catcher, now a hoodlum, his path inevitably merges with Bobby's -- and he soon becomes his former hero's deadliest enemy. Both troubled men are terrifyingly believable, as is the violence and fury that eventually surround them. A solid story, with some artful skewering of talk-radio sports shows to boot. This one's better than spring training.

Pub Date: March 10, 1995

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Warner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1995

Categories: FICTION