To his credit, Parker surrounds his hero with some mighty interesting men, some of whom are not what they ought to be (see above). He attempts to be thorough even in his non-sporting activities and calls everyone “sir.” The only reason his “ma’ams” are few and far between is because there are about four women in the book who have brief speaking roles. He is a good and dutiful son, and would be a sweet boyfriend if he were interested in dating. He is popular even among his athletic rivals. Still, for all his tunnel vision, Cassidy is a lovely young man. When one of his friends is implicated in a murder, Cassidy does think of skipping a meet for a hot minute-but only for a hot minute. He does so even as his classmates brace themselves for the end of the world as delivered by a barrage of Russian nukes. Torn between track and basketball, for which he’s just a bit shorter than he should be, Cassidy (as he’s called) frets over his running time, his technique, rankings, 220s, 440s and 880s. Parker Jr.’s amiable new work, a prequel to his 1978 bestseller Once a Runner, Quenton Cassidy, teenage native of Citrus City, Florida, is so wrapped up in his athletic pursuits that the great upheavals of his era-the Cuban missile crisis, the assassination of JFK, civil rights and the arrival of the Beatles for goodness’ sake!-stick in his mind the way anything sticks to Teflon. It’s sometimes amazing to realize how an obsession for sports can take over a life.
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