Customer Reviews

The Dead Pull Hitter

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Alison Gordon's "The Dead Pull Hitter" begins wonderfully. Reporter Kate Henry is on an airplane flight home with the Toronto Titans, who have a shot to win the American League East division for the first time ever. In this setting, we get to see the players at ease (and somewhat on edge after a road trip) and a female reporter's interaction with them. Gordon does a wonderful job conveying the female reporter's life in a game played only by men (at the major-league level, at least). Gordon also clearly conveys an intimate knowledge of the game without being overbearing. "The Dead Pull Hitter" also delivers the thrill of the penant chase, complete with scoreboard watching.

Soon, though, the team's designated hitter turns up dead. As if that's not enough, murder also claims the life of another player. Kate uses her contacts with the players to delve into the mystery. The mystery aspect of "The Dead Pull Hitter" is rather standard, complete with the police officer as a love interest, a theme rather common, especially in cozy mysteries.

But "The Dead Pull Hitter" is more than a puzzle to solve. It's a wonderfully written novel by a woman with a clear feel for the game. Gordon does a wonderful job of bringing to the genre a woman in a man's game and in endowing the reporter with an attitude that is a joy to read. As a first effort, "The Dead Pull Hitter" is clearly a winner.

This is the first novel in the Kate Henry series and it captured my interest from page one. The main character is well written and the plot moves along at a good pace. Gordon has added a lot of dry wit into the story, which makes it quite an entertaining read.

As a non-fan of baseball, I was glad that I didn't need extensive knowledge of the sport in order to get the full effect of the story. Baseball is part of the story, but Gordon does an excellent job of keeping it enough in the background so as to avoid alienating any non-baseball fans. This book (please excuse me for what I'm about to say...) hits a a home run!

Nice light combination of baseball and mystery, with an emphasis on baseball. Murder doesn't show up in the first third of the book. Our heroine is a level-headed sportswriter who works to solve the mystery ahead of the police for no particular reason, just to be ornery.

Kate Henry is a baseball writer covering the Toronto Titans when the team's successful season is shattered by the murder of two of its star players.Sultan Sanchez, the veteran designated hitter from the Dominican Republic, is found beaten to death in his condominium. Steve Thorson, the team's outstanding pitcher, is killed by a blunt instrument in the clubhouse. Kate gets involved in the murder investigations much to the annoyance of Staff Sergeant Munro of the homicide squad. Was Sanchez blackmailing other players? Did Thorson's agent Sam Craven have him murdered because Thorson had fired Craven? Were there two murderers? Were drugs involved in the crimes? These questions have to be answered as Kate wades through a pile of red herrings while she stays a few steps ahead of the police. The book is an entertaining effort by an author who is an experienced sportswriter.

I read fearless 1,2,3 and thought that they were all AMAZING, so i got my mum to buy 4 and i was as please as ever! It started with lots of clues about what its going to be about and then BANG! The most unexpected thing in the world happens and you can't put the book down and they keep leaving you on cliffhangers and then the only good thing that is ahppening in the book turns out to be the answer to the main story line!!
I can't wait to go out and buy fearless 5!!