Customer Reviews

Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery (Final Four Mysteries)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love everything I've read by Mr Feinstein. While this is not in the class of "Season..." or "Good Walk...", it wasn't meant to be. It's a good book for a young adult audience that may not be interested in reading. If you have a son or daughter that likes sports but does not like to read this well written mystery about the Final Four may catch their interest.

I have listened to John Feinstein on NPR's Morning Edition for years. When a young basketball enthusiast said this was one of the best books he had ever read I was intrigued.

Steven Thomas wins a writing contest sponsored by the U.S. Basketball Writer's Association. His prize is a basketball fan's dream: tickets and press privledges to the NCAA's Final Four at the Superdome in New Orleans. When Steven arrives in New Orleans he meets the other contest winner, another 8th grader named Susan Carol Anderson. She is very tall, very poised and a devout Duke fan.

The two of them are reporting for their hometown papers and take their job as writers very seriously. They attend press conferences and look for stories while enjoying the excitement of the pre-game activities. On their way to an interview they overhear a plot to blackmail the star of the Minnesota State team. Gamblers want star Chip Graber to lose the final game for his team.

Steven and Susan Carol are determined to help Chip and investigate who is behind the threats. The mystery is convincing because of all the detail and background Feinstein includes. Well known personalities from the sports world make appearances in the story. Dick Vitale talks to the kids and "waves his arms." Susan Carol get an interview with Coach K from Duke. Sportswriter/commentator, Tony Kornheiser also has a cameo.

There are in-the-know references to to the real world of college basketball. Steven is bemused by the NCAA references to the players as "student athletes" as the low graduation rates of basketball players at some schools are well known.

As a librarian I appreciated the fact that Steven and Susan Carol won this contest based on their research and writing skills. They are talented writers but they still have to revise and edit and do the hard research on their topics.

This book has all the color and energy of the Final Four and will strike a chord with young basketball and sports fans. The setting of New Orleans and the Superdome was especially nostalgic and touching.

This book is billed as a "Final Four Mystery" and the publisher informs me another one, Vanishing Act, is coming out in August. It will be set at the US Open.

Last Shot is one of the books on the Texas LoneStar Reading list for 2006-2007. This list continues to be one of my favorites.

As an adult drawn to this book by Fienstein's 'non-fiction' name, I was incredibly surprised how much of a page-turner this was. Mr. Feinstein has performed the difficult task of creating two highly likeable and lifelike characters, while at the same time building a suspenful plot that contains numerous twists and turns the average reader won't be able to predict.

Anyone with teens and pre-teens should be buying this great book as a favor to their young readers.

And by the way, adults will enjoy it too! I certainly did.

When Stevie, a thirteen-year-old from Pennsylvania, wins a writing contest and gets to go to the Final Four, he discovers that a player is being blackmailed and must help him before it's too late. Once Stevie and Susan Carol, the other contest winner, find out that Chip Graber, the star player from MSU, is being blackmailed, they decide they have to help. Chip and the kids go to the house of Dean Wojenski, the only person they think can help them. There, they are informed that a lawyer named Jurgensen is probably behind the plot. Later, when they try to meet with Mr. Jurgensen, they are shocked to find that everyone helping them, including Dean Wojenski, is behind the blackmailing. The kids are held hostage so Chip will throw the final game, but they are rescued when Mr. Jurgensen arrives. When Chip sees they're okay, he tries hard and his team ends up winning. Afterwards, all of the people involved in the crime were arrested by the F.B.I. Last Shot is a thrilling mystery that any reader would enjoy.
The characters in this story are very unique. Stevie has a great passion for sports writing and is elated when he wins a writing contest and gets to go to the Final Four. Although he is young, he plucks up enough courage to help when he finds out a player is being blackmailed. Susan Carol shares Stevie's love for writing and also helps solve the case. She seems to always have a solution for everything and is able to talk herself out of the toughest situations. Chip Graber is the star player at MSU and is the player that is being blackmailed. At first he is desperate and almost gives up, but with the little hope that Stevie and Susan Carol give him he does everything he can to get to the bottom of the blackmailing.
This story is very suspenseful. As they look around at the Final Four, Stevie and Susan Carol overhear a man blackmailing Chip Graber, MSU's star player. They have to stay completely still and silent so as not to be discovered and face the dangers that would befall them. While Chip, Stevie, and Susan Carol are driving back from Dean Wojenski's house, they find that they are being followed by Mr. Jurgensen, who they suspect to be behind the blackmailing. They barely lose him by going into the player's entrance at the semifinals. The climax of the story is when they try to meet with Mr. Jurgensen but end up being held hostage so that Chip would throw the final game.
Like any good mystery, this story has many twists in it. Stevie and Susan Carol expect to have a wonderful time being sports journalists at the Final Four, but stumble upon a plot to blackmail a player. When Chip, Stevie, and Susan Carol go to Chip's former dean's house for help they are informed that the man behind the blackmailing is a lawyer who used to be a good friend to Chip's father, who also happened to be Chip's coach. When the kids try to meet with the lawyer, they are shocked to find everyone who they thought was on their side is actually behind the blackmailing. They are held hostage by the people they thought were their friends! They were even more surprised when they were rescued by Mr. Jurgensen, the lawyer they had suspected to be the one behind the blackmailing.
Last Shot is a compelling mystery any reader would enjoy. The story is suspenseful and has many interesting twists. It has a well though out plot that will hold a readers attention throughout the story. It has a lot to do with basketball, but with its exciting storyline this book is great for any reader.
P. Walsh

My 11-year-old son and I listened to the author read the audiobook version on a recent car trip, and we loved it. The story kept us guessing and certainly made the trip seem to go by quickly. I will be buying a copy for my school library.

As a reading tutor, creative writing mentor, and author of YA fiction, I'm always looking for books that are fun reads for young adults. In my experience, when a child or teen reads something that makes them laugh, it leads to them staying more focused, and therefore improves their reading comprehension. It also means they might actually turn off the TV for a little while to read. So, I appreciated Feinstein's book because I found it a fun read, and I think kids I've worked with through the years will as well. I also am a huge sports fan, and since I grew up in the Maryland area, I am very familiar with the writings of Feinstein, Mr. Tony (Kornheiser) and Michael Wilbon, so that added some extra enjoyment for me.

-- Stephen Kogon, author of "Max Mooth -- Cyber Sleuth and the Case of the Zombie Virus." MaxMoothCyberSleuth.com.

The Last Shot by John Feinstein is one of the best books I have ever read. For one it is about basketball and the NCAA tournament, if you fallow basketball you will like this book, and I love basketball. An other good thing about this book is that it is a mystery, some people like mysteries and some people don't, but if you like mysteries you will like this book. This book is about a boy and a girl that won a writing contest. The prize for this writing contest is that you get to write newspaper articles covering the NCAA basketball tournament. While trying to find stories they find out a scary blackmail plot against one of the players, it is up to them to find out what's going on.

John Feinstein is a great writer and I have always enjoyed his commentary on the radio. The strength of this book is the background details. If you want to know what it is like to be at the final four, you will enjoy all the inside information about the fans, the players, the coaches, the sports writers and television commentators. As a mystery, it starts unlikely and ends preposterous. A realistic story of how two teenage reporters uncover a scandal at the final four would probably be too tedious to interest the age level this book is intended for. The more I read the more I felt the plot was borrowed from the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. I kept thinking the plot had a lot to owe to Gene Autry, didn't he usually have a kid hanging around to solve the mystery and then need saving? And the character names! Does Susan Carol sound like a girl who is around in 2000's, even if she does come from the South? The readers may come for the atmosphere, but the plot won't lure them to the final pages.

I love reading a book that combines mystery with exciting action and interesting characters. John Feinstein did an amazing job on this book! Basicaly, this book is about two kids, Stevie and Susan Carol, who won an article competion. They get to write about sports. They get to be reporters for the Final Four! What a chance! MSU`s star player, Chip Graber, was being threatened by a blackmailer, who turns out to be a profesor at his school. The FBI catch the blackmailer and people who were in on it. All and all, an AWESOME book to me becauseI LOVE collage b-ball,( especially Michigan), and I LOVE the Final Four! This was a good read that kept me reading more & more. I can't wait now, to read the vanishing act; which is the next one in this series.

If you like basketball and mysteries, then Last Shot by John Feinstein is the book for you. It is awesome book for ages 10 and up. This is about the Final Four in New Orleans. Stevie and Susan are in 8th grade. Stevie is short for his age he has never been to a basketball game before and is real excited. Susan is tall and pretty Stevie doesn't like her much because she likes Duke the Basketball team and she is much taller than him and also she is very good looking. They both win a writing contest permitting them to go to the Final Four in New Orleans. Since they win the contest, they get special journalist passes to sit in on all the meetings, practices and great seats to the games. They are each having a great time until they over hear a disturbing conversation. One of the star athletes Chip Graber is being blackmailed and if he doesn't throw the championship game then his career may be in jeopardy. But when Susan and Stevie team up with Chip to find out who is involved and to prove he is innocent, they get stuck in the middle of it. If Chip doesn't throw the game then it maybe Susan and Stevie's life that may be at stake.
I thought this was the best realistic fiction book that I have read in a long time. The first couple of chapters were boring, but after that I just couldn't stop reading it. This book is a real page-turner.