Snap Hook (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England) [Hardcover]

John R. Corrigan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England | Publication Date: February 1, 2004

The second volume in an exciting series that deftly combines life in professional golf's sunny top tiers with the dark world of life-or-death sleuthing

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

What is harder for a golfer to do: find his game or find a believable golf mystery?

Corrigan's second Jack Austin novel, starring a PGA touring pro struggling to hold on to his playing credentials, gets a lot of things right. There's plenty of on-course action, and it is mainly authentic and exciting. (There's only one howler: the supposedly long-hitting Austin "crushes" a driver on a 370-yard hole and is left with 130 yards to the green. Even aging book reviewers can hit the occasional 240-yard drive.) More important, Corrigan comes up with a decent premise that doesn't involve bodies in bunkers: a tour official is strong-armed by a Russian gangster into laundering money. There's also an affecting subplot about Austin's dyslexic caddie. Unfortunately, the gangster's scheme has some enormous holes, and the dialogue suffers from too much backstory. Like so many rounds of golf, moments of clumsiness tarnish but don't ruin the experience. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Corrigan commands a wealth of technical detail to make Jack's every round vivid and exciting . . . Highly recommended for golfers, golf widows and widowers, and everybody who's ever wondered what the fuss is about." -- Kirkus--

"Corrigan's second Jack Austin mystery (after Cut Shot) features deft prose, clean plotting, and enjoyable subject matter and will appeal to golf fans. It also marks the debut of the Hardscrabble Crime imprint, the University Press of New England's first foray into mystery fiction."--Library Journal

"Corrigan's second Jack Austin novel, starring a PGA touring pro struggling to hold on to his playing credentials, gets a lot of things right. There's plenty of on-course action, and it is mainly authentic and exciting . . . [Corrigan] comes up with a decent premise that doesn't involve bodies in bunkers....There's also an affecting subplot about Austin's dyslexic caddie."--Booklist

"University Press of New England launches its Hardscrabble Crime imprint with John R. Corrigan's Snap Hook: A Jack Austin Mystery, the second in the series after Cut Shot. Pro golfer Austin has to contend with another winless season on the PGA Tour, a troubled caddie, the Russian mob--and a tense round at the Buick Classic with real-life golfer Phil Mickelson." --Publishers Weekly Mystery Notes section --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: UPNE; First Edition edition (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584653329
• ISBN-13: 978-1584653325
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,469,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John R. Corrigan was born in Augusta, Maine, in 1970. Along with his wife and three young daughters, he lives at the Pomfret School in Pomfret, Connecticut, where he teaches Advanced Placement English and Mystery Literature, coaches hockey and golf, and may very well be the only mystery writer in America who is also a dorm parent to 15 teenage boys.

John loves teaching and enjoys visiting schools to give readings or run writing workshops. You can reach him at the e-mail address below to schedule a school visit.

A passionate teacher, he understands struggles faced by learning-disabled students. In 1979, prior to many discoveries in the field of learning disabilities, Corrigan was broadly diagnosed as "learning disabled, presumed dyslexic" -- a theme that resonates throughout the Jack Austin series. Corrigan has published poetry, academic papers, feature articles, and more recently short stories (in the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine).

The first Jack Austin novel, CUT SHOT (Sleeping Bear Press, 2001), earned excellent reviews. In 2002, Corrigan signed with the University Press of New England, an honor that made him UPNE's first mystery novelist and produced SNAP HOOK (2004), CENTER CUT (2004), BAD LIE (2005), and OUT OF BOUNDS (2006). The Jack Austin series has been praised for accurately portraying the stresses associated with high-pressure athletics.

A former journalist and freelance writer, he earned a master's of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Texas at El Paso. From 2001-2005, he was a columnist for Golf Today Magazine. Now he writes a weekly blog for Type M For Murder and is currently at work on a new series featuring a female border patrol agent as protagonist.

He is thrilled to be able to offer the Jack Austin series online--all five novels for the price of one hardcover--and always enjoys hearing from readers. You can reach him at [e-mail] or by visiting his Website, JohnRCorrigan.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jack makes the sports mystery cut with fine tale, April 29, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Snap Hook (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England) (Hardcover)

Though almost ten years on the PGA Tour, golfer Jack Austin struggles to keep his playing card. Though he has never won a tournament and he understands the significance of an experienced caddie can have on the game, Jack still hires a new caddie Nash Henley with limited experience but who suffers from dyslexia like he does.

As he battles to make the cut, he notices a strange individual hanging around the tour. He asks questions and soon learns that Nikoli Silcandrov of the Russian Mafia is scheming to use the PGA Tour to launder money. To insure cooperation, the Nikolai and his thugs kidnap the four month old daughter of PGA Tour Charities Director Brian Taylor, who leads the raising and distributing of $50 million annually. Unable to ignore the double bogie, Jack tries to rescue a youngster and insuring the mob's plan fails while also playing against Phil Mickelson.

In his second book tour, Jack shoots a birdie as golf fans and sport mystery buffs will enjoy his efforts to make the cut and to stop the mobsters. The story line is fast-paced on the greens, in the clubhouse, and off the course as Jack searches for the kidnapped child. His caddie enables the audience to see another side of the caring Jack. Though the audience will have to accept the blackmail premise, readers will believe that John R. Corrigan finished in the top ten with SNAP HOOK.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid effort - worth your time, April 13, 2004

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Snap Hook (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England) (Hardcover)

Jack Austin has a few things going for him that other PGA Tour Professionals don't. The biggest of them is that he keeps wandering into the middle of the damndest things. In this very real and believeable book, he has been shown some of the underside of golf.(again)The Russian Mafia has infiltrated the PGA Tour in order to launder a large amount of money and for insurance on the effort they have kidnapped the four month old daughter of the PGA Tour official who is set to make the money laundering happen. The purpose in doing so is to ensure the success of the mission, but it is in fact one of the things that leads to the whole plots unraveling. Jack Austen is a PGA professional who has yet to win a tournament, but who nevertheless has enjoyed success on the tour. He has a comfortable living arrangement with one of the star reporters for CBS on the tour, he has taken on a "summer project" as his caddy, a dyslexic black teenager (Austen is also dyslexic and understands the disease) and while pursuing his favorite occupation, both arrangements get very complicated.

This is really a human interest story which uses the PGA Tour as it's backdrop and does so in an interesting and convincing fashion. Phil Mickelson even makes an appearance and continues his winning ways.

I liked this book even more than his first one, The characters remain in character throughout the book, the plot is interesting and the resolution is in doubt for some time. A first rate effort and a compelling read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Different Twist, March 30, 2004

By 

Brent Esancy (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Snap Hook (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England) (Hardcover)

As a prolific reader of fiction, I'm always looking for that new twist. Using the PGA Tour as the back drop got me hooked (pun intended) on Corrigan's Jack Austin series. I liked his first book but this one is better. I suspect that Corrigan is going to be around for awhile.