8 used & new from $0.50
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
The Fan (Beeler Mysteries)
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

The Fan (Beeler Mysteries) [LARGE PRINT] (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Who's next?..." (more)
Key Phrases: Bobby Rayburn, Gil Renard, Coach Cole (more...)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


1 new from $14.95 7 used from $0.50

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover -- $0.94 $0.01
  Hardcover, Large Print, June 1996 -- $14.95 $0.50
  Paperback, Import -- -- $0.02
  Mass Market Paperback $6.99 $4.07 $0.01
  Audio, Cassette -- $4.98 $1.00

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Oblivion

Oblivion

by Peter Abrahams
3.8 out of 5 stars (25)  $7.99
Their Wildest Dreams: A Novel

Their Wildest Dreams: A Novel

by Peter Abrahams
3.7 out of 5 stars (10)  $6.99
The Tutor

The Tutor

by Peter Abrahams
3.4 out of 5 stars (17)  $7.99
Nerve Damage

Nerve Damage

by Peter Abrahams
3.7 out of 5 stars (19)  $7.99
End of Story

End of Story

by Peter Abrahams
3.0 out of 5 stars (28)  $7.99
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With this taut novel of an overzealous fan's obsession with a baseball player, Abrahams, the author of such compulsively readable thrillers as Lights Out and Pressure Drop, hits one out of the park. From the day Gil Renard's father died outside the ball field where his son was pitching a critical Little League game, Gil has been rabid about baseball. His favorite player is Bobby Rayburn, centerfielder for the Sox (of an unnamed city) who is himself obsessed-with pulling out of a hitting slump. In alternating chapters filled with telling details, Abrahams gradually reveals these men's diverse frustrations, then dramatically brings them together with a violent act of Gil's that relates to his other fixation: a knowledge of fine knives and knifemaking also "inherited" from his father. (It was this knowledge that secured Gil a job with the company that bought his father's business, just as his contempt for their product got him fired.) Abrahams makes Gil's obsessive personality evident from the first chapter, as he "dries up" while talking baseball to a radio talk jock. His eventual slide into madness is frighteningly depicted in this finely crafted, edge-of-the-seat thriller. BOMC alternate; major ad/promo; film rights to Tri-Star.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Library Journal

This dark suspense novel shows the pathological side of fandom. Gil is a rabid fan of baseball's Chicago White Sox who hopes that the team's newly acquired free agent, Bobby Rayburn, will deliver the pennant. Meanwhile, Gil's own life is falling apart. Having lost everything-job, wife, and son-he retains his memories of his own baseball greatness and his obsession with Rayburn as he drifts into robbery and murder. When Gil meets Rayburn and Rayburn shows up Gil's pretensions, a murderous encounter at home plate becomes inevitable. Gil will remind readers of the hero of Robert Coover's Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. (LJ 6/15/68) in the way that baseball fantasy replaces his actual life. This excellent novel by the author of Lights Out (LJ 2/1/94) is highly recommended. [BOMC alternate; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/94.]-Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, Ia.
--Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, Ia.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 346 pages
  • Publisher: Thomas T. Beeler Publisher; Largeprint edition (June 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1574900625
  • ISBN-13: 978-1574900620
  • Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,954,903 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Peter Abrahams
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Peter Abrahams Page
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
Who's next? Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bobby Rayburn, Gil Renard, Coach Cole, Opening Day, Iwo Jima, Jewel Stem, Curly Onis, Little League, Sergeant Claymore, Cuervo Gold, New York, Jewel Stern, Jesus Christ, Arcturian Web, Baseball Encyclopedia, Hall of Fame, Sherlock Holmes, Where's Rayburn, Great Outdoors, Jason Pellegrini, John Paciorek, United States, Valerie Rayburn
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 5 books:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Fan (Beeler Mysteries)
51% buy the item featured on this page:
The Fan (Beeler Mysteries) 4.1 out of 5 stars (7)
Oblivion
15% buy
Oblivion 3.8 out of 5 stars (25)
$7.99
Into the Dark (Echo Falls Mystery)
13% buy
Into the Dark (Echo Falls Mystery) 4.5 out of 5 stars (6)
$6.99
Lights Out
11% buy
Lights Out 4.2 out of 5 stars (8)
Explore similar items

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
 
(10)
(6)
(6)
(6)
(4)
(3)
(3)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars One Man's Obsession Becomes A Psychotic Journey Into Madness, November 3, 2008
This review is from: The Fan (Mass Market Paperback)
Gil Renard is a man on the edge, in more ways that one. Unable to keep his marriage together, unable to have a positive relationship with his son, and unable to climb the corporate ladder except for the glossy traps he surrounds himself with. The right car, the right suits; but his attempt at gloss fails when it comes to his one room apartment in a broken down building. Gil barely controls his rage, his drinking, and his contempt for his own son. Lost in his glory days of being MVP pitcher (which we discover was only Little League), he's obsessed with Baseball and player Bobby Rayburn in particular.

Bobby Rayburn is a talented player, batting .314 last season and commanding the largest salary the Sox have ever paid. But there's one problem with him joining the Sox, another teammate Primo has his number: Number 11. Bobby is a womanizer, a player who's in the game for money and fame, who often scorns at his legion of fans. He takes advantage of being away from his wife Valerie and five-year-old son Sean to bed different women every night. When his abilities suddenly take a nosedive, he at first believes it must be due to his eyesight, but discovers his problem lies much deeper than the physical.

Jewel Stern, a sports reporter for JOC radio, loves her career so much she's given up a normal life for it. Though she sees herself becoming "long in the tooth" as a woman, her career advancements more than make up for it.

When Gil finally loses his job, the full force of his psychotic behavior breaks out, leaving behind no more boundaries. He's served a court order to stay away from his son, begins to drink more, and winds out in his old town digging up his father's grave to retrieve his old Little League trophy. He takes up with old friend Len Boucicaut; a childhood friend from Little League who's become a backwoods piece of trailer trash. It's Boucicant that teaches Gil that even legal boundaries are to be scoffed at. Gil, driven by his desire to be "closer to the game", takes his friend's advice and finally finds a way through his madness to get close to Bobby Rayburn.

The book alternates chapters between Gil's life, Bobby's life, and Jewel's life; as each of them begin to closely intertwine as the story progresses. The characters are realistic with individual personalities. There is, of course, a lot of baseball description in the book, and though I'm not a sports fan I still found the storyline intriguing and captivating. 'The Fan' is an excellent tale of one man's degeneration into total madness.

On a personal note, I saw the movie before reading the book, and despite highly different physical descriptions I could only picture the characters from the movie. The endings are quite different, though each story is done very well, so I recommend watching the movie after reading the book. Enjoy!
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars The Fan Review, January 14, 2005
This review is from: The Fan (Mass Market Paperback)
I think this was a good book. Just when the suspense started to ease up, the author would drop a bomb on you. The book started so strong, but the finish was far from great. The ending left you hanging, but not a good hanging, a ending that didn't conlcude the book or characters. This book was a 4 until the author got tired of writing and wrote a ending like a 5th grader.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting novel about Baseball and its fans.., May 5, 2004
By Peter LaPrade (worcester ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Fan (Mass Market Paperback)
Gil Renard is an unforgetable, but unlovable charater in Peter Abrahams's "The Fan". He is slowly simmering over the crap that other people give him, with stupid bosses selling crappy knives and blaming him for them not selling. His ex is also shrewish, and he tries to relate to his son, but fails. Soon, Gil finds himself getting closer to a star hitter for the Sox(a unnamed city, but we know he's talking about Boston), while Gil himself starts descending in murder and theft. The commentary about Sox Fans is mostly true, and the ending is definately out of science fiction.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Taut, tense, and terrifying
Bobby Rayburn, the best hitter in professional baseball, has just signed on with the Boston Red Sox, an act which most believe will ensure the team a pennant. Read more
Published on August 6, 2007 by Henry W. Wagner

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read
This is a haunting book. I mean that in a good way. You probably know somebody who is only a couple of clicks away from turning into The Fan. Read more
Published on March 15, 2007 by Aaron Patrick

4.0 out of 5 stars PSYCHOPATHIC FAN SAVES THE RED SOX?
Gil Renard is a failed knife salesman, failed husband and a failed father. Gil lives in the distant past when he was twelve years old and the MVP of his little league team. Read more
Published on April 6, 2001 by Kenri A. Mugleston

5.0 out of 5 stars great read, quick, action-packed thriller
I gave this to a female friend and she was hesitant because there was a baseball on the cover. "It's not just about baseball," I told her. Read more
Published on May 1, 1999

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:














i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.



Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.