Review of "Basketball Star," by Don Wilcox

Review of

Basketball Star, by Don Wilcox

Two out of five stars

 This work of adolescent sports fiction is weak, because the concentration is more on emotional angst rather than the sports action. Ernest Abbot is now a sophomore in college and eligible for varsity sports. After showing great promise in high school and on the college freshman team, great things are expected from him on the basketball court.

 In many ways, he is a success on the court and in the classroom, but his constant anguish over his brother causes him to lose focus and question his role in his family and on campus. This constant equivocating is a sub-thread in the story that grows wearing over time. Unlike many other books of sports fiction, this one features a female significant character other than a supportive mother.

 Despite all the meandering, there is of course a big game at the end. However, there is little in the way of the building of tension when the final moment of conclusion is reached. It just happens in the normal course of the story. This is a dull book.