Review of "The Big Time," by Tim Green

Review of

The Big Time, by Tim Green ISBN 9780061686214


Three out of five stars

 This is the fourth book in Tim Green’s “Football Genius” series and is weaker than the first three. The premise is still the same, Troy White is a football savant that can somehow predict what play an offense is going to run. While he must observe a few offensive series before the skill kicks in, he has demonstrated it many times and he is working for the Atlanta Falcons. At the end of the previous book, Troy has helped the Falcons reach the playoffs and Troy’s youth football team has won the championship. There is a victory party and Troy’s long absent father (Drew) unexpectedly shows up.

 The problem with this book is that financial games are being played rather than football. Drew is an attorney and pushes hard to be Troy’s agent and in fact negotiates an eight-figure deal for Troy. However, all does not conform to Troy’s ideal and there are reasons to believe that Drew has nefarious reasons for his reappearance and sudden deep interest in Troy. Drew has associated with some very shady characters and Troy must make a major decision concerning what to do regarding his father.

 This is fundamentally not a book about football, the main theme is the uncertainty about the motives of the sudden appearance of an absent relative when another relative is suddenly wealthy in a very public way. Especially when the newly rich person is a child and the absent relative is a parent. While this does happen more often than it should, it makes for a sad tale for young adults. No football games are played in this story.