cover image Hangman’s Game: A Nick Gallow Mystery

Hangman’s Game: A Nick Gallow Mystery

Bill Syken. Minotaur, $25.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-250-06715-9

Former Sports Illustrated reporter Syken makes his fiction debut with this well-told first in a football-themed mystery series. Punter Nick “Hangman” Gallow of the Philadelphia Sentinels and his agent, Cecil Wilson, take first-round draft choice Samuel Sault to a steakhouse, where they’re greeted by the Sentinels’ obnoxious star linebacker, Jai Carson, who invites them to join his party. The diffident Samuel insults Jai by saying no. After dinner, the three visit the Sentinels’ empty stadium, where a drive-by shooting kills Samuel and wounds Cecil. Detective Rizotti, the lead investigator, homes in on Jai as the chief suspect, but Nick knows that pass rusher Samuel left a trail of broken quarterbacks during his college career, any one of whom may have wanted him dead. Syken really nails the world of professional football, including the training camp competition between Nick and a rival rookie punter, as well as the violence, conspicuous consumption, and tragic endings endemic to the sport. Agent: Joanna Pulcini, Joanna Pulcini Literary Management. (Aug.)