Sooley by John Grisham

 "Well, if I had not chosen the kid back in April, he would have been at home with his family when their village was raided. Knowing him the way we do, he would have tried to save everyone. He'd probably be dead now."                                                        -Coach Ecko Lam, from the novel

I have read numerous novels by John Grisham and can't remember disliking a one. Sooley is a basketball story, one of Grisham's departures from his usual legal thrillers. Of the sports stories, I've read Bleachers, featuring football and maybe Playing for Pizza, another about football, so long ago I don't remember for sure. The other is a baseball saga, Calico Joe, and not being much of a baseball fan, I never picked it up.

I enjoy football more than basketball, and to be sure, there is a lot of basketball in this novel, but I did find Sooley a pretty captivating story. Samuel Sooleymon, later nicknamed Sooley, is a South Sudanese 17-year-old chosen for an Under 18 basketball tournament in the U.S., a chance to showcase his raw talent and considerable physical attributes. Interestingly the tournament begins in Orlando where the team from Africa practices and plays in places familiar to this Central Floridian reader---CFE Arena on the campus of the University of Central Florida (my alma mater) and the Alfond Sports Center at Rollins College. They were awed by getting to play at the Amway Center, home of the Orlando Magic. They were treated to Disney World visits and pictured in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.

Not long into the tournament, Samuel receives word that his family has been victims of a violent civil war. His father is killed, his sister missing and mother and 2 younger brothers are forced to flee. Samuel wants to return home to find them but that is not possible.

Samuel is given an athletic scholarship at North Carolina Central although his abilities have not proven exceptional. With a quickly maturing body and outstanding work ethic, that will soon change dramatically. I'll not spoil the suspense!

I am rating Sooley a 4. It was an interesting read but I will say I was ambivalent about the ending. It was especially interesting to read in the Author's Note that Grisham played multiple sports in his youth but realized his athletic abilities would not carry him to a professional level. He obviously exercised his brain power instead and earned a law degree. That background supplied all he needed to become arguably the most popular writer of legal thrillers. He says he still loves sports and satisfies his passion by writing about them from time to time.