Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Cover-Up: Mystery at the Super Bowl

Author: John Feinstein

ISBN: 978-0-375-84247-4

John Feinstein’s background as a sports journalist for the Washington Post, as well as a contributor to Sports Illustrated and the National Sports Daily, comes in quite handy in creating a lively and fascinating novel, Cover-Up: Mystery at the Super Bowl.

The novel focuses on two teenage reporters who stumble across a scandalous cover up on the eve of the Super Bowl involving an owner of a National Football League team and five of the team’s players.

Our story begins when Stevie Thomas, the co-host with Susan Carol Anderson, is fired from his USTV television sports commentary position that is aimed at teenager viewers and he is replaced with a rock star, Jamie Whitsett.

Stevie is subsequently offered a reporter’s gig from his friend Bobby Kelleher, a journalist for the Washington Herald, to cover the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. After some deliberations with his parents, Stevie accepts the gig and informs Susan Carol, who will likewise be attending the Super Bowl as reporter for USTV, of his good fortune. The teenagers promise to meet up with each other once they arrive in the Super Bowl city.

When Stevie arrives in Indianapolis, he is offered another gig from CBS where he would be sent out with a crew each day and see what he comes back with. Apparently, CBS was quite impressed with Stevie’s nose for news from what they had witnessed when he was a co-host with Susan Carol.

The narrative begins to take on a life of its own when a slightly inebriated team physician of one of the teams playing in the Super Bowl comes onto Susan Carol at a party, not realizing she is older than fourteen. While conversing with Susan Carol, the doctor brags that most of the players would never get on the field without his help, as he is a kind of magician or as he states, “I wave my magic needle on Sundays and everyone plays.” Eventually it comes out that our good doctor is into giving his players shots of steroids particularly one called HGH. Furthermore, before the deciding game prior to the Super Bowl, five of the team’s players tested positive. When Susan Carol bluffs the doctor and tells him that she can’t believe this happened, his response was that she may be right-unless someone was covering up the test results.

 There is much to recommend in this novel particularly the manner in which Feinstein successfully blends the divergent strands of the narrative.  What is more, Feinstein does a great job in capturing the colorful and circus atmosphere of Super Bowl week with just the right nuances. With effective characterizations of two strong characters with compelling voices, Feinstein has crafted a compelling and gripping read that can be enjoyed as much by adults as by teenagers.

The above review was contributed by: Norm Goldman, B.A. LL.L, Retired Title Attorney and Publisher and Editor of Bookpleasures.com.

Norm is also a travel writer and together with his artist wife, Lily, the couple meld Norm's words with Lily's art. To check out their travel site click on Sketchandtravel.com   Click here to view Norm’s Reviews & Interviews.

Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Cover-Up: Mystery at the Super Bowl