"Levi was simple, like a child. It was the best thing about him, and it was the worst, too."

When high school senior Jonas moves to Seattle, he is glad to meet Levi, a nice, soft-spoken guy and fellow basketball player. Suspense builds like a slow drumbeat as readers start to smell a rat in Ryan Hartwell, a charismatic basketball coach and sexual predator. When Levi reluctantly tells Jonas that Hartwell abused him, Jonas has to decide whether he should risk his future career to report the coach. Pitch-perfect basketball plays, well-developed characters, and fine storytelling make this psychological sports novel a slam dunk.

When a new job falls his way, Chance jumps at the opportunity, becoming a runner who picks up strange packages on a daily route and delivers them to a shady man at the marina. Chase knows how much he will earn--what he doesn't know is how much he will pay.
Suspenseful, fast-paced, and timely, this novel avoids easy answers as it examines issues of terrorism and patriotism, fear and courage, and lives of privilege and poverty.
This brand new paperback edition includes a Q and A with author Carl Deuker.

For the first time ever, comes a paperback boxed set containing Gym Candy, Payback Time, Night Hoops, and Runner, four books from award-winning sportswriter Carl Deuker. From award-winning sportswriter Carl Deuker, comes this paperback boxed set of Gym Candy, Payback Time, Night Hoops, and Runner, four riveting, action-packed sportsbooks all together now for the first time. In Gym Candy, self-acceptance, peer pressure, and a heart-wrenching story about high school football take center field as running back Mick Johnson struggles for success under the always glaring--and often unforgiving--stadium lights, even if it costs him everything. In Payback Time, a thrilling mystery lurks beneath the backdrop of high school football and the criminal underworld as high school journalist Mitch True uncovers the secret past of the football team's new cornerback. In Night Hoops, loyalty, friendship, and family are tested when an unlikely friendship forms between two boys who seem to have nothing in common but basketball. In Runner, a high school runner finds himself at the center of a sinister conspiracy when he takes up a gig picking up strange packages on a daily route and delivering them to a mysterious man at the marina.

Jimmy Winter is a born star on the baseball field, and Seth Barnam can only dream of being as talented. Still, the two baseball fanatics have the kind of friendship that should last forever. But when Seth experiences an unthinkable loss, he's forced to find his own personal strength--on and off the field.
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
An ALA Best Book for Reluctant Readers
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Book of the Year

What would you give to be your school's superstar? After reading "Dr. Faustus," Joe considers the merits of selling his soul to the devil. Suddenly, he finds himself changing from a lousy basketball player and a C student to the star athlete he always dreamed he could be. Even though he isn't sure if he actually made a deal with the devil, he can't help but enjoy the benefits that come with his newfound abilities. But is achieving his dreams worth what he may have given up?
In this coming of age sports novel, Joe learns the power of belief and that the only goals worth attaining are the ones that you earn -- on your own.

From award-winning novelist Carl Deuker comes a gritty, heart-wrenching story about high school football, self-acceptance, and the pressures that come with being the best at any cost. "Look, Mick," he said, "you're going to find out from somebody in the gym, so you might as well find out from me. Those supplements you're taking? They might get you a little bigger, but just a little. If you're after serious results, there's other stuff that produces better results much faster, stuff that a lot of guys in the gym use." "What other stuff?" "You know what I'm talking about--gym candy." Running back Mick Johnson has dreams: dreams of cutting back, finding the hole, breaking into the open, and running free with nothing but green grass ahead. He has dreams of winning and of being the best. But football is a cruel sport. It requires power, grace, speed, quickness, and knowledge of the game. It takes luck, too. One crazy bounce can turn a likely victory into sudden defeat. What elite athlete wouldn't look for an edge? A way to make him bigger, stronger, faster? This novel explores the dark corners of the heart of a young football player as he struggles for success under the always glaring--and often unforgiving--stadium lights.

A mystery-thriller set against the backdrop of high school football and the criminal underworld. A reporter's job is to find the missing pieces, and the high school journalist Mitch True is on the verge of uncovering those pieces and nailing his first real story. If only he can get the cornerback Angel Marichal to talk. Or Coach McNulty to explain why he never allows Angel's obvious talent--his speed and strength--to shine on the field. What is Angel's secret? And who profits from keeping the truth hidden? In a thriller both thought-provoking and suspenseful, the award-winning author Carl Deuker shows how investigating someone else's life can lead to very unexpected discoveries.

Nick Abbott and Trent Dawson have nothing in common but basketball. It's sophomore year and Nick is trying to deal with his parents' divorce. He also really wants to be a star on the basketball team. Trent, his neighbor, is angry, and aggressive. The two form an uneasy bond as they quietly practice each night on Nick's backyard basketball court. But as the basketball season progresses, their lives become unexpectedly intertwined. In this story of an unlikely bond, Carl Deuker explores the confusing place between loneliness and friendship, between faithfulness and betrayal. Filled with gripping game play, this is a story about choices.