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Break Point
Kelly is playing her first Wimbledon and she's falling in love. But, on the tennis circuit something's very wrong. There's a rash of nasty accidents, leaving several players maimed, even dead. Kelly wonders if the next killer serve will be aimed at her.
- GenresYoung AdultThriller
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
1 person is currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
David Belbin
67 books21 followersBelbin's work is known for breaking boundaries and dealing responsibly with difficult social issues that affect teenagers. He first attained success with a number of books for Scholastic's Point Crime series.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 11, 2023
This book was 90% descriptions of tennis matches, 10% mystery
July 2, 2024
This is the second Point Crime book I have read and it is much more a mystery than Kiss Of Death was...very grounded.
This is also the first book I have purchased where it came from the U.K. and actually paid for shipping to have it arrive in perfect condition. Originally 2.99 in pounds there is a sticker I won't try to remove that marked it down to...1.99 in pounds.
Another thing for anyone who has not read this before and is interested...you better like tennis. I've played it for fun in high school P.E. but have never watched it and know nothing about the score keeping part of the game. I am not a complete stranger to the sport because I can at least name tennis players of the past and a few of the present.
Again you can comment to ask me if you want...I like having conversations every once in awhile.
80% mystery and 20% tennis seems the right balance to me so Belbin either did a lot of research, plays a lot of tennis or just likes watching it a lot.
If you read the back of the book then you know our main character is a girl named Kelly Christian but we get a prologue that would be like the cold open of Law & Order: SVU focusing on a tennis player named Maria Hernandez.
She watches a news story about her rival from Australia named Sue Murray withdrawing from the French Open. Her shoulder was injured in a traffic accident and she requires surgery so Maria is shocked but they are not friends.
A knock comes to the door and Maria is told to come down to a press conference about the Murray news by a person we are given no gender but apparently...not a complete stranger to just walk in to Maria's room.
Maria has been thinking about retiring and having a family but has not told her father. The lift (elevator) has been held open by a tennis racket but it didn't stop it to leave the shaft completely empty and well...
When we begin we meet Kelly Christian sitting in the lobby of a motel and getting ready to read an article about the French Open with only some high school knowledge of the French language. A very attractive young man sits next to her and asks Kelly if she likes tennis and needs some help translating in a heavy, French accent.
Kelly accepts but he seems bored and says the game is not as exciting anymore as the same players always win. Kelly makes it a point to tell him that she is in a qualifying match and that maybe he should come and see her play to find just how exciting the sport is just as her coach makes it to the lobby.
He introduces himself as Francois and we learn that Kelly's coach, Mary Porter, use to be a tennis star. Kelly is seventeen and Francois is no more than twenty so we don't have anything too scandalous to worry about. Kelly is just starting out in the sport of traveling abroad without her family as they don't have the money to travel and Mary is a commentator so she gets some perks that Kelly only hopes to have one day.
Sponsors, patrons and deals worth millions...all that jazz. It is a lot for a young girl from Massachusetts to handle but Mary tells her not to worry about boys as they leave their hotel. In the taxi, they pass the bigger and more expensive hotels and find news crew vans outside to hold up traffic. Kelly sees another American player around her age named Lacy Cannon and another player named Louise Chung crying so they ask the driver to stop.
Yep...Maria really did NOT survive that fall. It was ten stories down...
Maria's death and Sue's injury provide two open spots now to the French Open...Kelly gets one of those spots alongside a girl from South African named Elaine Murdoch. I should say also...she is a white South African with blonde hair but this was 1994...did you think there would be that much diversity?
The next day while practicing, Kelly meets up with Francois again. He knew who Kelly was but played dumb and she finds him in tennis whites then learns he is in a Junior tournament making him eighteen. Francois helps Kelly practice and she finds out he is very good compared to her other hitting partners and they train for four hours and have lunch with Mary.
We learn Mary is thirty-five and isn't too keen on Francois flirting with Kelly...all work and no play as she has a big match tomorrow against a Russian player. We also learn that Louise has checked into Kelly's hotel as she was staying at the same hotel as Maria Hernandez but does not wish to stay there anymore...spooked by the "accident".
Louise is higher in rankings than Kelly and has two sponsors in Hong Kong, doing commercials for their respective companies. She use to be as poor as Kelly but now has a home in Hong Kong, one in Malibu and can get five star service yet Louise and Kelly are pretty close on an otherwise...icy female circuit.
Kelly beats her Russian opponent and goes to meet Francois at the bar after he finishes a game that Kelly wasn't allowed to see by Mary so they could talk tactics. Before Francois showed up, Kelly was with Louise until she left to go and talk with a man named Peter Kong. Kong is a millionaire who follows the tennis world and likes to lavish gifts on the female players...like the late Maria Hernandez.
Louise's Japanese coach, Tetsuo, tells her to be nice to Kong and it seems his new interest is in Louise...as well as Kelly.
Kelly's next match is with Lacy and she tries to avoid the other girl but has to come between Lacy and Elaine when they get in a fight because Elaine thinks Lacy "stole" her endorsement with Lacoste...wild huh? Over an emblem of the alligator on a tennis skirt?
After beating Lacy, Kelly learns her next opponent is a former tennis star trying to make a comeback named Jessie-Ray Conner from a reporter. The reporter becomes nervous when she enters the lift with Kelly and Louise and it starts to act as if it will stall...or plummet.
Most think that Maria may have committed suicide if it wasn't just a horrible "accident" but the reporter has also learned that the traffic accident of Sue Murray...wasn't. A motorcyclist tried to deliberately run her down and she got away with only an injury that may take her out of playing tennis for good if the surgery isn't successful.
Jessie-Ray Conner is making her comeback at twenty-two years old we learn. She was a tennis prodigy and pro by the time she was fourteen but there was a complete downfall when drugs were found on her in two separate incidents: first pot and then cocaine. Sponsors dropped her, her parents denied her trust fund money, she ended up getting married to a boxer and getting pregnant.
Jessie-Ray's husband Tim was then sent to prison and she asked for a divorce, finally able to get some of her trust fund money in court as well, but the rest was set aside for her son. The woman is back with a vengeance and she slaughters Kelly in their game when they are able to play again after a rain shower passes. Kelly finds that Francois left after her game and didn't even bother to say good-bye.
Kelly's hope for romance is shattered, believing Francois only wanted a winner but couldn't commit to a loser...
Louise ends up beating Jessie-Ray at their match to win the French Open and then the tour goes to Eastbourne. Marty has hired a hitting partner for Kelly and it is a young Scottish man named Andrew Kerr, whom Kelly met the year before at the juniors in Wimbledon before her professional career took off.
They had a brief romance but Andrew went off to University for schooling but Kelly isn't interested in romance after Francois. In a match at Edgbaston, Elaine won against her opponent but Lacy tells Kelly that every player there received food poisoning...but Elaine wasn't vomiting as much as everyone else despite the claim of a "crummy" tummy...
Peter Kong tried to buy Louise a Mercedes after winning the French Open but she refused since she doesn't drive and that was after buying her and her coach a first-class ticket. Lacy says Louise was going to go for a walk along the beach so Kelly goes to find her friend and hears a dog barking and whining, ignoring the angry cries of its master.
On the beach it appears that the dog has found Louise's body alive...for now. She could either develop brain damage from her fall or never walk, let alone play tennis, again...
To give anymore information on the plot would be hard to do without spoiling so much because there is relationship drama with fighting and more people getting hurt and a lot of suspects. Also, so much shunning and tabloid scandals...it is all just such a rush to go through everything.
There is another tennis match for Wimbledon but that isn't even the end of the story!
Shocking revelations and eerie twists lead to an ending that is just one you have to read for yourself...Break Point is that good. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is admittedly me skipping over all the tennis commentary...it wasn't what I was interested in and it still would have provided a decent page count at over 250 pages.
Advantage...good story.
Fault...too much tennis detail.
This is also the first book I have purchased where it came from the U.K. and actually paid for shipping to have it arrive in perfect condition. Originally 2.99 in pounds there is a sticker I won't try to remove that marked it down to...1.99 in pounds.
Another thing for anyone who has not read this before and is interested...you better like tennis. I've played it for fun in high school P.E. but have never watched it and know nothing about the score keeping part of the game. I am not a complete stranger to the sport because I can at least name tennis players of the past and a few of the present.
Again you can comment to ask me if you want...I like having conversations every once in awhile.
80% mystery and 20% tennis seems the right balance to me so Belbin either did a lot of research, plays a lot of tennis or just likes watching it a lot.
If you read the back of the book then you know our main character is a girl named Kelly Christian but we get a prologue that would be like the cold open of Law & Order: SVU focusing on a tennis player named Maria Hernandez.
She watches a news story about her rival from Australia named Sue Murray withdrawing from the French Open. Her shoulder was injured in a traffic accident and she requires surgery so Maria is shocked but they are not friends.
A knock comes to the door and Maria is told to come down to a press conference about the Murray news by a person we are given no gender but apparently...not a complete stranger to just walk in to Maria's room.
Maria has been thinking about retiring and having a family but has not told her father. The lift (elevator) has been held open by a tennis racket but it didn't stop it to leave the shaft completely empty and well...
When we begin we meet Kelly Christian sitting in the lobby of a motel and getting ready to read an article about the French Open with only some high school knowledge of the French language. A very attractive young man sits next to her and asks Kelly if she likes tennis and needs some help translating in a heavy, French accent.
Kelly accepts but he seems bored and says the game is not as exciting anymore as the same players always win. Kelly makes it a point to tell him that she is in a qualifying match and that maybe he should come and see her play to find just how exciting the sport is just as her coach makes it to the lobby.
He introduces himself as Francois and we learn that Kelly's coach, Mary Porter, use to be a tennis star. Kelly is seventeen and Francois is no more than twenty so we don't have anything too scandalous to worry about. Kelly is just starting out in the sport of traveling abroad without her family as they don't have the money to travel and Mary is a commentator so she gets some perks that Kelly only hopes to have one day.
Sponsors, patrons and deals worth millions...all that jazz. It is a lot for a young girl from Massachusetts to handle but Mary tells her not to worry about boys as they leave their hotel. In the taxi, they pass the bigger and more expensive hotels and find news crew vans outside to hold up traffic. Kelly sees another American player around her age named Lacy Cannon and another player named Louise Chung crying so they ask the driver to stop.
Yep...Maria really did NOT survive that fall. It was ten stories down...
Maria's death and Sue's injury provide two open spots now to the French Open...Kelly gets one of those spots alongside a girl from South African named Elaine Murdoch. I should say also...she is a white South African with blonde hair but this was 1994...did you think there would be that much diversity?
The next day while practicing, Kelly meets up with Francois again. He knew who Kelly was but played dumb and she finds him in tennis whites then learns he is in a Junior tournament making him eighteen. Francois helps Kelly practice and she finds out he is very good compared to her other hitting partners and they train for four hours and have lunch with Mary.
We learn Mary is thirty-five and isn't too keen on Francois flirting with Kelly...all work and no play as she has a big match tomorrow against a Russian player. We also learn that Louise has checked into Kelly's hotel as she was staying at the same hotel as Maria Hernandez but does not wish to stay there anymore...spooked by the "accident".
Louise is higher in rankings than Kelly and has two sponsors in Hong Kong, doing commercials for their respective companies. She use to be as poor as Kelly but now has a home in Hong Kong, one in Malibu and can get five star service yet Louise and Kelly are pretty close on an otherwise...icy female circuit.
Kelly beats her Russian opponent and goes to meet Francois at the bar after he finishes a game that Kelly wasn't allowed to see by Mary so they could talk tactics. Before Francois showed up, Kelly was with Louise until she left to go and talk with a man named Peter Kong. Kong is a millionaire who follows the tennis world and likes to lavish gifts on the female players...like the late Maria Hernandez.
Louise's Japanese coach, Tetsuo, tells her to be nice to Kong and it seems his new interest is in Louise...as well as Kelly.
Kelly's next match is with Lacy and she tries to avoid the other girl but has to come between Lacy and Elaine when they get in a fight because Elaine thinks Lacy "stole" her endorsement with Lacoste...wild huh? Over an emblem of the alligator on a tennis skirt?
After beating Lacy, Kelly learns her next opponent is a former tennis star trying to make a comeback named Jessie-Ray Conner from a reporter. The reporter becomes nervous when she enters the lift with Kelly and Louise and it starts to act as if it will stall...or plummet.
Most think that Maria may have committed suicide if it wasn't just a horrible "accident" but the reporter has also learned that the traffic accident of Sue Murray...wasn't. A motorcyclist tried to deliberately run her down and she got away with only an injury that may take her out of playing tennis for good if the surgery isn't successful.
Jessie-Ray Conner is making her comeback at twenty-two years old we learn. She was a tennis prodigy and pro by the time she was fourteen but there was a complete downfall when drugs were found on her in two separate incidents: first pot and then cocaine. Sponsors dropped her, her parents denied her trust fund money, she ended up getting married to a boxer and getting pregnant.
Jessie-Ray's husband Tim was then sent to prison and she asked for a divorce, finally able to get some of her trust fund money in court as well, but the rest was set aside for her son. The woman is back with a vengeance and she slaughters Kelly in their game when they are able to play again after a rain shower passes. Kelly finds that Francois left after her game and didn't even bother to say good-bye.
Kelly's hope for romance is shattered, believing Francois only wanted a winner but couldn't commit to a loser...
Louise ends up beating Jessie-Ray at their match to win the French Open and then the tour goes to Eastbourne. Marty has hired a hitting partner for Kelly and it is a young Scottish man named Andrew Kerr, whom Kelly met the year before at the juniors in Wimbledon before her professional career took off.
They had a brief romance but Andrew went off to University for schooling but Kelly isn't interested in romance after Francois. In a match at Edgbaston, Elaine won against her opponent but Lacy tells Kelly that every player there received food poisoning...but Elaine wasn't vomiting as much as everyone else despite the claim of a "crummy" tummy...
Peter Kong tried to buy Louise a Mercedes after winning the French Open but she refused since she doesn't drive and that was after buying her and her coach a first-class ticket. Lacy says Louise was going to go for a walk along the beach so Kelly goes to find her friend and hears a dog barking and whining, ignoring the angry cries of its master.
On the beach it appears that the dog has found Louise's body alive...for now. She could either develop brain damage from her fall or never walk, let alone play tennis, again...
To give anymore information on the plot would be hard to do without spoiling so much because there is relationship drama with fighting and more people getting hurt and a lot of suspects. Also, so much shunning and tabloid scandals...it is all just such a rush to go through everything.
There is another tennis match for Wimbledon but that isn't even the end of the story!
Shocking revelations and eerie twists lead to an ending that is just one you have to read for yourself...Break Point is that good. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is admittedly me skipping over all the tennis commentary...it wasn't what I was interested in and it still would have provided a decent page count at over 250 pages.
Advantage...good story.
Fault...too much tennis detail.
May 12, 2023
Throughout the whole book I thought I'd figured out who the murder could've been, and I was wrong. So I was glad that it wasn't who'd expected it to be.
Overall the book was a nice read, but the only thing threw me off was the long descriptive sections about each game the main character played, so tried to skim through those parts.
Overall the book was a nice read, but the only thing threw me off was the long descriptive sections about each game the main character played, so tried to skim through those parts.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews