Topspin

by Sonya Spreen Bates

Kat is thrilled to be competing in a junior tennis championship at Melbourne Park for the first time. But things are off to a horrible start. Her doubles partner, Miri, is sneaking around at night and asking Kat to cover for her. She's also playing terribly, almost costing them their match. Miri's boyfriend, Hamish, one of the top competitors, seems unaware of her unusual behavior. When strange things begin happening to throw off Hamish's game, Kat suspects that Miri may be involved. Who is trying to sabotage Hamish? And can Kat put a stop to the plot before it's too late?

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Sports

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Sonya Spreen Bates is a Canadian writer living in South Australia. Although born in the USA, she grew up in Victoria BC Canada where she studied Linguistics and then Speech-Language Pathology. She has spent many years working with children with communication disorders, and began writing fiction soon after her daughters were born.

Sonya writes for children and adults, and has been published in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Her manuscript When Secrets Come to Light was shortlisted for the inaugural Banjo prize in 2018.

Reviews

[Isabelle | Nine Tale Vixen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too short to really build intrigue or develop the characters, so it fell kind of flat. Everything was kind of jumbled together, and it was hard to follow for someone who didn't really speak tennis.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kat has just moved to Australia and she has the opportunity to compete at a junior tennis championship in both the singles and doubles categories. She's excited to go but a little worried because she hasn't been there long and doesn't really know anybody yet. She and her roommate Miri, who is also her doubles partner, get off to a bad start when Miri is not home by curfew and asks Kat to lie to their coach for her. Things steadily go downhill, not just for Kat but also for Miri's boyfriend Hamish who is slated to place very well in the competition. Kat senses that Miri may be involved somehow and sets out to figure out what is going on when she is not on the courts herself.
Lots of action and suspense. It's nice to read a sports book that isn't about baseball or football. Also, I like the setting of Melbourne and the comparisons the author (through Kat's voice) makes to the Pacific NW.