Foul Play: Off Side

Football Detective #3

by Tom Palmer

When Danny Harte finds out there's been an anonymous foreign buy-out of his favourite club, City, he's furious - the fans were about to buy it themselves. The club is being secretive and Danny is determined to find out what's going on - until he's caught staking out the club by the police and cautioned. His parents are furious, and his friends too. No one is talking to him.

But when Danny discovers Adam, a kid from Ghana, dumped by his agent who'd promised him a place as a junior at City, and lost in a foreign country he knows nothing about, Danny realizes there are worse ways of being alone. He decides to take Adam's story to the press - with terrifying consequences for them both . . .

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 6, 2010

Reviews

[Akin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent, entertaining thriller aimed at 10-12 year olds. I'm never entirely clear at what point the crossover occurs, and rather than having heroes and heroines a few years older than the target reader, the h&h are younger than the audience (as seems to be the case, even secondarily so, for a lot of YA fiction. Wish fulfilment and all that. But that's a matter for another time and place.)

Here, the sporting sleuth is a 15 year old, and aside from trying to break up a footballer smuggling and exploitation ring, also has to contend with the confusion of puppy love (I don't say this disparagingly, btw). Author plays up the difference between global north and south without being patronising, and throws in a couple of ancillary issues - fair trade and consumption - in a topical and unforced manner. Proof of the pudding is that the 9 year old I read this with (English is second language as a reader) not only enjoyed it, but had lots of questions about fair trade, the scouting system, exchange rate mechanisms, footballers and visas (and, ultimately, Brexit and the Premiership). Which makes me think the book does a good job of coaxing young readers to think about things.

[Murray.W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing and is really well written like the rest of the series. However this book in the series specifically focuses really on bonding with the characters in the book. As well as it helps you understand what situation the characters are in.

[Mohammad Hasan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Action (for 8-12 yr olds)

[16greenwayg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, keeps you hooked and is a great mystery story. An excellent, fast paced novel.