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Going Over
Aquil Jones is an aspiring pro wrestler in pursuit of a spot on the televised wrestling scene. When a talent scout for a major wrestling promotion decides to offer one trainee at his wrestling school a national contract, Aquil is his first choice. But his plans become contested territory when Garrett Chambers-an out-to-pasture wrestler looking to fulfill a childhood vow-catches the scout's eye.
What begins as a competitive rivalry soon spirals into a vicious game of one-upmanship. As the pair clashes in the ring and in real life, the line between scripted drama and reality becomes dangerously blurred.
Richly written and hauntingly honest, Going Over is an unforgettable novel of the amateur pro wrestling scene where unmoored futures and unresolved pasts inform a tumultuous present. It's a world of flawed young men who both believe a prized future lays just beyond their grasp-a world eerily reminiscent of society today.
What begins as a competitive rivalry soon spirals into a vicious game of one-upmanship. As the pair clashes in the ring and in real life, the line between scripted drama and reality becomes dangerously blurred.
Richly written and hauntingly honest, Going Over is an unforgettable novel of the amateur pro wrestling scene where unmoored futures and unresolved pasts inform a tumultuous present. It's a world of flawed young men who both believe a prized future lays just beyond their grasp-a world eerily reminiscent of society today.
390 pages, Paperback
Published July 22, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 9, 2025
Brutal. Honest. Unforgettable.
I’ll start by saying I know absolutely nothing about wrestling—and yet, I couldn’t put this book down. Maybe it's because I have a kid who is autistic and whose sheer size makes him appear menacing and unapproachable? Whatever it is, any book that pushes me to read to the end is a winner.
Going Over uses wrestling as a backdrop, but the story, the real story, at least for me, is about how ambition can be paralyzing especially when you feel trapped by your circumstances, your past, and the version of yourself you’re still trying to become. It rips off carefully constructed social masks and gives the reader a close-up look at poverty, grief, family dysfunction and the quiet terror that everything we've worked for could all be for nothing. That's scary and, in this current global climate, pretty damn relevant.
Stripped down to basics, this book is a metaphor for what it feels like to be going nowhere, even when you’re giving every ounce of energy you have to reaching your goal.
Garrett's character, is flawed and unafraid to show that. Sometimes he's frustrating and, at other times, he's completely human. He's a semi-pro wrestler quickly running out of time to make a name for himself. Raised in poverty and diagnosed with autism, he is haunted by his mother’s death, struggles with estranged family, and disillusioned over the stalling of his wrestling dreams. Despite nearly a decade of relentless training, Garrett is overlooked for his own potential and instead used to elevate others.
Aquil is the current golden boy at Zion Mountain Wrestling Academy. He's everything Garrett is not: Charismatic, physically dominant, influential and unbeaten. He represents success within the flawed system and has a history of climbing the ladder and then pulling it up behind him.
Garrett is all heart, quiet endurance and hope that he can earn a little respect. Aquil is all strategy, optics and preservation.
When Garrett, tired of being passed over, publicly challenges Aquil, Aquil finds he has to reckon with a threat he would have previously dismissed. The tension between them symbolizes not just a fight over a title, but a clash between authenticity and control, frustration and entitlement, obscurity and legacy.
Bresslin captures this tension with a level of honesty and grit that immerses the reader and ensures that, even if they've never stepped inside a wrestling ring or watched one WWE match (ie, me), they would find themselves rooting for Garrett to get a win, even if it's just a small one.
This story will stay with me. And that isn't because I care about wrestling (I don't). It's because I care about people who refuse to stop fighting for themselves. It's because I have witnessed many of the challenges Garrett faced with my own autistic kid. It's because Bresslin did an incredible job stepping into the mindset of people who deal with societal misperceptions, misconceptions, challenges, and then shows how those same people never stop reaching for their dreams. No matter which corner of the ring you find yourself in - Bresslin made sure you were in the corner of a successfully crafted and authentic character.
And because it's a damn good story.
Read it.
I’ll start by saying I know absolutely nothing about wrestling—and yet, I couldn’t put this book down. Maybe it's because I have a kid who is autistic and whose sheer size makes him appear menacing and unapproachable? Whatever it is, any book that pushes me to read to the end is a winner.
Going Over uses wrestling as a backdrop, but the story, the real story, at least for me, is about how ambition can be paralyzing especially when you feel trapped by your circumstances, your past, and the version of yourself you’re still trying to become. It rips off carefully constructed social masks and gives the reader a close-up look at poverty, grief, family dysfunction and the quiet terror that everything we've worked for could all be for nothing. That's scary and, in this current global climate, pretty damn relevant.
Stripped down to basics, this book is a metaphor for what it feels like to be going nowhere, even when you’re giving every ounce of energy you have to reaching your goal.
Garrett's character, is flawed and unafraid to show that. Sometimes he's frustrating and, at other times, he's completely human. He's a semi-pro wrestler quickly running out of time to make a name for himself. Raised in poverty and diagnosed with autism, he is haunted by his mother’s death, struggles with estranged family, and disillusioned over the stalling of his wrestling dreams. Despite nearly a decade of relentless training, Garrett is overlooked for his own potential and instead used to elevate others.
Aquil is the current golden boy at Zion Mountain Wrestling Academy. He's everything Garrett is not: Charismatic, physically dominant, influential and unbeaten. He represents success within the flawed system and has a history of climbing the ladder and then pulling it up behind him.
Garrett is all heart, quiet endurance and hope that he can earn a little respect. Aquil is all strategy, optics and preservation.
When Garrett, tired of being passed over, publicly challenges Aquil, Aquil finds he has to reckon with a threat he would have previously dismissed. The tension between them symbolizes not just a fight over a title, but a clash between authenticity and control, frustration and entitlement, obscurity and legacy.
Bresslin captures this tension with a level of honesty and grit that immerses the reader and ensures that, even if they've never stepped inside a wrestling ring or watched one WWE match (ie, me), they would find themselves rooting for Garrett to get a win, even if it's just a small one.
This story will stay with me. And that isn't because I care about wrestling (I don't). It's because I care about people who refuse to stop fighting for themselves. It's because I have witnessed many of the challenges Garrett faced with my own autistic kid. It's because Bresslin did an incredible job stepping into the mindset of people who deal with societal misperceptions, misconceptions, challenges, and then shows how those same people never stop reaching for their dreams. No matter which corner of the ring you find yourself in - Bresslin made sure you were in the corner of a successfully crafted and authentic character.
And because it's a damn good story.
Read it.
November 28, 2025
In Going Over, a fun novel about entertainment wrestling, Josh Bresslin crafts and delivers body blows while quickly moving the story along with personal tension. The author braids in the character actions with conflict while highlighting the darker aspects of revenge, ‘roid rage, and dealing with their own egos.
The novel follows the two protagonists through their aspirational career paths from wannabe professional wrestlers to title champs to the ultimate APWF circuit.
The story starts with a young man named Garrett. Garrett is an aspiring wrestler with ambitions to get “scouted.” Getting scouted could lead to him getting picked up on a lucrative contract with the American Professional Wrestling Federation, or the APWF, as they refer to it. The story unfolds in the ring of a local wrestling academy. It is run by Kent, who leans towards running a full-time Membership Mill and is less interested in the lives of his students. Kent arranges a variety of different wrestling bouts, all designed to lead up to the main event between Garrett and another protagonist named Aquil.
Garrett’s anxiety-laden talents and athletic prowess run headlong into Aquil’s equally attuned athletic prowess. Each wrestler considers how they will outmaneuver the other in somewhat pre-scripted bouts. When they go off script, things begin unraveling into revenge thinking and one-upmanship in the ring. The story takes us through their individually damaged lives to include how this plays out in a series of failed relationships and ‘roid rage.
The author’s insights and storytelling are skillful, with meaningful action and dialogue that keep the pacing moving. Bresslin combines the character’s obsession with prestige and body-slams them with bad decisions to keep the bad karma coming and to keep the book authentic and entertaining. The novel’s power lies in its endless pursuit of get-even moments and revenge-thinking on the part of the protagonists. Even the supporting characters are looking to put the protagonists into a headlock.
Going Over is a good read due to its authenticity and well-paced dialogue. Going Over can be imagined as a giant funnel with both protagonists circling down into a ring of chaos and life ambitions in their quests for the title and a chance to make the pro circuit. Whether or not you are a fan of wrestling, Josh Bresslin’s Going Over will keep you on the ropes and have you sweating over what’s going to happen in the final title bout.
The novel follows the two protagonists through their aspirational career paths from wannabe professional wrestlers to title champs to the ultimate APWF circuit.
The story starts with a young man named Garrett. Garrett is an aspiring wrestler with ambitions to get “scouted.” Getting scouted could lead to him getting picked up on a lucrative contract with the American Professional Wrestling Federation, or the APWF, as they refer to it. The story unfolds in the ring of a local wrestling academy. It is run by Kent, who leans towards running a full-time Membership Mill and is less interested in the lives of his students. Kent arranges a variety of different wrestling bouts, all designed to lead up to the main event between Garrett and another protagonist named Aquil.
Garrett’s anxiety-laden talents and athletic prowess run headlong into Aquil’s equally attuned athletic prowess. Each wrestler considers how they will outmaneuver the other in somewhat pre-scripted bouts. When they go off script, things begin unraveling into revenge thinking and one-upmanship in the ring. The story takes us through their individually damaged lives to include how this plays out in a series of failed relationships and ‘roid rage.
The author’s insights and storytelling are skillful, with meaningful action and dialogue that keep the pacing moving. Bresslin combines the character’s obsession with prestige and body-slams them with bad decisions to keep the bad karma coming and to keep the book authentic and entertaining. The novel’s power lies in its endless pursuit of get-even moments and revenge-thinking on the part of the protagonists. Even the supporting characters are looking to put the protagonists into a headlock.
Going Over is a good read due to its authenticity and well-paced dialogue. Going Over can be imagined as a giant funnel with both protagonists circling down into a ring of chaos and life ambitions in their quests for the title and a chance to make the pro circuit. Whether or not you are a fan of wrestling, Josh Bresslin’s Going Over will keep you on the ropes and have you sweating over what’s going to happen in the final title bout.
May 21, 2025
In one sense, Going Over is a novel about wrestling, but in another, more accurate sense, it's about rivalries, fame, glory, desperation, last-chance efforts, and power struggles. It's about two young men whose futures are on the line in a world of disappearing opportunities, where getting scouted and entering the big time means fulfilling their lifelong dreams and escaping their cold, economically struggling small town. It's also about hate, fear, and jealousy -- along with how far each of them will go to bring the other down and get what they want.
Full disclosure: I worked on this novel as an editor, but am leaving this review voluntarily because of how well the author captured all of these themes. I also know nothing about pro wrestling, which isn't a problem at all -- the early chapters provide a smooth introduction to the world of the small-town wrestling school, along with enough history and culture to help the uninitiated know what's going on without boring those who know the phenomenon inside and out. Particularly striking is that the wrestling world, like that of so many other creative fields, is a world of limited opportunities, devoted apostles, and ruthless competition, so those in the literary, artistic, dramatic, or musical fields will no doubt find a lot of similarities.
All in all, Garrett and Aquil's story is a powerful one, told through vivid narration and tight prose that captures each character's worldview. Check out this novel for a literary read that goes beyond the norm -- you'll be glad you did.
Full disclosure: I worked on this novel as an editor, but am leaving this review voluntarily because of how well the author captured all of these themes. I also know nothing about pro wrestling, which isn't a problem at all -- the early chapters provide a smooth introduction to the world of the small-town wrestling school, along with enough history and culture to help the uninitiated know what's going on without boring those who know the phenomenon inside and out. Particularly striking is that the wrestling world, like that of so many other creative fields, is a world of limited opportunities, devoted apostles, and ruthless competition, so those in the literary, artistic, dramatic, or musical fields will no doubt find a lot of similarities.
All in all, Garrett and Aquil's story is a powerful one, told through vivid narration and tight prose that captures each character's worldview. Check out this novel for a literary read that goes beyond the norm -- you'll be glad you did.
June 10, 2025
Set within the field of pro wrestling, this novel is an amazing dance between the two protagonists. Even though I am not a fan of wrestling particularly, I learned a lot about the sport, and the detailed descriptions of this world put me right into the ring. I got totally caught up in each character, alternately rooting for them and then booing, just like a spectator, and quickly turning the page to see what might happen next. A well-crafted mix of action and inner dialogue, this novel keeps you guessing. Smoothly transferring the reader from one mind to another, Bresslin satisfied my need for deep insights into characters, all the while keeping the story interesting. Well done!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews