The Ringer

by Jenny Shank

Sidelined from coaching his sons' baseball team because he can't resist hollering at loafers, lollygaggers, and space cadets, Ed O'Fallon hopes focusing on his daughter's tee-ball team will calm his temper. But just as Ed prepares to guide the Purple Unicorns to their best season, his work as a Denver police officer changes his life forever. O'Fallon bursts into a home on a no-knock warrant, expecting to find drugs, but instead encounters a man pointing a gun. Ed kills Salvador Santillano, a Mexican immigrant he had more in common with than he could ever imagine. Worse, Ed learns his commanding officer made a grave mistake on the warrant that will force everyone in Denver to take sides.

Separated from her husband Salvador after their worst fight ever, Patricia Maestas discovers the police have killed him. Certain her husband never sold drugs, Patricia pushes to find out the truth behind the fatal raid, even while trying to keep her volatile, grieving son Ray from following a shady friend into a north-side gang.

But Ray isn't just any disaffected adolescent he's a left-handed pitching phenomenon who throws a blistering fastball. Patricia hopes enrolling him in a competitive league will keep him away from danger, but instead it puts them on a collision course with Ed, whose sons play in the same league on a rival team.

Ed and Patricia are unaware of the interconnections between them until a showdown at the regional tournament becomes inevitable, and their lives are forever altered.

Genres: Fiction, Sports, Baseball

351 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2010

About the author

Jenny Shank grew up in Denver, Colorado, and earned degrees from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Colorado. Her short story collection Mixed Company won the George Garrett Fiction Prize and will be published by Texas Review Press in October 2021. Her novel The Ringer (The Permanent Press, 2011) won the High Plains Book Award in fiction, was a finalist for the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association's Reading the West Book Awards, was a Tattered Cover Book Store Summer Reading selection, and was a finalist for the Book Pipeline competition.

Her stories, essays, satire, and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The Onion, Poets & Writers Magazine, Bust Magazine, Prairie Schooner, Alaska Quarterly Review, Santa Monica Review, Five Chapters, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Toast, Offline, Image, Printer's Row, Barrelhouse, Rocky Mountain News, Dallas Morning News, High Country News, PBS MediaShift, The Rumpus, 5280, The Huffington Post and The McSweeney's Book of Politics and Musicals (Vintage, 2012). One of her stories was listed among the "Notable Essays of the Year" in the Best American Essays, three of her stories were nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and one received Special Mention in the 2018 Pushcart Prize anthology. She's won writing awards from the Center of the American West, the Montana Committee for the Humanities, SouthWest Writers, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund.

Jenny Shank was the Denver/Boulder Editor of The Onion A.V. Club for six years, and for four years she was the Books & Writers Editor of New West, which was named "Best Literary Blog" in the Westword Best of Denver issue. She was a Mullin Scholar in writing at the University of Southern California. She has taught creative writing at the University of Colorado, the Lighthouse Writers Workshop, and the Boulder Writing Studio, and she is on the faculty of the Mile High MFA at Regis University in Denver.

Reviews

[Cara Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Ringer" is the story of what happens to two families after one father, a police officer, shoots and kills another father, a Mexican immigrant, during a no-knock raid on a Denver home. It turns out the warrant had the wrong address—the cops had no business being at Salvador Santillano's home in the first place. That part of the story is based on an actual incident that happened in Denver in 1999. But author Jenny Shank creates two fictional families to explore the many possible impacts of such a tragedy, and she chooses a unique backdrop for her story. In the novel, the son of the dead man and the two sons of the cop play baseball in the same little league. The question becomes: can the competition and pressure, teamwork and community of American baseball be the salvation of these two families, or might it destroy everything they still have?

The Ringer is told from two points of view: Patricia Maestas, the wife of the victim, who was separated from her husband, and who must deal not only with her anger at police, but also her guilt over not making up with Salvador before he died; and Ed O’Fallon, a cop who feels guilty over killing an innocent man, who fears facing another life-or-death situation on the job, and who becomes increasingly alienated from his family. Both characters have more in common than they realize: Denver roots, college education, low-paid yet professional careers (Patricia is a nurse), an obsession with protecting their children, and guilt. Salvador wouldn’t have been at the wrong house if Patricia hadn’t kicked him out, partly because she suspected him of an infidelity she couldn't prove. Meanwhile, O’Fallon shot Salvador in self-defense, yet later reports indicate he may not have read the situation clearly. Both are launched into the center of a political firestorm pitting minority activists against city leaders.

The story is filled with very real undercurrents that face Denver and other cities: police powers, civil rights, stereotyping of both minorities and cops, the unrecognized dangers that face both minorities and cops, immigration, and racial tension of all sorts. The story also calls attention to the difference between minorities born in the U.S. and minority immigrants. Patricia’s own mother disapproves of her daughter, a Mexican-American, marrying a Mexican immigrant. Salvador became a citizen, but not all his paperwork was 100% accurate. Of course, that doesn’t mean he deserved to die. Then again, Ed acted in what he believed was self-defense, and it seems unfair that he might lose his career and his family because of it.

Into the midst of this drama, enter center stage: "The Ringer." Patricia’s son, Ray, is a 12-year-old pitcher with the fastest fastball in Denver’s little leagues. Ed and his unwitting sons can't help but admire the kid. Ed, who switched to coaching his daughter’s T-ball team because he got too excitable when coaching the boys, feels a pang of regret over what might have been if he and Salvador had met on the field as fathers. The drama intensifies as the season heads toward the championships, and both families find themselves moving on a collision course toward the final diamond. The end is a real surprise. This was a meaningful story and a compelling read. I can’t wait to see what Jenny Shank has in store next.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

A semi-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Jenny Shank’s The Ringer is proof that such competitions really can bring the best of the best to the public eye. The story centers around lives affected by a police killing—a situation perhaps too easily read about in the paper. But these characters are no paper cut-outs, and when they’re used, by friends, the media, the department, as means to an end, they stand up and stand out. Jenny Shank’s writing makes the reader stand up and listen too, to a mother wondering what she could have done differently, and how she can best protect her kids; to a father wondering what really happened, and why memory and fact never quite coincide; to friends and relatives trying not to burn out or take over while offering support; and to children who play baseball.

The simple solutions of a child out to protect, or hit back, or be noticed, are no less complex in the end that those of adults who try to hide or comprehend. What happens next keeps happening, inexorably. And two families, from opposite sides of town, from different cultures, still meet on the same side of the field. Just as in life, even the cultures aren’t simple in The Ringer. Instead, they’re sympathetically portrayed, and filled with real division, history and complexity. There’s mystery and ethical conundrums in a tale as deep as human life. And the price of a life, or a life lost, in the end might be read in the “seasons to set [the] clock right.”

Jenny Shanks’ novel takes readers from the shock of unexpected violence, through the pain of unexpected loss, through betrayal and sorrow that follow both, and out onto the baseball field. Though I don’t know the game and probably never will, I know the players and feel excitement and fear for the team, and I want them to win. I want the people to win too, on both sides of the divide. And even if winning is complex and never complete, I’m taken to a place where I can stop and say okay; life does go on, and a different hope survives. The Ringer is a complex, compelling, convincing book, gritty and beautifully sympathetic, well-researched and well-plotted, and highly recommended as a really good read.



Disclosure: I was given a bound galley of this book by the publishers, The Permanent Press, in exchange for an honest review.

[Benjamin Dancer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jenny Shank’s THE RINGER was published in 2011, but its themes are still quite familiar. The story gives us an intimate view of two families: Ed O’Fallon, a Denver police officer, shoots and kills Salvador Santillano, an emigrant from Mexico. The events of Ferguson, Missouri, dominate the news today, along with police shootings in New York City, Cleveland, Ohio, and Phoenix, Arizona. It is in this context that THE RINGER offers insight, indeed, medicine for us today.

The tragedy unfolds from two points of view. Ed coaches tee-ball and is motivated in his police work by a genuine desire to protect and make a difference in the community. Salvador, we learn after his death, is heroic in the sacrifices he makes in order to take care of his own. Because of the insightful lens through which we are guided through the narrative, we are able to understand each family, both of which are irrevocably changed by Ed’s decision to shoot Salvador.

Ray, Salvador Santillano’s twelve year old son, is one of the greatest pitchers his coaches have ever seen. He plays baseball in the same league as the O’Fallon boys. As the plot unfolds, the two families are forced to confront one another when Ray is picked-up by the Z’s for the state and regional championships. Jesse O’Fallon, Ed’s son, is the catcher for that team.



Although the two families are unlikely to ever understand one another, the reader is able to empathize with the unspeakable pain and confusion tearing at all parties. We see each of the major characters as deeply flawed, which makes them deeply human. The wounds created by racial division and the shooting are unlikely to be mended in the lives of these characters. Indeed, even the reader is torn by the conflicting loyalties presented by the plot. THE RINGER is not an easy story to reconcile. Nevertheless, it changes us. We are changed by our ability to feel empathy for two enemies.

[Ashley Simpson Shires · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shank's first novel is riveting. The plot revolves around the accidental shooting of a Mexican immigrant by a police officer, and Shank does an excellent job writing from opposing points of view: the immigrant's family and the cop's family. The characters are complex, their pain and guilt palpable, and the children from each family are incredibly sympathetic. Shank paces the story well, drawing out the tension until the book is impossible to put down. The children of each family play baseball, and in a twist of events, they end up playing for opposing teams -- the cop's sons against the immigrant's son, a blistering pitcher. The plot evolves even further, racing to a climax finish. The plot is engrossing, but Shank's skill as a writer is evident in her descriptions as well - both of the landscape and the characters. She evokes gritty images of Denver, the rugged background of the Rockies, and unexpected quirky details about her characters. She writes with confidence about the Denver Latino community and culture, Denver Police Department procedure, and the intimate, inside-world of Little League Baseball. It's a fantastic debut novel.

[Kalen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. I'm always a little nervous reading the work of someone I know--what if I don't like their writing? About a quarter of the way through The Ringer, I was able to forget about that and just lose myself in the story. Jenny does a fantastic job of shifting voices and telling a compelling, believable story. This will be a great book club read and if you're a baseball fan, you won't want to miss this one.

(The only thing I didn't like was the font the text was set in, which was a distraction throughout--I didn't find it easy on the eyes at all but I devoured the book so quickly that I guess ultimately it didn't matter.)

[Gessy Alvarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

With characters so richly developed and an intricate plot in place, The Ringer promises to be a suspenseful and revelatory literary experience. With wit and compassion as well as an extraordinary eye for detail, Ms. Shank exercises a unique and vibrant authority over the world she's created. She introduces characters who make choices that seem inescapable. Regrets and misapprehensions resonate on every page and evoke a sense of guilt that is gut-wrenching. There is more here than melodrama at play. The stage is set for a enthralling novel that will leave the reader trembling.

[Ally Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is of two families that must confront each other over a tragic mistake. I was set to finish up The Ringer on a plane from Detroit to Denver. As the story neared its climax, that moment of confrontation, I found myself reading faster and faster, wanting to know what would happen. The climax was pure emotion, followed by an ending that gave me the closure I needed. Anyway, I read too fast and still had an hour left on the flight, so I thumbed through my favorite parts - artful moments of tension - of which there were many. A cop can't be counted on to protect his partner in a heated moment. A woman finds herself reluctantly at the head of a movement. A boy struggles with the loss of his father. Then I just sat there feeling that little pang of sadness that happens when a good book is over. A great read.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second of my personal reading recommendations from the DPL winter reading program, this was a timely read for the early part of baseball season. Plenty of Denver references to keep this relevant, though a few became dated as local establishments and icons are no more. Still, an interesting look at culture in the city from a variety of perspectives: gender, race, age, social status, talent, and justice.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A no-knock warrant gone wrong. A U.S. citizen from Mexico is erroneously killed by the police. This story is about the two families, the deceased’s family (wife, son and daughter) and the cop’s family (wife, two sons and daughter), and how they are affected by the shooting. The title refers to the deceased’s son, Ray, who seems to be a particularly talented twelve year old pitcher. The story centers to a great degree on baseball. The cop, Ed O’Fallon, coaches baseball. His son, also twelve, happens to be a pretty good player as well, and who is a catcher. The story also pretty effectively reviews the past relationship of the deceased Salvador Santillano and his wife, Patricia, although they are currently separated. Overall, an enjoyable read that addresses the whole topic of police and immigrant relationships in the Denver area, the dynamics of the two families, and the ongoing development of Ray, as he tries to proceed in life without his baseball loving father. I thought that the final resolution of what happened to Ed was a little weak. The story here is based on an actual event in Denver history in 1999, where a Denver SWAT team entered an incorrect address (a falsified address given by another local police officer) and killed a man there, Ismael Mena, who was from Mexico. It’s not clear if he was a U.S. citizen. At the time, police were entering homes unannounced, on average, every two to three days, basically in their war on drugs. In this case, no drugs were found. As a result of that case, Denver’s policy on no-knock raids was substantially changed, resulting in far fewer, the Police Chief was fired/resigned, and there was a good sized settlement for the family (wife and nine children). In an ironic twist, years later it was found out that Mena was in the U.S. because he had killed a man in Mexico in a dispute over his 16 year old daughter’s pregnancy. Mexican authorities apparently did not pursue that case too vigorously, viewing it as sort of an “honor killing”. This is all per an article in the Denver Post. I must say, reading up on the actual case was just as interesting as this novel. In real life there were crooked cops, lenient judges (as respects the warrants), an untraceable weapon in the hands of the deceased (was the gun planted?), changing versions by the police of what happened. The Ringer presents a somewhat sanitized version but it does address many of the human emotions by all parties in the aftermath of this event. (8).

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ed is a beat cop, and happily so. He likes keeping a eye on his city, Denver. To make a few extra bucks, he sometimes signs on with the SWAT team to help with raids. On a March afternoon he was doing exactly that with a no-knock warrant (that means the police enter without announcing themselves to have the element of surprise) when he finds a man in the house who is clearly confused and bleary. Ed orders him to show both of his hands, and the man extends what seems to be gun and Ed hears what he thinks is a shot shatter a mirror behind him. So he shoots to defend himself, and kills the man.

Unfortunately, the police were in the wrong house, and the gun turns out to have not been fired at all, in fact it wasn't even functional.

But this is not a story about a political mess. This is a story of two families--Ed's and the family of the man he killed, and what it's like to deal with the aftermath of such a terrible thing. It becomes more complicated as the victim's children unknowingly become part of the same youth sports circle--their sons are all very, very good baseball players.

The complex emotions of spouses, children, and an outraged community are aptly portrayed in a book whose pages seem to turn themselves. A story of being human in a time of personal tragedy that lingers in the mind long after the cover is closed.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seemed like it was written for the purpose of being made into a movie. I thought the story had a lot of potential, but the writing was weak and the messages were ultimately superficial - in fact, I'm not even sure what the messages were supposed to be. I thought the author did a decent job of showing two perspectives of the same story, revealing empathy for all of the characters. However, the characterizations were poor, and some of the characters weren't even distinct from one another - I could find no clear differences between Polly and Mia, for example. I was also irritated that some of the main questions related to the plot went unanswered - for example, why Salvador hadn't told Patricia about the woman and her daughter back in Mexico, and why Ed thought he heard a shot and a mirror being broken (did I miss something?)I thought the end was just dumb, and I would much have preferred that the two families had in some way come to terms with each other without a lot of drama. And I wished Patricia could have gotten past some of her bitterness (at least toward Ed's kids), if only for the sake of modeling forgiveness for her kids.

[Seth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I'd enjoy this book a lot more than I did. It took me three and a half months to get through this one, as I took several prolonged breaks from it but forced myself to finish as I had invested $10 or so for the Kindle version.

A great idea for a story (I won't attempt another retelling of the plot, a summary can be found elsewhere) and I'd say pretty good execution by the author. I just didn't find the characters very likeable at all. I believe a death in circumstances like this would be extremely difficult for all parties involved. However, I'd kind of hoped that this would be a story of reconciliation, of understanding, of forgiveness. It's kind of not. It's a story of bitterness, selfishness, and revenge. The ending was sad and depressing. But knowing human nature, it's probably close to how it would end if this were a true story.

A lot of questions related to the shooting were left unanswered. I'm not sure if the author intentionally left it as something of a mystery.

I did like that there was a noticeable lack of profanity and the author did not subject the readers to an endless stream of four-letter words.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Ringer" was a well written story that showed two vastly contracting points of view.

Ed O'Fallon is a cop with a good heart. He is a family man who is picking up an extra shift when he has to do the unthinkable, kill a man in the line of duty.

Patricia Maestas, the wife of the fallen man, is now a single mother to two children and fighting a battle of justice and political statements.

Both are trying to provide a life for their family. Their lives come together through their sons playing baseball.

The stories were told from a third person point of view and the narrarator remains largely unbaised for much of the story. I appreciated this as it enabled me, the reader, to connect with both sides of the story deeply and non-judgementally. It was not until very near the end that slight bias appeared. This threw me off a bit and I lost some of my connection with one of the families.

Overall a good book, well-written, heart-wrenching book that I liked a lot but just didn't love.

[Lorie Steinfeldt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this story refreshing. I'm not accustom to reading a drama or a baseball story. I really like the way the author changed from one main character to another. It kept the reader wondering what was happening to each family/character. It was very realistic. The characters struggles were felt. I found myself hoping that Ed would find someone to help him come to grips with his mistake. I also was also waiting to see if Patrica and Ray would forgive Ed. When the ending came I was waiting for closure but wasn't sure it there ever was a happy ending. I've got a tendancy to hope for happy endings. It appeared everyone settled in their lives to the best of their abilites, and staying true to the realism of the story the author kept the ending open. I would reccommend this book to anyone who is interested in families. It is a great example of the human condtions. How a person's life can alter in an instant. I feel almost anyone would enjoy this story.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ringer by Jenny Shank is a well-written, easy to read book. Adequate character development and good story line. Ed O'Fallon is a police officer in Denver. He his thrust into a horrible situation when he acts on a "no-knock" warrant, just doing his job, and ends up killing an innocent man.

This is a story about acceptance, forgiveness and how others mistakes can change your life forever. I liked the way the author gave us the opportunity to see this disaster from all sides of those involved. The man's family, the officer (and later his family) and from the legal perspective. (Both the family of the slain man and the department).

All of this revolves around our American past time, baseball. I think that linking these two things really brings to light the fact that these types of things are (and will be) becoming more commonplace in our society. It makes the reader stop and think. Not many books do that anymore.

I enjoyed the read very much.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good debut novel with an interesting premise. There's a no-knock raid in Denver and a man is killed by police. Unfortunately it's the wrong address on the warrant. Shank alternates between the policeman's family and the victim's family on how they all get through this horrific event. Patricia, the victim's wife has a daughter and teenage son that she needs to help through their father's death. They are Hispanic and Shank does a good job of showing how racial tensions and prejudices unfortunately still play a large part of the situation. Shank who was a Boulder Camera reporter, has a great sense of place and you can easily picture the areas of Denver where the novel takes place. She is at the LoDo Tattered Cover Friday, April 8th at 7:30pm for a booksigning. I think this would be a great book club book.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jenny Shank, author of The Ringer, deals with real-life issues regarding race relations, in the police department and at home. It is an all too familiar story, told and retold throughout history in varying forms. Shank adds a dimension by showing how the most innocent - wives, sons and daughters (on either side of a story), can be permanently scared by the actions of one. In this story, it is the person who watches over the police force of a city. Which brings to mind the question, if a commanding officer of a force cannot be trusted, who do you go to for the truth? For justice? For help? If a truth is never revealed, who takes the blame? These and other significant points are made in this first, well defined, novel by a promising new author.

[Carrie Esposito · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ringer by Jenny Shank, though published three years ago, has an eerie timeliness in that it tells the story of a Mexican immigrant who is shot by a police officer. The story bravely gives the officer as much voice as the dead man's wife, so that as readers, we are forced to occupy both perspectives, even at the times that we might prefer to take sides. After all, taking sides is less complicated, but this story won't allow for such conclusions. Jenny is a writer who inhabits the worlds that she's created, so that the characters feel entirely real and never sensationalized.


Also, the setting of Denver is used with such intention and it's a pleasure to read about the nuances of a city where I haven't lived very long.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frontier fiction did not end with Louis L’Amour. Its themes and issues continue among today’s writers who place their stories west of the 100th meridian. Jenny Shank’s The Ringer is a fine example of how the frontier, despite Frederick Jackson Turner, has never really closed.

Set in modern-day Denver, this novel takes up two topics that date back to the origins of frontier fiction: the use of deadly force in law enforcement and the conflict between whites and the region’s ethnic populations, especially Spanish-speaking inhabitants who have long lived in the lands of the Southwest, taken in conquest by the U.S. government from Mexico...

More at my blog.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent story with a page-turning plot and wonderful voice. I found the two main characters believable -- and surprisingly, both were sympathetic. This was a fascinating exploration from two vastly different viewpoints of what can happen (and probably will) when a no-knock raid goes terribly wrong. Ed O'Fallon's single, fatal mistake sends both his own and his victim's family on a collision course that no one wants to be on. The details of time, place, and circumstance are spot-on. Shank knows her story and tells it well.

[Craig Lancaster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny Shank makes a terrific debut with this book, and using baseball as the backdrop for intertwining the lives of her characters was a stroke of ingenuity. (It helps that Shank clearly is a knowledgeable fan of the game.) The prose is sure-footed and muscular, and she brings things to a satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the book began I was pleasantly surprised at how I was sucked in to the storyline. I liked how the author switched between the two central characters in the book to give the readers a full understanding of both sides of the story. Unfortunately, the ending was abrupt and I was felt like the author didn't know how to wrap everything up. Overall, an OK book.

[Kristyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A SWAT team enters the wrong house on a no-knock raid and kills an innocent man. He leaves behind a son who ends up playing on the same baseball team as the sons of the policeman who killed him. Great writing, sports, racial tension, set in Denver, written by a Denver native. A recipe for a fabulous book.

[Amy Morfas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has gotten a ton of attention here as she's a local author and the story takes place in Denver. And really great reviews. I did find it fun to read all the local references, but the characters and story line felt so forced to me at times. I just can't see what all the hoopla was about. This book and its characters weren't anything special to me.

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book from Goodreads and it was definitely one of the better books. It dealt with a lot of issues, tragedy, mistaken identity, racism and baseball. This is a first novel for this author and she'll only get better with time. Looking forward to her next novel.

[Mindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting and well thought out story. I think Ms. Shanks writing will improve with a more experience. I enjoyed the fact that I was familiar with all the locations - the story took place in Denver.

[Van Tilburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good first book. It deals with the police, Hispanic culture, baseball, growing up and dealing with tragedy. I learned a lot from this book. The only thing I did not like was the author's use of coincidence, (over and over), to advance the plot. But overall a very good book and a good read.

[Cynthia Conley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book I won with GoodReads and overall, it was a pretty good book!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this book. very entertaining and well written. having lived in denver area for over 15 yrs it was an easy book to follow the areas she wrote about in this book.

[Joana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written and engaging. The shifts in point of view keep the story moving, instead of confusing it. Great character development and realistic dialogue.