Agatha Award Winner
Children/Young Adult Category
Red Card
by
Daniel J. Hale and Matthew LaBrot
Top Publications, Ltd. ISBN
1-929976-15-1
Trade Paperback $7.95 181 pages
After living in a series of far-flung countries - and finding more than
his share of trouble along the way - Zeke Armstrong thought he would finally lead the life
of a "normal" thirteen-year-old when he moved to Dallas and joined the Sundogs
soccer team. Instead, he goes to the Lone Star Invitational tournament and soon finds
himself in the middle of another adventure when someone tries to take his coach out of the
game...permanently. Will Zeke solve the mystery and help his team win the playoffs, or
will he be the next victim?
REVIEWS
from ReviewTheEvidence.com
The Lone Star Invitational (Soccer) Tournament is in progress. The Dallas Sundogs are
facing the New Orleans Buccaneers. 13 year old Zeke Armstrong has lived in 7 different
countries with his parents, a doctor and an architect who design and build hospitals and
clinics in remote areas, but just last year his parents sent him to stay with his uncle, a
famous author, Dane Armstrong.
Zeke is a bit of a practical joker, and an excellent player. He kicks the
winning goal which is inexplicably called offside, and his coach is given a red card, and
tossed from the game. They go into overtime, with Ian Crow's father as coach. Later that
day, the coach doesn't appear for the game against the Miami Hurricanes, but Mr. Crow
coaches and they win.
Early the next morning, Zeke hears a shot. He climbs the fence to the
soccer field on his way to practice, and finds the coach bleeding on the field. When the
team assembles, 3 of the fathers are missing. The police don't seem to want to listen to
Zeke, so he investigates on his own (between soccer games)
This is a fast moving well written young adult book that deserved the
Agatha is won in 2003. My 11 year old grandson will get this book shortly. Let's see if
one of the target audience finds it as engaging as I did.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, December -001
From Mystery Scene
Red Card is the first in a new series
by Daniel J. Hale and Matthew LaBrot, an uncle and teenage nephew writing team. Red
Card's hero, 13-year-old Zeke Armstrong, has found a sort of refuge from an
adventurous and unconventional childhood in unadventurous and very conventional Dallas.
When the soccer coach is thrown out of a crucial game with a "Red Card"
penalty, many of the team's parents are angry--but would any of them be angry enough to
try and kill the coach? It's up to Zeke to nail the bad guys, with a little help
from his friends. There's plenty of soccer action as well as a neat bit of sleuthing
on Zeke's part, and a cliffhanger at the end will keep readers on tenterhooks until Zeke's
dreadful secret is revealed. (Summer issue, Number 80, 2003, page 78)
Reviewed by Roberta Rogow
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-Ezekial Tobias Armstrong, a soccer
whiz and mystery sleuth, helps to find out who is trying to kill his coach while they are
playing a tournament in Dallas. Zeke also helps to hold his teammates together as they
move through the competition without their coach, who has been hospitalized. The constant
action and excitement of the play-by-play, the mystery, and Zeke's first-person narration
should hold readers' attention. As in many novels for young people, the adults don't
appear too bright. While knowledge of soccer is not necessary to understand the
descriptions, it helps.
Janice C. Hayes, Middle Tennessee State
University, Murfreesboro
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc
Reviewed by Jo Rogers, MyShelf.Com
Zeke Armstrong had solved crimes before. But that was when he was
traveling with his parents. They worked for an international relief organization,
building hospitals and clinics where medical care was poor or nonexistent. Zeke had lived
in seven different countries in his life but had come to Dallas to live with his uncle,
Dane Armstrong. All he wanted was to be a normal thirteen-year-old who went to
middle school and played soccer for the Dallas Sundogs.
But when Zeke found the Sundogs’ coach, Ryan O’Connor, near death from a gunshot
wound in the head, the young crime-fighter couldn’t imagine who would want Coach Ryan
dead. And when teammate Ian Crow’s father was arrested for the attempted
murder, Zeke knew he was innocent. Mr. Crow only smoked cigarettes, while the killer
smoked cigars. But no one believed Zeke when he said the killer was still loose and
might strike again. He had to figure out who the killer was and stop him. But
could he do it before the killer got to Coach Ryan?
RED CARD is a fast-paced action story that doesn’t stint on character
development. The characters are believable and the language is clean. Though violent
acts are performed and are essential to the story, they are not portrayed in gory
detail. RED CARD is a fun read for any young mystery fan.
Reviewed by Geraldine Galentree, editor Cozies, Capers
& Crime- A Newsletter for Booklovers
Getting youngsters to read over the summer months can sometimes be a real challenge.
Especially boys. Part of the problem is finding really riveting materials to hold their
interest. Lately a number of young adult adventure stories have come along to fill this
void. One of the best of these is a new mystery series about a 13 year-old soccer player
on the Dallas Sundogs team, a youth whose past experiences as a crimesolver and a world
traveler must be kept under wraps to avoid ridicule from the other boys. After all, it's
not what you say that counts here, but what you do. And the name of the game is soccer!
Zeke Armstrong is in Houston to play in the soccer tournament. The heat and the humidity
are bad enough, but the team is also up against some of the most formidable soccer talent
in the state. The boys know they will need every last ounce of strength, every bit of
encouragement Coach Ryan can give them.
So what's the team to do when the referee calls Zeke's shot off side and red cards the
Coach, forcing him off the field? Who will step in for Coach to give the boys some
strategic leadership? Will Ian Crow's dad be up for the challenge?
The mysterious red card is the first evidence of trouble on the team. It soon gets much
worse when Coach disappears and is later found near the hotel, suffering from gunshot
wounds.
This yarn may be aimed at 12 and up youngsters, but older readers will find the adventure
captivating too. There's something endearing about Zeke, much like there is about Emily
Polifax. Both depend on keen observation, past experience and quick reflexes to get the
job done. And like the Mrs. Polifax series, one doesn't have to understand all the
underpinnings of the
issues involved to enjoy the story. (This reader knows absolutely nothing about soccer but
had a great time reading the story anyway!)
The nephew and uncle writing team have a real winner here and let's hope this series will
grow and grow! The story is fast-paced, the action is hair-raising but believable
and the rapid page-turning will prove how engrossing this tale really is. The co-authors
have done a splendid job
portraying the youngsters on the team and the adults surrounding them. Even the
mischievous atmosphere of boys traveling together to a strange city seems real and
believable. This was one humdinger of a read.
Remember, if there's a soccer fan at your house, looking for something good to read this
summer, you might point him or her to RED CARD, the first in the new Zeke Armstrong
series. You'll be glad that you did.
Find out more about this dynamite writing duo at www.zekearmstrong.com
Red Card - Reviewed by
- Phillip Tomasso III, author of Johnny Blade and Third Ring
Red Card is a young adult mystery novel with enough action and intrigue to
keep any mystery fan satisfied. Red Card is an impressive first novel from authors
Daniel J. Hale and his nephew, Matthew LeBrot.
Zeke Armstrong and his soccer team, the Sundogs, are involved in a
tournament when someone shoots the coach and leaves him for dead. A second attempt
is made on the coach's life at the hospital. One of the player's fathers is caught
red handed holding a pillow over the coach's head and is arrested.
Things are not always what they seem. Armstrong believes he has clues
that will prove to the police the man in custody for the attempted murder is the wrong
man. Being just 13 years old, the police do not take him serious. And neither
do the moms and dads of the players on his team. Even his friends think he should
give the Sherlock behavior a rest. See, but Armstrong is not only a talented soccer
player, he also possesses a secret identity that only he, his Uncle Dane and a few others
know about. He lives to solve crimes.
With a cast of plausible suspects for wanting the coach dead, Armstrong and
his closest friends work to figure out who keeps trying to kill their coach. It is a
highly climactic and action-packed finish, when everything unravels and more lives are in
jeopardy. Armstrong struggles not only to catch the killer, but also fights to save
the lives of his friends … and his own life.
Red Card is the kind of book that demands a reader's attention. It is
the type of mystery that can be read in one sitting. It contains enough suspense to
keep the pages turning. And with the well-developed characters and story line,
readers will be thrilled to know there are more scheduled in the series.
Red Card by Daniel J. Hale and Matthew LaBrot
The Dallas Sundogs boys' soccer team is playing in the Houston Lone Star Invitational
tournament. Thirteen-year-old Zeke Armstrong is part of the team, and their chances look
good. Zeke is a strong soccer player as well as a curious kid and the team prankster. Up
early the morning of the game, Zeke heads over to the practice field and stumbles on the
unconscious body of their coach, who appears to have been shot. As the boys and their
parents gather at the hospital to wait for news, they are surprised to see the police
arrest Mr. Crow, one of the Sundogs' fathers, for the attempted murder of the coach. Zeke
is convinced that Mr. Crow is innocent and that the coach's life is still in danger, but
the police dismiss him as just a kid, so he decides to solve the mystery himself.
This book is appropriate for fifth grade and above. While there is the attempted murder
and the threat of physical harm to Zeke, the violence is not graphically described.
(Parents may want to point out the implausibility of a 13-year-old being able to drive a
Corvette the way Zeke does, though.) One of the authors is a 13-year-old boy, so Zeke and
his friends talk and act the way real kids do. The story moves quickly, alternating
between Zeke's tournament play and his attempts to solve the crime, so young readers with
short attention spans shouldn't be bored. It's also not an intimidating book--it's short
and written in a middle school style, with an appropriate vocabulary level. Parents of
reluctant readers might suggest this one to their offspring, especially if their kid likes
sports and adventure. This is the first Zeke Armstrong mystery, and the back of the book
says there's another one "coming soon." Parents may find Zeke's adventure
unlikely, but kids will enjoy it. 3 stars.
Top Publications, 2002, $7.95
Reviewed by Tracy Vonder Brink |
