Head Fake
by Scott Gordon, read by Nick Mondelli
DETAILS:
Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.
Publication Date: April 29, 2025
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 9 hrs., 43 min.
Read Date: February 27-March 2, 2026
What’s Head Fake About?
Mikey has been unhoused a lot recently, but is currently staying with his father to recover from a sickness. If he can keep a job for a while, he can stay with him. His dad has a connection that can get Mikey a job at a school for high-risk offenders with mental illnesses as a bus driver.
It’s not much, but it’s something.
Then, due to a fun set of circumstances, he’s put in the job of coaching the team’s small basketball team.
Oh, I should probably mention that Mikey’s dad is a couple of months away from becoming the winningest High School basketball coach in the U.S., and despite the tortured relationship between the two, Mikey learned a lot from him.
Mikey needs to get the trust of his team (and the school’s administration), fight through his own mental illness struggles, and keep his father from tossing him out. That should be no problem at all, right?
What did I think about the Narration?
I have no notes. Mondelli got everything from Mikey’s attitude, the students, his father, and everyone else just right.
Why did I pick this up? Why did I keep reading?
I honestly don’t remember how I came across this book. But I put it on a list at some point, and eventually got around to picking it up.
I stuck with it because I liked Mikey—his voice and him as a person. He got his hooks in me right away and wouldn’t let go. I really just had to find out what happened to him—the more I got to know the students, the more I got invested. (just the way a reader is supposed to)
What does this book tell us about humanity?
This is a book about broken people helping other broken people (and, in some cases, hurting broken people). While there are some similarities in the problems each character has faced and is facing, it’s not the commonalities that connect them—it’s that they’ve faced a problem and are still trying, however weakly.
Also, a love for basketball.
So, what did I think about Head Fake?
While set in a high school, this is not a YA book. But it is YA-friendly.
This book is really a mash-up of two sure-fire feel-good stories. First, you’ve got an underdog sports team battling just to be taken seriously—and it ends up winning a lot. Gordon nails this part. Granted, it’s hard to mess that kind of story up—but there’s something so satisfying when it’s done right.
The other part of the mash-up is the outsider connecting with students in an inspirational way. Think Lean on Me or Sister Act 2 (more of the latter than the former). Granted, a bus driver isn’t much of an authority figure—but that’s where the coach part comes in.
You combine the two with some strong character growth from one of the underest underdog characters I can think of, some dumb humor, and a metric ton of earnest goodwill, and you’ve got yourself a wholly pleasant book that I can’t imagine a reader/listener wouldn’t be charmed by.
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