Game Face by James D. Chlovechok Search Amazon for other books by or about James D. Chlovechok. Rating: Reviewed by: John Walsh

Professional sports internationally have been suffering in recent years from revelations of criminal and scandalous behaviour by many of its most well-known participants. These have ranged from allegations of sexual abuse to betting against one's own team to drunkenness and various types of substance abuse. Within the USA, it has long been evident that one of the most significant problems has been the widespread drug abuse of many leading sportspeople, especially those in the flagship baseball and American football sports. While those of us who are not Americans look at these sports and draw the very obvious inference that most of the major stars have clearly been taking steroids and other illicit substances to boost their performances, people in that country seem to have been perfectly sanguine about this. Perhaps more discreditably, American complaints about the performance of athletes from other countries which have been tainted by systematic abuse of drugs have ignored the same thing happening in that country. Now that new evidence of this systematic abuse is emerging all the time, the question arises ever more forcefully of why would these gifted young men and women subject themselves to the dangers of drug abuse?

It is in this world that author James Chlovechok has lived and worked. As a medical doctor and a ringside and team physician, as well as being a leading athlete himself, Chlovechok is ideally placed to reveal the mentality of those who face these temptations. In Game Face, he has created a world in which athletes, commentators, sports medicine scientists and drugs companies interact and in which the participants believe that morality, like the rules, is sufficiently flexible that the only important criterion is winning. The story centres on Mark McKenzie, a former decathlete and current forensic scientist, in which his situation resembles that of the author. Mark is called in to assist with a variety of gruesome murders by his old friend police detective Tim McGregor and his skills are able to lend considerable assistance to the investigations. However, the truth behind this string of deaths is even more complex and sinister than it at first seems.

This is an enjoyable read with some interesting background to the action. I am a little surprised that a larger publishing company has not picked it up, although the McKenna Publishing Group has done a perfectly respectable job with presentation. However, the book is close to being potentially a much bigger title than it has been so far. It would benefit from a little attention in the following areas: firstly, the naming of characters, since currently it is occasionally difficult to remember exactly who is who, especially as so much of the action is driven by dialogue and the characters do not have any distinctive syntax or vocabulary to help distinguish between them. Secondly, I would rethink the relationship between Tim and Carl as making them twin brothers complicates their behaviour more than is gained by the plot and, at the moment, their interaction is a weakness rather than a strength. I would also imagine that a larger publisher would want a touch more sex between the love interests and a little more of the athletic contests about which the author is so knowledgeable.

On the whole, this is an entertaining and educational thriller about an area of society that is of considerable importance but that is nevertheless under-examined. It is recommended to anyone interested in professional sport who enjoys thrillers.