Circle of Adversaries

Description

They’ve been friends for years. Now they suspect each other of attempted murder.

In a small southern town in 1984, another basketball season is brewing, just like the ones before. Only this time, there’s a new family in town, and Quentin Thomas becomes the first Black player on the eighth-grade team. He’s also the best player. The boys welcome him, but some parents have doubts. They don’t want Quentin to steal attention from their sons in the competitive world of North Carolina basketball. Tensions grow, parents bicker, and some try to fire the coach. Throughout town, neighbors gossip about the effect the new player has on the team.
One night, as Quentin rides his bicycle home from practice, a car hits him from behind and speeds away, leaving him broken in the road. Was it an accident or a deliberate attempt to take him off the team? If it’s deliberate, who did it? Nearly everyone in town has an opinion, and most of the parents suspect each other. Tensions rise to the boiling point.

Reviews of Circle of Adversaries

Character by character, Sally Whitney expertly draws us into her story. We become part of this small southern town, diving into the viewpoints of multiple family members. We empathize with the volunteer basketball coach trying his best to resurrect a winning team. We feel for the brooding teens who train and play hard, while stoically struggling with broken homes, demanding dads, and adolescent self-doubt. Racial issues push their ugly way into the story, engaging the reader even more deeply. In all, a fascinating and thought-provoking read.

– Deborah Shouse, author of An Old Woman Walks Into a Bar

In Circle of Adversaries, a hit-and-run car accident shatters a Black star basketball player’s bones, and his small southern town’s sense of trust and community. With unfaltering empathy and honesty, Sally Whitney’s gripping prose rips the facades off apparent long-standing friendships, exposing the jealousy, racism, guilt, rage and suspicion simmering under the surface.

– Merry Jones, author of Maincrest Media Award-winner The Woman in the Cupboard