Description
A cop-turned-coach takes youth from gang-ridden streets to the gridiron
From the writer of Irish Thunder comes the actual story in regards to the collision of violent crime and high school football in a tough New England town. Friday Night Lights meets Boyz n the Hood in this book about a football coachalso a cop at the gang beatwho pulls kids off the streets and puts them at the field with a combination of kindness and intimidation.
In Breakdown (whose title alludes to a pregame psyche-up ritual), Bob Halloran gets within the life-or-death struggles of student athletes from the Bloods, Crips, MS-13s, and Latin Kings in Chelsea, Massachusetts–the Boston area’s cruelest city. Even as exploring the anger, fear, and violence of these young men, he follows the Chelsea Red Devils as they vie for a championship and the players try making football their way out. Meanwhile, tough-love coach James Atkins serves as a cop within the Chelsea Police Department’s Gang Unit, asking for his players’ blood, sweat, and tears at the field . . . and hoping their blood doesn’t spill off it. Will football be their technique to a greater life, or will street life without end haunt them?