Review of "Strike Three You’re Dead," by Josh Berk

 Review of

Strike Three You’re Dead, by Josh Berk, ISBN 9780375870088

Four out of five stars

A teen adventure involving baseball

 Lenny Norbeck is a baseball fan in the original sense, shorthand for fanatic. While he is terrible at the game, he listens to and watches baseball every chance he gets. He is also an avid reader of books based on baseball themes. His two best friends are both named Mike, so to differentiate them, one is referred to as Mike and the other is called Other Mike. While Mike is reasonably good at baseball and is interested in the sport, Other Mike’s passion is the world of magic and warlocks.

 Lenny is a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies, and he enters a contest called the Armchair Announcer. The winner will be given the opportunity to call an inning of a Phillies game. With the help of Mike and Other Mike, they make a demo tape that is so good that Lenny wins the contest.

 However, on the day that Lenny is in the stadium and is scheduled to announce, the rookie starting pitcher that has given up eight runs at the start of the game suddenly falls over dead. There is no immediate explanation and Lenny and his friends decide that they must investigate. For indications are that it was likely a murder. They track down some suspicious online critics of the Phillies but find allies rather than serious suspects. The investigation goes in several directions, always within the bounds of what teenagers not yet of driving age can accomplish.

 The story moves very quickly and introduces two strong female characters that do a great deal to buttress the actions of the three boys. There is a resolution where the perpetrator of the murder is unearthed, and the motive was a very obscure negative baseball record. This is a good book of adolescent fiction based on but not reliant on baseball.

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