Maxwell Street Books
332 Pages
I read this book at the very beginning of 2025, and immediately I knew that it was going to be one of the best books I read for the year. There’s something about a great book that grabs you as soon as you start reading. That’s what Head Fake by Scott Gordon did. This novel simply grabbed ahold and didn’t let go through to the end of the book. When you can’t stop reading it and start recommending it even before you reach the halfway point, you know it jumps into the pantheon of the Top Books of My Year.
Mikey is a mess. His father is one of the greatest high school basketball coaches in the history of the country. Mikey, once his father’s player, “choked” at the worst time, and never recovered. After a string of failed jobs, basic bankruptcy, and failing to come close to living up to his father’s dreams, he finds himself at wits’ end. Crippled by his raging self-doubt and depression, he’s forced to move in with his father to ensure his own survival. But at what cost? His father’s relentless pursuit of glory means he would push his own son off a cliff of poor self-worth.
Somehow, he ends up driving a bus for a group of high schoolers who are in an alternative program due to mental illness and violence. Even stranger, he ends up following in his father’s footsteps and coaching this motley group of teens when their last basketball coach quit after being strangled by his own players. Into this unlikely sea of uncertainty, Mikey finds a light to follow. The fact that it drives his father crazy is just a bit of icing on the cake in Mikey’s mind, even if it’s only subconsciously.
The students would rather fight each other than work together. Members of the board at the school want him gone. HIs father thinks he’s a joke. Yet, his very survival depends on his success through this next of vipers. Somehow, Mikey is able to tap into his own misfortunes to make connections with nearly everyone around him. It is a tale of redemption and self-discovery. Mikey learns more about himself than he ever thought possible. And he learns about human nature, outside of his own isolated world.
Head Fake by Scott Gordon takes mental illness and explores it with a touch of humanity, a touch of humor, and a whole lot of self reflection. Gordon takes us into the lives of those at the edge of our society that rarely get a second glance, too often cast aside as “undesirable” and gives them life. This novel is a tale of the human spirit. Gordon weaves a tapestry of life that is rich and vibrant, even in its ugliness.
I cannot recommend Head Fake by Scott Gordon enough. It is one of those books that will fill you with hope for a brighter day. To paraphrase the musician, Tyler Childers, “trying to hold onto the lovely through the bitter.” It’s not exactly a perfect comparison, but my interpretation of the line fits so well into what Scott Gordon accomplished with this novel. Head Fake is Scott Gordon’s debut novel. I can’t wait for his next books.
Craig Bacon loves to read about the human spirit. Not everything is roses and rainbows like it seems in soap operas and trendy television shows.