Tap Out

August 13, 2012
Faced with a variety of hard, unpleasant decisions, a teenager turns to mixed martial arts (MMA) in an attempt to take control of his increasingly difficult life. Seventeen-year-old Tony Antioch can’t see any way out of a daily existence that involves a drug-addicted mother, her physically abusive boyfriend, and a meth-dealing biker gang that refuses to take no for an answer when they try to recruit him. Every attempt Tony makes to help his mother, avoid trouble, or better his situation inevitably turns sour, with his MMA training only making him a better, more brutal fighter. It all leads up to a deadly, desperate climax that leaves no one unscathed. Devine doesn’t pull any punches in this violent and graphic tale, and the visceral, profanity-drenched narration is in keeping with the subject matter. Women are used and abused, people are beaten and killed, and drugs and casual sex are prevalent. Moments of hope and optimism are far and few between, and even mature readers may find the story overwhelmingly bleak. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kate McKean, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

August 1, 2012
A boy who knows only grinding despair finds hope within the walls of a gym. Tony's life is bleak and violent, as his drug-addict mother's boyfriend regularly beats her up and gleefully includes Tony if he objects. At school, the boyfriend's nephew further compounds the bullying. Until the principal, Mr. O, decides to help, Tony's buddy Rob and the Vo-Tec auto-mechanics class are the only things that lighten his load. Now, not only does Rob want Tony to join the gym where they can be coached in Mixed Martial Arts, but the principal is threatening to take away Vo-Tec if Tony doesn't go. Tony sees himself as trailer trash, with no options and no hope for a better life. Tony finds the gym's fight world, with its rules and demands for toughness, a place where he can receive rare praise. At the gym he finds some respect, guys he can trust and a chance. A mighty confrontation is inevitable and proves predictably brutal. Full of foul language and crude talk, the painful scenarios never let up, including a horrifying encounter in which Tony must listen to a prostitute be beaten, knowing that earlier an abusive father sent his unwilling daughter to the same fate. This is bound to have huge appeal to kids whose lives are being mirrored, and it may prompt luckier readers to take some positive action. (Fiction. 14 & up)

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 15, 2012
Grades 10-1 I am a pussy. I know this, and not much else. From the first line, author Devine announces that he plans to hit hard and hit often, and most of the strikes hit home in perhaps the grittiest sports novel since Joshua C. Cohen's Leverage (2011). Life for 17-year-old Tony feels like bracing for the inevitable punch: his mother is regularly beaten by her meth-using boyfriend, their trailer park is infested with dealers trying to pull Tony into their racket, and his social life is a blur of dead ends and missed opportunities. Tony finally gives in to buddy Rob's invitation to join his mixed martial arts gym, and it is there that he finds the rarest of thingsrespect, hope, and confidence. Devine doesn't dodge the dismal sex, constant violence, and omnipresence of drugs that make up Tony's world, and he delivers it through an obscenity-laced, perfectly natural first-person voice that owes much to The Outsiders. To that end, the final fever pitch feels a bit frenzied, but for sure this strong outing deserves plenty of readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)