Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Fix by Michael Balkind & Ryan Burr

Click on the pic to go to Amazon.com to purchase your copy today.


At first I wanted to contact the author and tell him…slow down.  No man will get into this much trouble from being such a dedicated and focused young man.  Then I read a bit further

The reader will meet Colt, the boy next door with the patience and dedication to become a sport star.

He has it all, a loving and supporting family.  A beautiful girlfriend.  The means and the opportunity to make his dreams come true and a strong moral compass.

Then the reader meets Frank Gernsner.  The complete opposite of Colt.  Or so it would seem.

I never could understand match fixing.  In a sport like boxing or such, sure.  One man, taking the fall made sense in other sports where you are part of a team it was beyond me. 

In this book I learned how gamblers get roped in with falsified odd payouts.  That was new to me; I contacted a friend of mine, a consummate gambler and asked him if this made sense…mind you this was at the start of the book.  He replied negatively with a ps clarifying only if the Holder is roping in a newbie…well now that made sense.  NOT.  But as I read more it became apparent. 
I found the pace and the extent of Colt's downward spiral fascination and abhorring.  And soon my doubts made way with incredulous awe as I came to understand that the author managed to capture the one weakness most of the Western world holds dear.  Money and an excess of it.  I came to realize that I might have fallen as hard and as fast as colt did in THE FIX. 

Colt becomes Frank Gertner and due to his debt he gets pulled into even more rocky ground.  Match fixing…

The story is not all doom and gloom though and the ending came as a pleasant surprise that will fill the readers mind with hope.  Colt is saved not solely by an outside source although this source is the catalyst but also by making a decision for the greater good.  One that can cost him everything.
A five star read for any reader.  A sport fan might take more from this than I did but I doubt it.  The sport is the mechanism the humanity is the cause and effect.  




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