Cover-Up: Mystery at the Super Bowl by John Feinstein

From the Publisher

THE SUPER BOWL. America's biggest sports spectacle. More than 95 million fans will be watching, but Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson know that what they'll be watching is a lie. They know that the entire offensive line of the California Dreams have failed their doping tests and that the Dreams' owner is trying to cover up the test results. These two teens are sitting on the biggest sports scandal of the decade. What they don't know -yet - is how to prove it.

Children's Literature

When fourteen-year-old Stevie is fired as the co-host for USTV's Kid-Sports program, it looks like he is going to miss both the Super Bowl and his opportunity to work with Susan Carol again. He is devastated until he calls his mentor, who arranges to have him attend the Super Bowl as a journalist for the Washington Herald. Stevie's week in Indianapolis is fantastic (literally). He not only writes his daily column for the Herald, he is asked to be part of the "talent" for CBS. This credential gets him into everything. He, of course, connects with Susan Carol and they discover the shocking news that the defensive line of one of the teams has actually flunked the drug test and the results are being concealed. Stevie and Susan Carol become embroiled in first proving that this is so and then revealing the truth to the world. Everything falls into place for them (perhaps a bit too neatly) and they publish the big scoop on the day of the game. The enormity of Super Bowl week is evident; the hype around the football players, the tension of the media, and the pressure of the crowds are well portrayed. Sports fans will enjoy this third book about these likeable teenage journalists.

VOYA

Susan Carol and Stevie are back after solving mysteries at the U.S. Open and the Final Four tournament in Feinstein's Vanishing Act (2006/VOYA October 2006) and Last Shot (Knopf, 2005/VOYA February 2005). Now they are scheduled to go to Indianapolis to cover the Super Bowl in their role as reporters for a kids' sports show. Stevie, however, receives some unwelcome news before he can depart for Indy: He is being replaced on the television show. Susan Carol's new partner will be one of the lead singers of a popular boy band. Stevie is devastated, and Susan Carol vows to walk off the job. She must fulfill her contract at least for now. Stevie, fortunately, is invited to come to Indianapolis by his newspaper reporter friend Bobby, who secures him a press pass. When Stevie and Susan Carol stumble across a potential scandal, they must again play the role of teen sleuths to get to the truth. That puts their lives and even the Super Bowl game in a precarious situation. Can they expose this cover-up without coming to harm or ruining the reputation of some of the key players? Feinstein knows and understands his audience. Reluctant readers, especially those who love football, will find this book a compelling read. The short chapters seem to rush the action along, much as rushes on a football field, at a breakneck pace. Chapter titles are sports terms that signal the action to be covered in the next several pages. Certainly every teen with NFL or ESPN dreams will appreciate Feinstein's latest sports mystery.

Leah KrippnerCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up
Stevie and Susan Carol, both 14, are famous sports-TV reporters. Now covering the Super Bowl, they stumble into an even bigger story: five offensive linemen have failed their steroid tests and there has been a huge conspiracy to cover it up. Even allowing for the unlikely scenario of 14-year-olds having a national audience and impeccable journalistic skills, this story falls short. It requires a base of knowledge of sports figures that some readers may lack, leaving them to try to sort out an array of characters who are not effectively described. Still, the teens are well crafted and the villains are extraordinary. Cover-Up will appeal to well-versed sports aficionados, but for a guaranteed winner highlighting steroid abuse, stick with Robert Lipsyte's Raiders Night (HarperTempest, 2006).

Kirkus Reviews

As 14-year-old Steve heads to Indianapolis to cover the Super Bowl with fellow reporter Susan Carol Anderson, Bill Thomas tells his son, "Just promise me you won't get into any trouble this week." But when they get to Indianapolis, they uncover a plot to cover up drug tests failed by the offensive line of the California Dreams, and the junior Woodward and Bernstein face a nervous quarterback, a drunken letch, an outraged owner of the Dreams and hired thugs trying to get the reporters to back off. The third of Feinstein's sports mysteries, after Last Shot (2005) and Vanishing Act (2006), this has become an enjoyable formula. The pace is brisk, readers get to rub shoulders with sports celebrities, there's more than a hint of romance between Steve and Susan Carol and the story ends with a moral: "The truth will bring the bad guys down." Sure to be a hit with sports fans, who will look forward to future installments hinted at on the final page: a scandal at the Olympics? The World Series? (Fiction. 10-14)

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