The League

"...an interesting foray into the world of fantasy football and the high stakes of gambling." The OHIOana Quarterly, Volume XLIX, No.3, Fall 2006, p. 148

A fast paced story line that takes a fresh approach to sports nonfiction. Turns a fantasy football league into a nightmare.

I'll admit that I've read only a dozen, or so, novels. Most of them are time consuming and have too many dead spots. After reading this book, I was completely blown away! This is right on the money. There's never a dull moment. Anyone will love this novel. Mark Barnes is an author on the rise. I can't wait to see what's next!

This is a great book whose time has come. The topic in question is high stakes fantasy football, a "sport" which is peaking to new heights every year. What kind of madness could possibly go on behind the scenes? Find out in this thriller. The League keeps the pages moving with nonstop action and plot movement. Easy to read, but contemplation is required. The crescendo of mystery and suspense culminates in the final pages: lives hang in the balance during a flurry of heart-pounding insanity. A must-read for both suspense readers and fantasy players. Warning: you'll have a hard time putting it down.

Writer-Mark Barnes "The League" starts like a tinderbox suddenly aflame, when two deceptively collegiate-passing as detectives, deceives and assaults a professional football player. At this point the suspense erupts and the writer take you on a journey of thrills and mystery. It's an intriguingly mix of characters operating a world away from the reality with what the perception of a game can become. "The League" is a reader's book, cleverly plotted and designed, full of strong chapters and thirst quenching parts. It keeps you guessing throughout and delivers when needed. One of the pleasures of "The League," lies in observing the way the stories and characters interweave and set each other off. In a splendid cast of characters, the standout may be Jordan Young, the character with the most extreme variance of evil and good, deceptive and generosity. A cynic, who bullies people with power. He's also wanted to be a respectful son but has father issues and we come to see that the good side of Jordan is carapace grown over the bad. But to single out Jordan, who is the most interestingly character, may be unfair to the others, all of whom are clever at enlightening separated, unpredictable personalities: Also out of this pandemonium, "The League" also suggests that acts of goodness, mercy and compassion matter-that anyone, at any moment, can make a crucial disparity when it come to gambling on sports. Barnes doesn't necessarily convince us, partly because his design is take us for a ride into the world of high stakes. But "The League" does convincingly argue that, in a world where a game can seem to be just a game, nothing can be further form the truth and nothing really is.