Winners and Losers

Curtis is shocked when Daryl Wagner, his best friend and high school track teammate, collapses from cardiac arrest during a tough race. Good-looking, popular, an all-around athlete and A-student, Daryl has seemed the embodiment of perfect health, and findings of an irregular heart are in sharp contrast to his youthful vigor. Mr. Wagner, the boys' intensely competitive personal coach, now shifts his focus onto Curtis--training him harder and elevating him to ``second son'' status, a position both teenagers resent. Hoffius's first novel has lots of runner-related jargon and play-by-play action that compensates for implausible plot developments (would the sports-mad Mr. Wagner really encourage a son diagnosed with a cardiac condition to resume track? And would the school allow him to rejoin the team?). Although Curtis's frank narrative exposes frailties (jealously, vanity, intolerance) that would otherwise render him unsympathetic, one can't help cheering him on and then experiencing his devastation in the abrupt, catastrophic final scene. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)