- Paperback: 398 pages
- Publisher: CreateSpace (4 Feb 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1463530927
- ISBN-13: 978-1463530921
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 176,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Game 7: Dead Ball (Marshall Connors Series)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Secrets, lies, and revenge provide the sparks that ignite a fiery collision between past and present… A puzzle takes shape as baseball’s World Series unfolds, but the pieces don’t fit: a string of missing women, strange threats, gambling problems, kidnappings, and relationships long dormant are all somehow connected, but Marshall Connors--major league umpire--may run out of time before he can solve the mystery. Marshall’s season has ended and he is looking forward to post-season plans that include time in Florida, first helping his mentor teach an umpire training class, followed by a lot of sun. Those plans are cut short when Marshall is given a surprise assignment to work the World Series as crew chief, but the real reason is not discovered until he is neck-deep in trouble. The sudden change in plans rekindles a relationship with the O’Hara family--Terry, major league pitcher and Game 1 starter in the Series, Michael, Terry’s father and former major leaguer, and Samantha, Terry’s mother and Michael's ex-wife--but Marshall quickly realizes some things truly are better left alone. As the Series plays out, so does the truth behind long-buried O’Hara family secrets and Marshall is caught in a storm that threatens to destroy him and those he loves. With the help of his best friend, Thomas Hillsborough--ex-CIA spy--Marshall fights to solve the puzzle before the Series reaches its climax in GAME 7: DEAD BALL, the ultimate contest of survival.
About the Author
Allen Schatz was born and raised and went to school through college in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He currently resides in southwest PA. Allen began writing after a 25-year career as an accountant/finance professional--he is still active as a self-employed consultant. In addition, he has been an amateur baseball umpire for close to 30 years, currently working high school and youth games. He is married and has two adult children. GAME 7: DEAD BALL is his debut fiction novel. Two sequels have been penned; the first is now available as an ebook (titled: 7th Inning Death).
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
This is a book about baseball, but it is so much more than that. A thriller set in the world of baseball may not be everyone's cup of tea but it had me hooked from about chapter 3 (and they are very short chapters!). There is enough murder, intrigue, revenge, kidnapping and even some gambling debts plus some love interest to keep everyone interested.
The plot is quite complicated and it a took me a little while to tie in all the different elements, but it is not so complicated as to ruin the storyline.
I thoroughly enjoyed this although I feely admit to not being into baseball, I can't wait to read the next in the series.
The plot is quite complicated and it a took me a little while to tie in all the different elements, but it is not so complicated as to ruin the storyline.
I thoroughly enjoyed this although I feely admit to not being into baseball, I can't wait to read the next in the series.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
19 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
No Longer Just a Game
22 Mar 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
There may be other novels featuring baseball umpires as lead characters, but I haven't read one. It sounds almost like an exercise in a creative writing class: Set the person who is supposed to remain invisible at the center of a story involving love and hate, success and failure, excitement and tragedy. Author Allen Schatz has done that and done it well.
For a good portion of Game 7: Dead Ball, protagonist Marshall Connors knows he's in the middle of a life-or-death situation. He just doesn't know whose or what to do about it.
Chosen to umpire the World Series as a surprise replacement for the crew chief who apparently suffered a heart attack, Connors must call balls and strikes on his boyhood friend Terry O'Hara, the ace of the Philadelphia Phillies pitching staff, and Terry's former USC teammate Nik Sanchez, catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Terry and Nik's relationship was ruined long ago and now is defined only by animus. A third Trojan teammate, AJ Singer, had an affair with Terry's mother, and when her husband discovered it, things got very ugly for all involved.
As the Series bounces between Florida and Pennsylvania, millions of fans watch the games on television unaware of the real drama swirling around Marshall Connors. Notes are surreptitiously delivered to him at home plate; meaningful looks are thrown by league security men, and an old-fashioned baseball "message" is delivered by catcher Sanchez - a fastball allowed to blast Marshall in the facemask.
Between games, though, Marshall manages to work in a little romance and tries to help his friend Thomas Hillsborough, an ex-CIA spook who is sort of a law-enforcement-stud-without-portfolio, figure out what's going on.
You might expect a mystery involving a baseball umpire in the World Series to center on fixing games. Schatz happily has chosen to go in a less obvious direction.
Without giving away the plot, the crimes here include serial murder, kidnapping, extortion, and felony battery. Throw in the inter-generational adultery and some unpaid gambling debts, and you've got lots of reasons for people not to like each other.
Game 7 has a huge cast of characters - FBI agents, Major League Baseball officials, ball players, bad guys, innocent victims, and umpires among them. It is to Schatz's credit as a writer that they're reasonably easy to keep straight.
If you like baseball and thrillers, Game 7: Dead Ball is a must read. Even those who are only so-so on the national pastime but enjoy complicated plots with well-drawn characters will find Game 7 most satisfying.
For reviews of other low-cost ebooks, please see [...]
For a good portion of Game 7: Dead Ball, protagonist Marshall Connors knows he's in the middle of a life-or-death situation. He just doesn't know whose or what to do about it.
Chosen to umpire the World Series as a surprise replacement for the crew chief who apparently suffered a heart attack, Connors must call balls and strikes on his boyhood friend Terry O'Hara, the ace of the Philadelphia Phillies pitching staff, and Terry's former USC teammate Nik Sanchez, catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Terry and Nik's relationship was ruined long ago and now is defined only by animus. A third Trojan teammate, AJ Singer, had an affair with Terry's mother, and when her husband discovered it, things got very ugly for all involved.
As the Series bounces between Florida and Pennsylvania, millions of fans watch the games on television unaware of the real drama swirling around Marshall Connors. Notes are surreptitiously delivered to him at home plate; meaningful looks are thrown by league security men, and an old-fashioned baseball "message" is delivered by catcher Sanchez - a fastball allowed to blast Marshall in the facemask.
Between games, though, Marshall manages to work in a little romance and tries to help his friend Thomas Hillsborough, an ex-CIA spook who is sort of a law-enforcement-stud-without-portfolio, figure out what's going on.
You might expect a mystery involving a baseball umpire in the World Series to center on fixing games. Schatz happily has chosen to go in a less obvious direction.
Without giving away the plot, the crimes here include serial murder, kidnapping, extortion, and felony battery. Throw in the inter-generational adultery and some unpaid gambling debts, and you've got lots of reasons for people not to like each other.
Game 7 has a huge cast of characters - FBI agents, Major League Baseball officials, ball players, bad guys, innocent victims, and umpires among them. It is to Schatz's credit as a writer that they're reasonably easy to keep straight.
If you like baseball and thrillers, Game 7: Dead Ball is a must read. Even those who are only so-so on the national pastime but enjoy complicated plots with well-drawn characters will find Game 7 most satisfying.
For reviews of other low-cost ebooks, please see [...]
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
baseball player's lives thriller
11 Mar 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
You don't even have to like baseball to enjoy this book. It surrounds the players lives with murder, mystery, kidnapping, and gambling debts! Marshall an umpire, his best friend Thomas an ex cia spy, Terry a player with Dad Michael an ex player are connected in this thriller! It all comes to a head during the World Series game. Can't wait for the next in the series to see what Marshall and Thomas deal with!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Take Me Out To The Ball Game....
29 July 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The author uses the 2008 World Series as the backdrop for a thriller that includes a history of friendship between several men, who go their separate ways but who share a particular incident. The lives of these friends converge at the World Series. Marshall Connors, the main character, is an umpire and without giving anything away, the story involves players on both teams, Connors , baseball security, the FBI and a high-tension situation that involves kidnapping, extortion and the need to prevent these nefarious actions from derailing the World Series and possibly jeopardizing its legitimacy.
Schatz does a remarkable job with a complex plot, involving a number of points of view. He's taken some liberties with the real history of the 2008 World Series in that the real World Series was won by the Phillies four games to one. Schatz needs more time for his story to unfold, so it takes the Phillies until the 7th game to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays. Nevertheless, if you're a baseball fan you'll appreciate the realism Schatz injects into this side of the novel. If you're not a baseball fan, that's ok too as you'll enjoy this thriller and Schatz' stiletto-sharp writing style.
Schatz does a remarkable job with a complex plot, involving a number of points of view. He's taken some liberties with the real history of the 2008 World Series in that the real World Series was won by the Phillies four games to one. Schatz needs more time for his story to unfold, so it takes the Phillies until the 7th game to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays. Nevertheless, if you're a baseball fan you'll appreciate the realism Schatz injects into this side of the novel. If you're not a baseball fan, that's ok too as you'll enjoy this thriller and Schatz' stiletto-sharp writing style.
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