Tim Green (1) (1963–)

Troy White may seem like any ordinary 12-year-old. He listens to his mom, doesn't steal or sneak out (well, maybe just once) and he's a pretty good athlete. Troy and his mother have each other to survive; they aren't rich or poor but are happy together.

But the one thing that separates Troy from every other 12-year-old is his ability to predict what could happen next. He can't predict what he might get on his next exam at school or what will happen to him in the next ten years, though. show more Instead, Troy can predict football plays before they even happen. Sounds cool, right? But what good is it if Troy can hardly use this gift?

Then Troy's mom gets a job with his favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, who aren't doing so well and have been basically losing all of the time. This seems like the perfect chance for Troy to help them out, and maybe they could finally win a game. But would the Falcons jump at the chance and actually believe that a young boy can predict plays, or would they just look at Troy as some crazy fan? With the help of Tate and Nathan, Troy's best friends, Troy might actually pull this off and maybe even learn a little more about his talents, other than his supernatural one.

Football Geniusis a story that both football lovers and non-football fans will enjoy along with any person of any age. Tim Green uses cinematic descriptions that let readers feel that they are experiencing and present at the actual games. As a person who is not a big fan of the sport, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the best thing about it was that my neighbors 11 year old son, who hadn't read anything volunteerily in years, read this and brought it to me to read beacuse he knew how much I loved books. show less

Jane Redmon, reporter for the Washington Post, is working on a potentially explosive story about Senator Michael Gleason. Gleason wants Jane stopped at all costs and has her kidnapped. Her father, alcoholic attorney, Tom Redmon, was once a cop who knows that if most crime victims are not rescued within 48 hours they are usually found dead. Tom will do anything to save Jane (including kidnapping Gleason) and enlists the help of his friend, ex-biker, Mike Tubbs. Together the two set off to show more save Jane before it's too late.

The plot of "The First 48" sounds intriguing, but Tim Green never quite makes it work. The 48 hour scenario gets tired fast, as Tom endlessly counts down the minutes (and astute readers will be able to guess what happens at the exact minute the 48 hours are up). Outside of Tom and Mike, the characters are not fully developed, especially Jane, which hurts the book, since readers really don't care what happens to her. She is resourceful at times, yet does some incredibly stupid things like leaving her clothes on a porch after escaping from the bad guys who are still chasing after her. Luckily for her, the bad guys are pretty incompetent and never fully inject the fear that readers are looking for. The plot devise of Tom's alcoholism and talking to his dead wife are never fully developed and his and Mike's constant quotations for war admirals grows tedious. The book also needs some editing as Jane blows up a cabin by starting a gas fire in the kitchen yet later cooks pancakes on the stove in said cabin. Green does his best to tie up loose ends but it's hard to believe that Tom and Mike received no punishment for kidnapping a U.S. Senator.

This was a quick, if implausible read. show less

Synopsis: (from the book jacket) Tormented by death threats and assassination attempts, Casey investigates a prosecution apparently rife with lies. From the judge, the lawyers. the jury, to the police, she traces a web of corruption surrounding the destruction of one young man. But in all the chaos, Casey's hardest challenge may be just staying alive.
My Thoughts: Casey Jordan, Texas attorney, beautiful and famous since having had a movie made about her and a recent case that she won. Enter show more Robert Graham, handsome, philanthropist and founder of the Freedom Project. The offer is one million dollars for her firm and all she is to do is exonerate 2 felons, within a year, who have been convicted wrongly. Sounds easy enough! But as she obtains details for her first case of a man who has been locked up for twenty years, unsavory facts are surfacing, and not about her client. How do politicians, judges, police officers and even the "mob" tie in to this old case? How is it that she is arrested for falsifying evidence? And is Robert Graham really who he says he is?
My Opinion and Rating: This was the first book by this author that I read from a long list of previous novels. I personally enjoy when a book has chapters that are just a few pages. I find myself thinking "just one more chapter" and read the next 7 or 8, and this book was just that. The suspense was gripping, and at times, fast paced. The characters were intriguing and came to life with the author's writing style. The ending left this reader quite disappointed though. The book was thrilling until the seemingly unrealistic finale. However, I gave this book a rating of 4 stars for the overall riveting plot. show less

Read this for Hudson's Lit Circles group at school. It was pretty straightforward and the multiple narrative lines helped me explain subplots, but I found the main character inherently problematic on several levels. We were able to have good conversations about whether Troy being an underdog in many senses of the word gave him a free pass to lie to his mother, and others, continually, without any kind of redemption. Author gets credit for trying to go beyond stock characters for the female show more characters here, though he couldn't resist pointing out Tate (the female kicker)'s physical weakness multiple times in the book. The mother, unfortunately, is only redeemed by her self-sacrifice for her son and her relationship with the star football player. But the kids in the critique group really enjoyed the jargon and realistic depictions of a professional football game, and I agreed that these were the strongest parts of the book. show less