Review of One Good Punch by Rich Wallace

Rich Wallace's young athletes are generally depressed by the culture they've been born into in northeastern PA, a blue-collar world hedged by a narrow Catholicism, alcoholism, boredom, and the decline of economic opportunities. They may feel loyalties to their friends, their schools, their teams--but the lure of "getting out" through college, and especially college sports, is a powerful motivator of their actions. One Good Punch underscores the limited opportunities that Scranton offers a bright young runner with its opening scene: Mike Kerrigan has a part-time job writing obituaries for the local newspaper, and his phone conversations with his contacts at the local funeral homes create brief portraits of the citizens he's used to memorializing, mostly elderly and middle-aged citizens with long ties to local organizations, their final terminal conditions often brought on by careers in the mines or textile mills or by the long-term health effects of addiction. Interspersed with the work-related calls are anxious calls from his long-time friend Joey, and through these conversations we come to recognize the situation that drives the plot of this short novel: Joey has stashed some drugs in Mike's locker, and the word is out that the authorities plan to do a locker sweep over the weekend. If they do, Mike's promising senior year as an athlete with prospects for scholarships at bigger, more prestigious universities than the local one where his father teaches will be cut short, and his dreams for a fresh start outside Scranton will die an abrupt death.

From the outset, Mike faces the dilemma of whether and what to tell school authorities. Should he blame the stash on Joey? Joey is a long-time friend, but not really a friend--just someone that Mike's known since grade school and continues to hang out with. But over the years Mike has seen the bruises Joey bears in the aftermath of getting in trouble with his parents--and he fears Joey's father may actually kill Joey if he buys his own freedom at Joey's expense. The people who attempt to influence his decision, his parents and his other long time friend (girl), don't have much effect, in the final analysis, but his conversations with them about the situation make it clear that Mike's a pretty solitary guy. The person who does have a significant effect on his thinking is Joey's father, whom Mike catches in a pretty good mood when Joey isn't home, and who shares his stew recipe and the story of his brief boxing career that ended with "one good punch."

As brief as it is, this novel is nonetheless provocative, giving the reader glimpses into the complexities behind apparently straightforward moral decisions.