Calico Joe by John Grisham

I watched my father closely and at one point saw something that did not surprise me. With Joe flat on his back, unconscious, seriously injured and convulsing, I saw my father smile.

Title: Calico Joe
Author: John Grisham
ISBN: 9780385536073
Publisher: Doubleday/2012
Pages: 208

Calico Joe is unlike any other novel written by John Grisham. It is novel based on baseball and what happens off the field touches the heart. So much different from his legal thrillers, Calico Joe makes a moral statement, speaking of good versus evil.

It is told in the voice of Paul Tracey, son of Warren Tracy who is a Mets baseball player. Warren is not a role model for anyone. He is abusive towards his family. No one seems to like him,not even his children. Whenever Paul watches his father playing, he feels good and proud but Warren does not give a damn. The Mets and Cubs are locked in a mid-season pennant race.  Paul is a huge Mets fan for obvious reasons, and always roots for his father.

The clubs call Joe Castle to replace one of their regular players who has been injured. Castle becomes a sensation overnight and Paul is torn between his loyalty towards his dad and admiration for Joe Castle. Warren feels threatened by Castle and what happens in the field between him and Castle has tragic consequences. Castle's career ends as abruptly as it had started. Paul's relationship with his dad takes a nose drive. Warren goes away from their lives.

Thirty odd years later, Warren has cancer and Paul wants him to face what he did to Castle. Joe has disappeared from public life and now leads a quiet life, fiercely protected by his brothers. The novel epitomizes the rise and fall of an upcoming baseball player.  The forgiveness of a person to the one who did him wrong. I do not know baseball but that did not deter me from reading it. It is as interesting as his legal thrillers.