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The Hockey Saint (Forever Friends Trilogy #2) by Howard Shapiro




Book Review


Title: The Hockey Saint (Forever Friends Trilogy #2)


Author: Howard Shapiro


Genre: Graphic Novel


Rating: ****


Review: The opening to The Hockey Saint was good, we are introduced to Tom, a great hockey player living with his grandmother as he is made assistant captain for his team. I am not sure if this is the same Tom from the Stereotypical Freaks because the character design is a little different but the dream he has about his parents seem to be identical to the first Tom’s parents. Tom’s hockey idol is Jeremiah Jacobson and through a friend he accidentally finds out where he is currently living.


 

As we approach the ¼ mark in the story, Tom decides to drive out to the house just to see if his idol lives there and ends up meeting him face to face. It is confirmed that this Tom is the Tom from the Stereotypical Freaks and that his parent’s died recently in a car accident, but on the bright side his idol sort of becomes his friend in the strangest circumstances.


As we cross the ¼ mark in the story, Tom gets to spend the day with Jake and learns more about the man behind the name good and bad. Tom learns that Jake is a very selfless person, he spends huge amounts of time in the cancer ward of the hospital and the food bank, but on the other side of things he also seems to have quite a large drinking problem and major distrust in the media.


As we approach the halfway mark in the story, I realised that this instalment in the series is a lot more dialogue heavy that the first book, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As the pair get closer, Tom is beginning to realise that there is far more to being a world class hockey player than just playing well but he decides that he likes Jack and isn’t going to betray his trust like everyone else. However, there is a man who owns a rival hockey team that wants a private investigator to dig up some dirt on Jake in order to throw him off his game and let them win.


As we cross into the second half of the story, Jake and Tom have become firm friends despite not knowing each other long but Tom’s grades are beginning to suffer, and he also has his assistant captain’s position revoked and his scholarship might be next if he doesn’t get his act together. The pair however, are unaware that they are being followed by a P.I. but the P.I. decides to go after Tom thinking he is easier to get to than Jake but Tom remains loyal to his friend and defends his secrets at all costs. However, Tom has seen the vices that Jake has and is determined to help him through them, but he has to sort out his own life first starting with school and practice.


As we approach the ¾ mark in the story, Tom gets approached by the private investigator for him to give his story to them and sell out on Jake and he refuses but when money is mentioned Tom considers it for a moment as he knows that Jake has a problem and needs help with it, but he also knows that this isn’t the right way to go about it.


As we cross into the final section of the story, despite dropping hints to Jake about changing, Tom eventually meets with the P.I. and agrees to tell him what he wants in exchange for 10 grand, but it is clear to see that Tom is being naïve as he believes that these men are trying to help Jake when they are actually trying to do the opposite. In the end, not everything is resolved but there is a good opening for the characters to develop further in their own individual arcs as well as in the overall story. While I didn’t love this graphic novel the same way I did the Stereotypical Freaks, I still highly recommend the hockey Saint and I will be jumping into Hockey Karma straight away.


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I received this review copy from NetGalley

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