Neely Crenshaw is the person the book explicity follows. He comes to Messina because of the approaching death of Eddie Rake. It's the first time in over a decade that he has come home. He is flooded with memories of people and games played. With the memories of Rake, whom he desperately hates. With the memories of his simple hometown who lives, breathes, and dies Messina Spartans football.

While we never actually meet Rake before he dies, we get to know him through the stories and memories of Crenshaw and the other people in the town. He was a hard coach. He demanded his team perform. And they did. Even his teams that were made up of subpar players one more games than they lost. He was also sensitive, and after a boy died after being worked too hard, he never forgave himself.

And then there is the town of Messina. Ever since Rake had taken over the team and the team started winning, every person's thought was on Spartan's football. Everyone went to the friday night game. Even the people who hated football went because thats where everyone was. From the young age kids grew up dreaming about joining the football team and wearing green, the team color. The girls, who didn't play football, had fantasies of seducing the quarterback. Even the old men, who practically lived in the coffee shop, would discuss anything and everything Spartans football.

I can see this book appealing to several groups of people. There are the hardcore Grisham fans who will read this, even though I suspect football is not a prime topic for most of them. Then there are people who like touching hometown tales who will eat this up, despite the football theme. I don't have football fans labeled as a group who likes to read. But maybe desperate wives will want to give them this book to try and encourage it. Heck, maybe some desperate wives will want to read this themself to see what all the fuss is about football. But, to quote the famous Reading Rainbow, don't take my word for it.