Felton Reinstein's world has seemed to spiral out of control before (Stupid Fast, 2011; Nothing Special, 2012), but not quite as spectacularly as in this look at the Wisconsin football phenom's high school years. The pressure is truly on as Felton, a senior, has to cope with the stresses of college recruitment. When his girlfriend, Aleah, breaks off their long-distance romance, and the brother of the bullied freshman he mentors kills himself, Felton violently unravels. Identifying with Shakespeare's Hamlet, Felton struggles with his own royal role as sports hero and his father's legacy as angry suicide. Friends alternately help and hurt him, his mother remains clueless, and a drinking spree puts him in danger of not only getting suspended from sports but also becoming more like his father than he knows. Herbach's character will continue to resonate with readers. The scenes of college coaches wooing Felton are spectacularly drawn, and his ultimate decisions about his mortal coil are anything but facile. Will Herbach follow his hero to Stanford? We can hope.--Cruze, Karen Copyright 2010 Booklist

Gr 7-10-The third installment (Sourcebooks Fire, 2013) in Herbach's "Stupid Fast" series follows Fenton Reinstein as he attempts to tackle his demons as deftly as he performs on the football field. An unlikely athlete, Fenton experiences a meteoric rise to high school stardom after a growth spurt embues him with incredible speed. Unfortunately, the adoration of his classmates, his coach, and even the governor isn't enough to erase the pain of his father's suicide. After he befriends a freshman in an effort to "justify his existence," Fenton grapples with alcoholism, heartbreak, and his "mortal coil" in an effort to not to end up like Hamlet or his Dad. Narrated expertly by Nick Podehl, the audiobook works nicely as the end to the trilogy as well as a standalone. Podehl's fantastic grasp of inflection and teenage angst makes for an entertaining and oftentimes gut-wrenchingly painful listen. While younger students and sports fans will be lured in by this tale of a teenage breakdown, those interested in true-to-life fiction may find some scenarios fantastical.-Shanna Miles, South Atlanta Educational Complex, GA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A football star copes with his father's suicide. On the outside, high school senior Felton Reinstein has it all: He's good looking and has a great girlfriend and the respect of his peers. Colleges and universities call him every day to entice him into accepting their scholarships. However, when the trauma he experienced as a child--discovering his father's body hanging in the garage--begins to eat at him, Felton's hold on his psyche begins to spiral out of control. Soon, he's unable to control his actions, the words that come out of his mouth or his anger. Herbach's narrative starts off shaky, with some uneven depictions of high school culture seeing football-star and possible homecoming king Felton being picked on. He soon hits his stride, however, and the plot takes off as Felton's anxieties begin to overtake him. Bad decisions, booze and bullying become the name of his game. Herbach soon after throws in a heavy-handed reference to Shakespeare, which unfortunately overshadows much of the story he's already successfully been building. Still, invested readers will want to push through the Hamlet gridlock to see how Felton and his friends make out in the end. A memorable character from an author worth watching. (Fiction. 14 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.