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  BOOK REVIEW   **I am reading a book called Rucker Park The Setup. Basketball is life for Mackey and J.R. They've known each other forever and spend most of that time involved with basketball. Lucky for them, Rucker Park offers the cream-of-the-crop. The park has long been the scene of pick-up games and tournaments between actual pro-players and the best street players ever. Mackey and J.R. have long dreamed of playing in the annual tournament.**


 * Unfortunately, Mackey gets involved in the "dark" side of basketball (game fixing), and as a result he may have been responsible for the fatal stabbing of his friend, J.R. Determined to make things right, Mackey starts the final tournament game intending to win it for J.R. no matter the consequences. But between his feelings of guilt, the pressure from the "dark" side, and the fact that J.R.'s own father is the long-time referee for the tournament, Mackey has everything he can do to play the game and not fall apart.**


 * Paul Volponi demonstrates his knowledge of basketball in RUCKER PARK SETUP. The entire story revolves around the one tournament game. Readers are artfully filled in on the background information of Mackey's family and J.R.'s death through the use of flashbacks and the tormented thoughts of young Mackey. Colorful characters, top-notch players, and streetwise vocabulary help make the reader feel a part of the non-stop action. Fans of Volponi** **will not be disappointed.**


 * Paul Volponi’s fast-paced and suspenseful novel draws the reader in from the first line with “A father shouldn’t have to outlive his own son. It’s not right.” Thus begins Mackey’s struggle with his best friend’s death on the eve of the big Rucker Park Basketball Tournament, the storied tournament played every summer in Harlem, and the role he may have played in it. J.R. and Mackey were both chosen to play for the Greenbacks, the team sponsored by J-Greene, a star rapper from the neighborhood. This** **Paul Volponi’s fast-paced and suspenseful novel draws the reader in from the first line with “A father shouldn’t have to outlive his own son. It’s not right.” Thus begins Mackey’s struggle with his best friend’s death on the eve of the big Rucker Park Basketball Tournament, the storied tournament played every summer in Harlem, and the role he may have played in it. J.R. and Mackey were both chosen to play for the Greenbacks, the team sponsored by J-Greene, a star rapper from the neighborhood. Stove, J.R.’s father and a surrogate to Mackey, believes Mackey knows more about the murder than he is telling and he is refereeing the big game. Stove also knows the coach of the opposing team, Fat Anthony, plays dirty by gambling on his own games and that J-Greene and Fat Anthony have money on the championship game between the Greenbacks and Non-Fiction. Volponi weaves together past and present with the action of the championship game, and commentary by Stove, Fat Anthony, and J-Greene masterfully which keeps the pages turning.**

