Gym Candy-Carl Deuker

            This six weeks, I read Gym Candy by Carl Deuker. Carl Deuker first published this book in 2007. It is a realistic fiction book based on a high school student that is named Mick. Mick’s father once played in the NFL. He had made it all the way to the Bigs and he wanted his son to have the same opportunity, but he wanted him to do it the right way, not the way that he did. The overall theme of this book is sports and drugs.

            The point of view in my book was first person because Mick was the narrator and he was also in the book. This restricted us from other people’s point of view throughout the book. Mick is the centerpiece of this story. He had always been good at football from the time he was born. It was all that he ever wanted to do. His mom had told him that he doesn’t have to live up to his father’s expectations, but he wanted to anyway. All he wanted was to make it to the NFL. He was willing to do anything possible to get that, but that was where he made his mistake. All he wanted to do was play in the NFL and he thought that the only way to make it was to take gym candy (steroids). He started by just taking a little a day but that gradually became more and more. His body finally couldn’t take anymore and he had to stop taking the drugs. When he did, his body didn’t react well. His nipples became puffy and he had zits all over himself. It was awful. He ended up getting back on the steroids and his best friend, Drew, found out. He went to Mick and confronted him. Mick knew that Drew had found out, so he brought a gun with him to the park when they were alone. He pointed the gun at Drew when he said he was going to tell the coaches. Drew wanted to do the right thing for Mick’s sake, but Mick wanted it to stay a secret. When Mick held the gun up, Drew said, “You want to shoot me? Go ahead,” and that was when Mick lost it. He pointed the gun at himself instead of Drew and fired. He ended up missing his temple, so when he awoke in the hospital he knew he was in big trouble. The intended audience for this book is ages 14-18. This book deals with very big issues about steroids and how they are used. This is a realistic fiction book because everything in this story could happen, but it hasn’t. The author kept me interested in this book by making Mick’s life a big rollercoaster. Mick kept going up and down. The steroids were the low part and the high part were the football games that he did so well in. The author’s style of writing was to give hints throughout the book about how it’s going to end. This is very effective because it keeps the readers guessing.

            This book affected me in many different ways. It made me realize how easy it is to use steroids and how easy it is to get addicted. My ideas changed about performance enhancing steroids. I used to think that only bad people took them, but it can really happen to anybody if they just get their hands on them. This book brought back memories of my last two books by Carl Deuker. He always writes about problems that happen in the real world and puts it into realistic fiction sports books.

            I would recommend this book to others because of how it deals with steroids. I have never been disappointed with this author, so his other books are probably really good too. I think this might be my favorite of all of the ones that I have read so far.

Jake Rugeley

12/17/13

Rating: ***** 5/5