The Sidekick

ONE OF THE WEEK'S BEST NOVELS OF 2022 ‘Exquisite. . . Warm, humane, and tragic.’ JONATHAN LETHEM ‘Compelling and emotionally resonant.’ Spectator At his high school basketball try-outs, nerdy sports-obsessed Brian Blum meets new kid Marcus Hayes. As a sportswriter, Brian spends the following twenty years tracking his friends’ superstar NBA career. But when Marcus mounts his last dance comeback, after a couple of years out of the game, both men must face the tensions of their unlikely dynamic, and the disappointments of getting older. Praise for The Sidekick: ‘There is something so compelling about the questions of whether these two friends, despite their fraught history and hefty egos, will rekindle a genuine connection . . . you’ll want to know how the game turns out.’ TLS ‘Contemporary fiction’s best kept secret . . . It’s gratifying to observe someone with a large amount of specific knowledge not only imparting that expertise, but unlocking some deeper meaning within it, like a top sports star working their magic.’ Sunday Business Post