The Penalty - by Mal Peet (Paperback)

About the Book

Paul Faustino, known as the best soccer journalist in the business, investigates the disappearance of eighteen-year-old Ricardo, a soccer prodigy known as "El Brujito," while in alternate chapters a slave becomes a powerful voodoo priest.

Book Synopsis

"Peet's prose is both lyrical and unflinching. . . . A bold exploration of ageless themes of power, fame, love, and trust, all seen through the deceptive lens of modern celebrity culture." -- Booklist

As the city of San Juan pulses to summer's sluggish beat, its teenage soccer prodigy, El Brujito, the Little Magician, vanishes without a trace--right after he misses a penalty kick and loses a big game for his team. Sports reporter Paul Faustino is reluctantly drawn into the mystery of the athlete's disappearance and, as a story of corruption and murder unfolds, must confront the bitter history of slavery and the power of the occult.

Review Quotes

Stunning, original and compelling.
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

About the Author

Mal Peet (1947-2015) is the acclaimed author of the Carnegie Medal-winning novel Tamar as well as the Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book Life: An Exploded Diagram and three Paul Faustino novels: Keeper, The Penalty, and Exposure, a winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. He is also the co-author of Cloud Tea Monkeys, Mysterious Traveler, and Night Sky Dragons, all of which he wrote with his wife, Elspeth Graham.