This is how a sports book should be written -- engaging and doesn't let you go from the get-go. I was fortunate not to know what exactly happened -- although I had an inkling -- so to me, the book was very suspenseful. It's the story of three top middle-distance runner in the 1950's who had very different personalities and circumstances but similar goals -- the first to run the mile in less than four minutes, and also to beat one another.

Bascomb tells the story in such a way that you also want to 'race' to the end to know what happens. The nature of the story lends itself to parallel storylines and Bascomb makes the most of this quality, tugging you in this direction, then the other, and then another, so that you're hooked -- not just anxious to know what happens, but also wanting to know how the protagonists pursue their objectives and meet their respective challenges. In the end, it is a well-told allegory of life itself, of its unpredictability and also of one's power to control it.