baum

I needed something different to read.

So, I started peeking around Amazon and the Kindle selection. I was interested in some pro-wrestling books, but everything is biographies or tell-all books. I wanted something different.

Then I stumbled across One Fall by Spencer Baum.

A fictional setting that is somewhat done to gimmick some things that actually happened in the world of professional wrestling, One Fall is about a wrestler who gets a break, falls in love for the centerfold model/women’s wrestler, tries to change things, stands up for his woman and looks to still be the hero in the end.

Joey Hamilton is a young wrestler looking to leave his mark. He does so in his first big break. Alas, it doesn’t come in a good way. Or so he seems. Follow Joey’s life as it unwinds after an errant kick devastates a pro-wrestling company in the midst of a heated rivalry with an opposing company. All sorts of things happen – to the champion, to Joey, to his newfound girlfriend, to the federations and to the owners. And a budding wrestling journalist helps with it all.

One simple move — something Joey had done many times before — disrupted the crazy world of professional wrestling. It makes Joey dig down and look at himself, his profession and his life. Can he come out on top? Or will he waste away. Read the book and find out.

It has a lot of factors to be good and it delivers in most spots.

The best part? The Kindle version was free!

Score!

So, I downloaded it looking to take a chance on a writer I had never heard of, hoping he would deliver.

Now for my thoughts…

The good

The storyline.

Anyone who actually watched professional wrestling will realize that, in that crazy world, this could actually happen. It’s a crazy turn of events that watches two companies compete with one another. In the end, one wins, of course.

The ending is good. I liked the lead up and I liked the finish.

I liked several aspects of the story all around — from the guy breaking the story to the relationships. It’s a neat read. Baum gives good attention to details and definitely appears to be in a situation where he knows his way around the business a bit.

The one part I really like is how far-fetched some of it can be. Though some of the way it’s written is almost hard to believe it would be possible, being he’s writing about professional wrestling, it really fits and works. I like that aspect of this book and it made me like it more. I won’t give away direct spoilers because I wouldn’t want to ruin the story, but if you are looking for a full novel on wrestling to be fully realistic, this might not be the one.

The bad

Timeline.

I realize this is a book, but the timeline of everything that happens and unfolds is a little too quick. Reality aside, if one kick could bring down a major company that fast, then the fix is on. But how Baum takes us through things — there isn’t a lot of time consideration. If there were things like … six months later. Or two years later etc. But it seems like it all happens in rapid succession.

Outside of that, there are little things (some typos, some confusing exchanges etc.), but overall a solid book with a good story. I can’t give out too many bad thoughts because overall it was solid.

Overall thoughts

This was an extremely fast read. I had it done in about three days. I kept wondering what would happen next and it kept my attention.

Baum’s details are good. I could picture these wrestlers. I found myself trying to see if I could figure out who each was based on. Alas, I came up short for the most part!

He builds his characters well. He makes you want to invest in what they do. The best is that there are heels (bad guys) and faces (good guys) — just like in the world of professional wrestling. I found myself disliking certain people and liking others.

I did get confused a couple of times when certain characters were because a few of them seemed a little interchangeable. However, once I looked at it a bit more it became clear who was being talked about or who was doing the talking.

Rating

I was skeptical when I first grabbed this book, but for free, what the heck. I’m glad I did. If you are a wrestling fan, this book is worth a read. If you aren’t a fan, I can see you still getting enjoyment out of it because it has other parts — some romance, some mystery, some villains, some heroes etc. In the end, I’ll give it a soft 4 stars as it delivered as an entertaining book with a few minor flaws.

If you are a Kindle user, it’s definitely worth it, because it’s free and if you don’t like it you can move along. Give it a go. I’d be willing to read Baum again for sure. In fact, he has a second book on Kindle that is currently free. I just downloaded it and will read it soon.

***

Reminder! Contest going on! I am holding a contest this week for an autographed copy of Bill Walker’s book “Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail”. It runs from October16- to 12:01 a.m. Oct. 28. You can see all the details on the contest page. Enter for your chance to win!

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