“High school football mixes with Faust in this blitz of a novel from Watson . . . the novel avoids slipping into morality tale excess as it spins out a big Dennis Lehane-like story of society, opportunity, and consequences, revealing Watson as an accomplished storyteller.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Honor, loyalty, even life and death form the core of this wrenching story.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Watson’s visceral descriptions of the physicality of sport are more than matched by his knowing depiction of small-town corruption in this fast-paced coming-of-age story.”
—Booklist

“A sleeper that sneaks up on you. Pitch it to old school readers who appreciate intelligent and hard-hitting novels that are more than sports books.”
—Library Journal

“Fighting in the Shade is less a sports novel than a coming-of-age story wound around a mystery, with football as symbol and symptom.”
—St. Petersburg Times

“A brilliant, fearless look at the savage rites of passage that exist in the fraternity of American sports. A book as gripping and unforgettable as any in recent memory.”
—Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and editor of Boston Noir

“The story of what it means to be a man in our culture is an important, vital narrative and it has found one of its best chroniclers in Sterling Watson. This is a powerful, beautifully written book about attitudes and practices that we want to believe are safely in the past. Instead, as Watson reminds us, corruption and cruelty survive through their uncanny ability to take on new shapes.”
—Laura Lippman, author of I’d Know You Anywhere

“Sterling Watson’s Fighting in the Shade is an unflinching novel about loyalty and manhood. Like Pat Conroy’s The Lords of Discipline, it is simply unforgettable.”
—Ann Hood, author of The Red Thread

“Sterling Watson’s polished prose carries this coming-of-age story smoothly from the enthralling to the unsettling, from the poignant to the disturbing, leaving the reader in emotional knots. An uncompromising look at sports, secrets, sexuality, and the South—that makes a commentary on relationships ranging from personal to universal.”
—Michael Koryta, author of The Cypress House