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April Smith's first novel, North of Montana, garnered good reviews and marked her as a writer worth watching. In her second thriller, Be the One, she amply fulfills that promise. Cassidy Sanderson is a woman in a man's world: the only female scout in major-league baseball, Cassidy's not only a former star with a women's professional team but also the daughter of a legendary player and the sister of a promising pitcher who died too young. Baseball isn't just in Cassidy's blood, it's her whole life, and even the daily effort of constantly having to prove herself to her bosses in the L.A. Dodgers head office can't wear out her passion for the game.
She's got a great double play going when she goes to the Dominican Republic and finds both a promising young player, Alberto Cruz, and a powerful, sexy American financier, Joe Galinis, who picks her up when the car carrying her and Cruz breaks down. But once she gets Alberto to training camp, the trouble that's followed her all the way from the Caribbean explodes in blackmail, extortion, and violence, with a mysterious vodou twist:
The thing appears to be a Barbancourt rum bottle, you can see the lettering underneath the red cloth in which it has been tightly wrapped. Lashed to the neck with hundreds of turns of black thread are two pairs of scissors, open wide. Dangling off the bottom on multicolored strings is a bizarre fringe of razor blades that flash like silver teeth.
Her partner says, "What is it? Some kind of punk thing?"
"Gang thing?"
Cassidy holds it very carefully. It spooks her in a deeply primitive way. Unlike the whimsical gourd with the belly-button mirror on her mantel, this bizarre construction is definitely broadcasting on an evil wavelength: the shape of the bottle like a human body.
Smith's characters are sharply drawn, and she's firmly in command of her milieu: the day-to-day life of a baseball scout is brilliantly explicated, the pacing is expert, and the back-stories are well told in flashback. Cassidy is a fascinating woman--hard-working, hard-drinking, and wholly human and vulnerable. Even if you're not a baseball fan, you'll root for her to win. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Cassidy Sanderson, the 35-year-old heroine of Smith's (North of Montana) tough, smart novel, is a baseball scout for the L.A. DodgersDthe only woman scout in the major leagues in 1994. On a hot tip from her godfather, Pedro, a "successful bird-dog scout, " she goes to the Dominican Republic in pursuit of a young center fielder named Alberto Cruz. During this unauthorized trip, she meets Joe Galinis, a downtown-L.A. developer to whom she is immediately drawn. She and Joe, along with Alberto, drive drunk into a hurricane, and a confusing accident in the violent murky weather (related in interspersed flashbacks) yields misfortune that follows them back to Los Angeles. As Cassidy gets Alberto into training in California, the action, somewhat sluggish at the outset, quickens: Alberto and Joe receive anonymous blackmail notes, and Cassidy runs into danger on a trip to view spring training in Vero Beach, Fla. The Dodgers and the L.A. and Vero Beach police departments get involved, which stands to jeopardize the careers of Alberto, Joe and CassidyDas well as the romance developing between the latter two. To Cassidy, baseball is more than business: formerly a pro softball player, she has always been a pioneer; in addition, she's living out the expectations of her beloved, deceased brother. Befriended in Vero Beach by detective Nate Allen, who later ends up in L.A. on official business, she faces a host of difficult decisions. Smith's characters are hard to empathize withDCassidy, in particular, keeps her game face so assiduously that the reader only sometimes glimpses her vulnerabilitiesDand a major leap in determining the blackmailer's motive isn't confirmed until the end, which threatens the story's plausibility. While the writing is generally firm and judicious, Smith's prose sometimes swerves into the overly ornate. But this ambitious novel, much to its credit, does venture beyond these ambivalences to provocatively rephrase the perennial tale of a woman in a man's world. 75,000 first printing. (July) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In Smith's latest, hard-drinking Cassidy Sanderson--the only female scout in the major leagues--encounters two men in the Dominican Republic who change her life: a phenomenal young player and a seductive older agent. Soon all three are enmeshed in blackmail. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, David Kelly
Be the One is at its best when the action is on or near a ball field.
From AudioFile
Female baseball scout Cassidy Sanderson sees major league potential in Dominican ballplayer Alberto Cruz, but she also has major problems, thanks to a blackmailer from the island republic. Cassidy uncovers links to a developer she's falling in love with. Linda Hamilton's deep, sexy voice--reminiscent of Lauren Bacall--is perfect for both the staccato prose of April Smith and the main character Cassidy, whom she blesses with a tough, yet feminine, tone. She also has a good ear for accents, a necessity in a novel with several Hispanic characters, and handles both male and female voices equally well. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
Smith follows her celebrated debut, North of Montana (1994), with an intriguing baseball thriller about the major leagues' only female scout. On a tip from her mentor, Dodger scout Cassidy Sanderson travels to the Dominican Republic in search of a "phenom," sweet-swinging 18-year-old Alberto Cruz. She finds and signs her phenom, but while in Central America, she also meets slick developer Joe Galinis, who looks like the man of her dreams. Back in L.A., however, the dreams turn quickly to nightmares. Cassidy, Cruz, and Galinis find themselves in the middle of a voodoo-laced blackmail plot, and as the violence escalates, it becomes harder and harder to know whom to trust. The thriller elements here are capably presented, but it is the baseball story that really gives the novel its appeal. Smith delivers plenty of details about what scouts do, and she introduces the feminist theme--Who says Cassidy can't close a deal as tightly as a male scout?--with sensitivity and intelligence. She also builds her character from the ground up, showing how Cassidy came to love the game and putting a very human face on the sexism that denies talented girls the opportunity to compete with the best. A fine thriller but an even better sports novel. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
From Kirkus Reviews
The author of North of Montana (1994) uses the world of baseball, as seen through the eyes of a female scout whose career depends on finding hidden talent for the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, as the backdrop for this mystery thriller.Cassidy Sanderson is a rarity: a female talent scout in a world predominantly populated by men. An ex-ballplayer herself--with the Colorado Silver Bullets, an all-women's professional team--the blond stunner receives a call one day from Uncle Pedro, a friend of her late father's, who has spotted a can't-miss prospect in that hotbed of talent, the Dominican Republic. In the competitive world of sports, Cassidy must act quickly, and so she makes an unauthorized trip south, where, in the midst of a devastating hurricane, she signs the 18-year-old Alberto Cruz, then brings him back to L.A. She also brings back a lover, a particularly appealing albeit mysterious developer by the name of Joe Galinis. And, unfortunately, along with the whiz-bang ballplayer and the lover, she's bringing back something else: death threats, aimed first at Cruz, then at Galinis. Who's behind them? Why are they being made? Will they destroy Cruz's shot at becoming a big league star? While Cassidy tries to find the answers to these questions, and herself becomes the target of the blackmailers, she struggles with coming to grips with the death of her brother, as well as with being a single young woman in her 30s who's trying to carve out a place for herself in the macho world of sports.Smith certainly knows baseball, and she's created a full-dimensioned, interesting character in Cassidy. In the end, though, despite her breezy, almost screenplay-like style, the story falls disappointingly flat.First printing of 75,000 -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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