THE DEAD PULL HITTER. Gordon, Alison. Toronto. McClelland and Stewart, 1988. 222pp, cloth. $19.95, ISBN 0-7710-3421-0. CIP Adult / Secondary Reviewed by Ted Monkhouse Volume 16 Number 6 1988 November Alison Gordon, author of Foul Balls: Five Years in the American League (New York: Dodd. Mead, 1985) and former sports writer covering the Blue Jays for the Toronto Star, pulls off a good read. She says this is purely fictional, but the reader can't miss the reality of her experiences. Only the names have been changed. Kate Henry, newspaper sports writer covering the Toronto Titans, takes the reader into the locker rooms and bars and on to the playing field with members of the team as they enter the play-offs. Murder mixed with drugs sets the scene for this whodunit not unlike headlines in the sports world. The joy of this novel is the off-beat humour Gordon is so capable of inserting into this tightly written story. Having a female sports writer as heroine in a primarily male world adds to the reader's enjoyment of the ageless battle of the sexes. Gordon's characters are well drawn for the purposes of the story-line and its colour. Recommended for the mature reader who recognizes that the sometimes coarse language is appropriate to the moment. Ted Monkhouse, Wellington County Board of Education, Guelph, Ont.