Dangerous secrets. A toxic workplace. And an unsolved murder. . . . A football professional reckons with the choices that made her career in the boys’ club world of sports possible in this riveting and sharp Friday Night Lights meets I Know What You Did Last Summer debut
Poppy Benjamin, Media Relations Director of Syracuse’s storied NFL team, the Bobcats, fought tooth and nail for her career. Ever since her intern season fifteen years ago, it’s been nothing but early mornings, late nights, barely-dodged inappropriate advances, and relationships lost with boyfriends who didn’t get it. That’s why Poppy relies on the Women Against Groping Shitheads, a support network that knows her far better than her own family. In-house counsel for an NBA team, a celebrated reporter–all of the W.A.G.S. are high-ranking women in sports who need a release from the indignities and frustrations that come with navigating the ultimate boys’ club.
But on the very same morning that Poppy’s legendary head coach is found dead in his home, five notes threatening tell the truth or pay the consequences hit the W.A.G.S. like 300-pound linemen. Who’s aware of the little group they’ve tried their best to keep under wraps, and what reason would they have to threaten it? As long-buried secrets are brought to light, Poppy is forced to revisit a dangerous mistake from the start of her career that puts everything she’s built at risk.
An unmissable novel about responsibility, regret, clouded moral compasses, and the ins and outs of professional football.
Poppy Benjamin, Media Relations Director of Syracuse’s storied NFL team, the Bobcats, fought tooth and nail for her career. Ever since her intern season fifteen years ago, it’s been nothing but early mornings, late nights, barely-dodged inappropriate advances, and relationships lost with boyfriends who didn’t get it. That’s why Poppy relies on the Women Against Groping Shitheads, a support network that knows her far better than her own family. In-house counsel for an NBA team, a celebrated reporter–all of the W.A.G.S. are high-ranking women in sports who need a release from the indignities and frustrations that come with navigating the ultimate boys’ club.
But on the very same morning that Poppy’s legendary head coach is found dead in his home, five notes threatening tell the truth or pay the consequences hit the W.A.G.S. like 300-pound linemen. Who’s aware of the little group they’ve tried their best to keep under wraps, and what reason would they have to threaten it? As long-buried secrets are brought to light, Poppy is forced to revisit a dangerous mistake from the start of her career that puts everything she’s built at risk.
An unmissable novel about responsibility, regret, clouded moral compasses, and the ins and outs of professional football.
“By turns thought-provoking and flat-out fun, The Snap is a gripping exploration of what it means to be a woman in a man’s world. I don’t know a running back from a tight end (yes, I just had to Google “football positions”), but I still couldn’t put Elizabeth Staple’s sharp-eyed novel down.” |
“A compulsively readable, sharp, and often witty invitation to the world of a football franchise and the isolation women face trying to make it in a male dominated industry. This story reveals itself as deeper than meets the eye and poses difficult questions. Paced like a great thriller, with the confident execution of true insider knowledge. It stuck with me long after the last page.”
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