Ice Hockey: Valerie Wood's Enforcer

Ice hockey is a game of skill, agility, and retribution. Valerie Wood’s Enforcer immerses the reader into the world of ice hockey, focusing on the toll the sport takes on one particular team position. The enforcer on a hockey team is the guy that habitually protects his teammates through physical retaliation on the ice. If you ever witness a gloves-off fight during a hockey game, chances are that it is being instigated by the team’s enforcer. While they can play a vital and strategic role on the ice, being the team goon can take a heavy toll on a player.

Cole Bowman is the designated enforcer for the Rockets. While he has the drive and ability to be a quality player, his bad boy reputation has shoehorned him into an undesirable role along with a terrible contract for his new team. Cole does his best to satisfy his volatile new coach; all while trying to deal with the pressures of being a …show more content…
There were more than a few times where I had to suspend belief because certain situations and interactions didn’t seem probable or realistic. I was unimpressed by a lot of the stilted and awkward dialogue that occurred between Cole and the other men in the novel. The plot had the tendency to jump around a bit and major events in Cole’s life seemed to happen too rapidly. There were also many times when the point of view would change to that of a minor character for only a few paragraphs.

As I read this book, I was constantly reminded of the fact that the novel was published almost two decades ago. It seems as if the bulk of the book was written in the early 90s. How quickly we have forgotten about the world of payphones, fur coats being stylish, and life without the Internet. This book is full of references that will definitely bring you back. Additionally, it is pretty evident that it was formatted for paperback and the formatting for e-readers has not been done