FLOORBURNS

A difficult comeback to the basketball team from which he had been expelled for showy playing marks Les Beach's senior year at Raisner High. As a boy from the wrong side of town with a persecution complex grown all out of proportion, Les is only too ready to think everyone is against him- to the point where he takes it for granted that the team will think him guilty of a theft. It takes pep talk, consequently, from the people who are concerned about Les- his sincere if shiftless father, Dr. Merrill, the team physician, his daughter Judy, and Coach Raines- before the boy begins to realize people are human. The process is dragged out, and a spat with town gamblers seems pasted on rather than built into the narrative but it is good basketball, with a deeper emotional content than most sports books.