content: I am sorry to say that this book did not live up to my expectations by any means. If you are not a running fanatic, don't even bother--the fact that I am got me through this book. The quality of the writing was sadly rather lacking--I couldn't help but notice a plethora of grammatical errors that were really fatal to the book. The story was unbelievable and campy. There is a place in literature for stories about the down-and-out, but this is ridiculous. I've never seen a character so down on his luck as Jesse in this book. I was excited as the next runner when this came out, but after reading it I would suggest sticking with "Once a Runner" and "The Olympian."