The Team: A Novel - Hardcover

In college, Gwen Fagen was brutally raped by Terry Stuart, a school basketball player. He was a member of the media-billed "The Team" and went on to a career in the NBA .An engrossing debut novel that will surely put Perkins on the "black authors" A-list.--Booklist" Despite the recurring nightmares, Gwen Fagan thought she had moved beyond a brutal rape from ten years ago when Terry Stuart, her college's basketball star, attacked her. She had switched schools, become a successful professional, moved to Atlanta and kept the rape a secret. But when her new colleague turns out to be the rapist's old teammate and pal, Fagan finds herself involved in a relationship that rips open old psychological wounds, especially when Stuart resurfaces with the NBA. As we are approaching a Kobe Bryant summer trial, this novel about athletes and sexual violence is eerily prescient.--Chicago Tribune" A decade after being raped by a college hoops star, smart, embittered black CPA Gwen Fagan is trying to maintain a quiet life a sort of 'take no prisoners and leave no evidence' approach to work and love alike . But Gwen's cool facade is shattered when Xavier Dean, a handsome ex-basketball player and the former teammate of her rapist, Terry Stuart, joins her firm . when the two are paired together on a project, Xavier's charm whittles away at her reluctance, and a hot-and-heavy romance develops. Perkins excels at showing her character's weaknesses [her] ability to ping-pong between Gwen's love for Xavier and her fear of men is intriguing, as is her well-developed supporting cast.--Publishers Weekly" Dawson Perkins has a cinematic eye and a true gift for dialogue that demands not just to be read, but devoured. The Team is smart, strong, and unforgettable, and Perkins is carving out a new literary space in which the voices of Black women resonate.--Jill Nelson An engaging romance about buppies slowly confronting and ultimately healing the scars of a violent, sexually irresponsible past. Within days of blowing into Atlanta, faded, coke-snorting basketball star Terry Stuart is dead. Did Gwen Fagan, an accountant specializing in merger acquisitions who also practices karate and packs a pistol, kill the man who viciously raped her when she was in college ten years ago? Moving, funny, and warm: executive-level African-American chick lit in which love helps put the past to rest.--Kirkus Reviews

"An engrossing debut novel that will surely put Perkins on the "black authors" A-list." --Booklist In The Team, Dawson Perkins tells the story of a successful young African American professional who has sealed away the trauma of being raped, at 19, by the future NBA star who led her college's basketball team. But when one of her rapist's teammates joins her company-and the two find themselves mutually attracted-she must come to grips with the demons of her past all over again. A smart, propulsive, indelible debut."