New York Times bestselling sportswriter John Feinstein dives headfirst into a scandal of Olympic proportions in this exciting sports mystery.   Teen sports reporter Susan Carol is competing as a swimmer at her first-ever Olympic games. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and her best friend Stevie is both amazed and envious. Usually they cover sporting events together, now he’s covering her. But Stevie can’t shake the feeling that something’s not right. Everyone wants a piece of Susan Carol’s success—agents, sponsors, the media. Just how far will they go to ensure that America’s newest Olympic darling wins gold?   John Feinstein has been praised as “the best writer of sports books in America today” ( The Boston Globe ), and he proves it again in this fast-paced novel. Booklist , May 1, 2012: "As in his earlier books in the series, the popular Feinstein takes readers inside a major sports venue, supplies fascinating details, and serves up a satisfying mystery." Kirkus Reviews , April 1, 2012: "As is his wont, Feinstein salts the cast with real athletes and other figures from Michael Phelps to Bob Costas. He folds plenty of dramatic sports action as well as behind-the-scenes banter and personal and family conflict into a plot that moves smoothly to a suspenseful climax...A fast-paced caper." JOHN FEINSTEIN is the author of many bestselling books, including A Season on the Brink and A Good Walk Spoiled . His books for young readers offer a winning combination of sports, action, and intrigue, with Last Shot receiving the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best young adult mystery of the year. He lives in Potomac, Maryland, and Shelter Island, New York, with his family. 1: THE MAKING OF A CHAMPION From somewhere off in the distance, Susan Carol Anderson thought she heard her father’s voice, which wasn’t possible because her head was underwater and she was searching for one last spark of energy to close the ten-meter gap between her and the wall. And yet, even though she knew she couldn’t possibly hear his voice this clearly, there it was again. “Susan Carol, sweetheart; are you listening?” She was in lane six in a swimming pool in Shanghai, China, and yet she kept hearing her dad’s voice, almost as if they were back home in Goldsboro, North Carolina, sitting in their living room. “Susan Carol, snap out of it.” That’s when it hit her. She was sitting in her living room in Goldsboro. Shanghai was thousands of miles away and nine months in her past. She had drifted off into her own safe little world in the pool while her dad was talking to the three people seated across from her. And now her father was looking at her expectantly, which was a problem since she had no idea what he was expecting. Finally, the man seated directly across from her, whose name she remembered was Jeffrey Paul Scott--“call me J.P.,” he had said, walking in the door--gave her a clue. “You don’t have to decide anything now, Susan Carol,” he was saying in a soothing voice. “We just want you and your dad to have an idea of where this could all go. We aren’t in the business of trying to pitch fantasies; we try to tell people what to expect realistically. In your case, the sky’s the limit, but even if you don’t hit the sky, the bar is pretty high.” Susan Carol nodded because that felt like it was the right thing to do. She looked back at the coffee table and all the brightly colored folders that J.P. and his two partners--William Arnold (she was to call him Bill) and Susie McArthur--had laid out in front of them. One was labeled Swimming Sponsors, another said Beauty Sponsors, a third said Teen Sponsors, and a fourth said modestly How Lightning Fast Will Make Susan Carol Anderson a Star. Maybe it was that one that had sent her spinning back in time to that amazing week in Shanghai last summer. She had gone to China hoping to swim the meet of her life. She never dreamed that succeeding would completely change her life. Her father was talking again. “Susan Carol, I think J.P., Bill, and Susie understand that this is a lot for a fifteen-year-old to digest in one evening,” he said. “Actually, it’s a lot for a forty-six-year-old to digest in one evening.” As if on cue, J.P., Bill, and Susie laughed as though her father was David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel rolled into one. “Your dad’s right,” Susie said. “All we really want to know is if any of this makes sense to you, and if not, what would make sense to you. Our job is to make sure you’re comfortable with all this.” In that case, Susan Carol thought, please take your folders, and let me go back to being a fifteen-year-old girl who loves to swim and loves to be a sportswriter. She thought of something one of her heroes, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, had said: “When you’re growing up, you train to be an athlete. Then you train to be a coach. But you never train to be a celebrity.” She hadn’t trained to be a celebrity and, having had brushes with it in the past, had no rea