The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin was published in 2005. Her 17th book, it won The Foreword Book of the Year Gold Medal for Young Adult Fiction and the VOYA Top Shelf Fiction Award. It was also a Bank Street College Teen Selection in 2006. In it, high school basketball player Brian Hammet works on a history project about the trial of Leo Frank. This historical event mirrors the current trial of Michael Daine, who is charged with murdering his family, including his daughter—Brian’s girlfriend, Amanda. As he learns more about these parallel events and navigates conflicts with friends and family, Brian learns that there is a difference between being honest and being loyal. Alphin is known for writing young adult fiction that grapples with challenging themes and topics such as racism, injustice, abuse, and murder. In 2010, Alphin published a book about the 1913 trial of Leo Frank, the real murder case that features prominently in The Perfect Shot.

This guide is based on the 2005 Carolrhoda Books hardback edition of the book.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain discussions of racism, murder, and anti-gay bias.

Plot Summary

Brian Hammet is a typical teenager in Willisford, Indiana, who loves two things: basketball and his girlfriend, Amanda Daine. All of this changes when Amanda, her mother, and her younger brother are shot and killed one summer evening. Brian struggles in the aftermath; his grades suffer and he uses basketball to cope. Amanda’s father, Michael Daine, is a police officer and the primary suspect. Brian remembers very little from the night of the murders, but he does remember seeing a stranger wearing a gray jogging suit while he was playing basketball that day. He does not think this is important until investigators report that some gray fibers were found at the murder scene. Brian reports this detail and tries to move on.

When school starts again in the fall, Brian’s history teacher, Mr. Fortner, tells his class that history can repeat itself if people don’t recognize patterns and stand up for what is right. He assigns a research project where students must connect a historical event with the present. Brian is paired with Todd, a quiet but smart misfit who wears all black. The basketball team always bullied Todd, shoving him into lockers when he was smaller, but Brian remembers that Amanda was always kind to him and tries his best to work with him. Their subject is the case of Leo Frank, who was wrongly accused of murder and ended up being lynched by an angry mob. Brian considers the similarities with the ongoing trial of Michael Daine, whom Brian does not believe killed his family.

Brian is also facing pressure from his father to be a superstar on the basketball court. Brian is the team captain, but his friend, Julius, is the real star. His teammates are struggling with their history projects and getting along with their partners. Brian suggests that they all help each other with their projects. In turn, they act in the film project that he and Todd make about the Leo Frank case.

Brian seems to have things under control for a week or two, but when Julius gets arrested for making a wrong turn in the city, conflict arises. Julius calls Brian, hoping that he and his dad will pick him up from jail, but Brian’s dad doesn’t want to get involved. Brian follows his instinct and helps Julius. He asks Todd, whose brother Warren is a lawyer, for help. Todd, Warren, and Brian pick up Julius from prison, and Warren threatens the officers with lawsuits for the way Julius’s arrest was handled. Julius is not happy that Todd and Warren are involved, and he later tells Brian about his traumatizing experience at the police station.

After that night, Julius acts differently on the court and off. Because the police targeted him as a young Black man, he begins to believe that he can’t trust white people, including his teammates. He has volatile outbursts with Mr. Fortner and his team. Brian explains to several teammates about what happened with the police, hoping that it will help them be empathetic toward Julius. When the information spreads, Julius is angry with Brian for telling others.

As the team prepares for the game against their biggest rival, Jackson, Brian considers going to court and telling someone about the jogger he saw the day of the murders. With Todd’s encouragement, he talks to the defense attorney, but he brushes him off. A reporter offers to listen to his story, but when Brian goes to the restroom, someone in the stall next to him threatens him if he talks to the press. Brian recognizes the voice but cannot place it, and he decides not to talk to the reporter. Todd is angry because he believes speaking out is the only right choice. Brian is overwhelmed and frustrated that no choice seems completely right or wrong.

When the team plays Jackson, Brian and his team are disconnected. Each plays for themselves rather than as a team, and they are far behind at halftime. Brian gives them a pep talk, encouraging them to rely on each other’s strengths the way they used to. He gets through to them, and as they rush back onto the court with new energy, Brian also decides that he will go to the press. During the game, he is distracted briefly by a police officer who seems to ignore him when he chases after a basketball that nearly hits him, but he forgets about it to focus on playing. The team beats Jackson with an exciting last shot, and the whole town celebrates. Todd, Mr. Fortner, and other members of the community have shown up to support them. The team gives Brian the game ball, and he proudly takes it home.

Later that night, Brian finds the number for the reporter, Natalie Hart, and leaves a message telling her all about the jogger. After he does so, he hears a noise outside that puts him on high alert. Listening closely, he hears someone pick the lock on the door and open it. He creeps to the top of the stairs and, trusting himself to make the perfect shot, throws his game-winning basketball straight into the intruder’s face, knocking him back and breaking his nose. The crash wakes up Brian’s parents, and his mother calls the police. His dad joins him with his shotgun. Brian gets the intruder’s gun, but he has another. With all three men armed, the standoff ends when Brian shoots the intruder in the head, but not before he shoots Brian first. They realize that the intruder is Officer Recks—the officer Brian noticed at the basketball game. It turns out he was working with a drug ring that Mr. Daine disrupted. Recks killed Daine’s family and framed him for it as retribution. Brian has a hard time coming to terms with killing a person, but he knows that the alternative was him and his family being killed.

When Brian recovers, he starts to rethink his future plans. He goes to Amanda’s grave and finds Mr. Daine is already there. They talk about the series of events, and Mr. Daine leaves Brian alone to talk to Amanda. He tells her that Mr. Fortner has inspired him to become a history teacher, and he also wants to coach basketball. He recognizes the impact that his history class has had on him, and he wants to be a trustworthy person to guide students and athletes through the challenging years of adolescence. Brian also asks his father to consider going back to the job he loved—building guitars. Brian wants him to feel fulfilled again. Mr. Hammet agrees to talk it over with Brian’s mom, and the novel ends with a sense of hope. Everyone has learned and grown from their experiences and is moving in a positive direction.