On the Devil's Court

On the Devil’s Court is a novel aimed at teenage boys that follows 17-year-old Joe Faust through the basketball season of his senior year. Written by Carl Deuker, the book was originally published in 1988 and has remained a popular print title for more than 30 years. On the Devil’s Court was the first of three young adult sports novels by Deuker to be included among the Authors League of America Best Books for Young Adults and Best Book for Reluctant Readers. The novel was named South Carolina Young Adult Book of the Year in 1992.

Plot Summary

In the summer before his senior year of high school, only child Joe Faust moves with his parents from Boston, Massachusetts, to Seattle, Washington. His father, Dr. Joseph Faust Sr., is a driven, brilliant geneticist who accepts a position at the University of Washington. Joe’s mother, Ella Frank Faust, is a well-known artist who makes clay sculptures of naked male models. Joe, whose great passion is baseball, assumes he will be stuck in another private school, but he believes his basketball talent will only be actualized if he plays on a public high school team.

The Fausts move into a house near Loyal High School. At the basketball court there, he meets Ross, an outgoing, flashy, and talented player who sets the stage for everything the group does. Ross is also a troublemaker. He asks Joe to accompany him one evening to a golf course from which Ross has just been fired. They sneak onto the grounds, and Ross sprays graffiti while Joe watches in astonishment. They narrowly avoid getting caught.

Joe wants to attend Loyal High in the fall, while his parents want him to attend Eastside, a private school. An emotional struggle ensues between Joe and his parents over which school he will attend. When Joe stands up to his parents, they decide to let him choose his school. Euphorically, he says he will attend Loyal. However, when Ross invites Joe to attend an unchaperoned end-of-summer party at his home, Joe gets intoxicated and rides home in a police car. The next day his parents forbid him from seeing Ross again and inform him he must attend Eastside.

At Eastside, Joe acquires an immediate dislike for Coach Raible, the gym teacher and basketball coach. His English teacher, meanwhile, assigns Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus, the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil to achieve what he most wanted. Coming home from school one afternoon, Joe sees a great media presence in front of his house. A tabloid reporter tells him his father has won the prestigious Albert Lasker Award, then entraps him into saying a number of unkind things about his father. When her story appears in the tabloid, the article makes Joe’s father appear to be uncaring and unchristian and makes his mother appear to be a pervert. Though his parents’ responses are measured, Joe’s father is particularly confused and hurt.

As basketball season approaches, Joe has serious doubts about his abilities. He cannot impress Raible, who wants to put Joe on the junior varsity team. Joe discovers an abandoned gymnasium, the Ballard Boys and Girls Club. He begins to sneak in each day and practice his skills alone, resulting in better practices at Eastside. One misty, shadowy evening in the secret gym, Joe feels saturated with basketball prowess. He sinks basket after basket, with the ball bouncing right back to him. He verbalizes an offer: He will sell his soul to the devil for one perfect season of basketball. Leaving the gym, he faces down four boys in a fight and easily overcomes them.

Things begin to fall into place for Joe. An injury forces one of the starting players out for the season, elevating Joe to the varsity team. In the first game, Joe enters late in the contest and wins the game with a shot at the buzzer. Elevated to the starting team, Joe begins to set scoring records, with a string of 30-point games. He wonders if he actually sold his soul and, if so, whether he will be able to repent and clear the slate. After winning a Christmas basketball tournament, Joe feels certain he is receiving supernatural assistance.

Joe’s good fortunes intensify after Christmas. He does amazingly well on his semester finals. Joe is made point guard, a position that effectively gives him control of the team on the court. They continue their undefeated play. He takes the SAT exams and finishes an hour ahead of the time limit. After taking the SATs, he goes home to see his father being loaded into an ambulance, having had a heart attack. His father remains hospitalized for a couple of weeks. Joe wonders if this is part of the devil’s recompense. Joe is torn between not wanting to fail the team and not wanting to pay the devil his due.

After 22 straight wins, a scout coach from Eastern Washington University shows up at practice and offers Joe a scholarship. Joe and his mother keep news this from his father, who wants him to attend Stanford. Joe leads the team to two more wins, making a perfect season. After the game, Raible tells him his father has had another heart attack. Joe believes his father will die as the devil’s way of taking payment.

The heart attack turns out to be a false alarm. Though Eastside heads to the state tournament, Joe believes his basketball talents are gone. At the start of the first game of the tournament, Joe suffers a concussion. He is amazed to learn that his team won without him. Prohibited from playing in the second game, he sits beside the team on the bench and helps them see the game unfolding through his eyes, resulting in another win for Eastside. The final game for the state championship is against undefeated Loyal, led by Ross. The game is beset by two brawls and ongoing rough play. Joe calms down both teams and leads Eastside to a narrow victory.

His father acknowledges Joe’s scholarship to Eastern Washington and expresses that, when he was young, Joe’s grandfather tried to force him into a career not of his choosing. The two end up closely connected and able to speak calmly and honestly with each other.