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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Oct 2003, 352 pages
Paperback:
Oct 2004, 368 pages
A deliciously wicked tale of contemporary professional sports.
In Bump and Run, Jack Molloy, known as the "Jammer," inherited half of the legendary New York Hawks from his father, and through many bawdy, outrageous, twisting and twisted tribulations, maneuvered them to a Super Bowl championship. Molloy thinks he's a pretty smart guy. But sometimes smart guys outsmart themselves.
Molloy is taking a break abroad, letting his people manage things back home, when his siblings, "the devil twins," call to tell him they've sold their half to legendary businessman Big Dick Miles. When Molloy refuses to sell, too, Miles sweetens the pot: He'll buy half of Jack's half, Molloy can keep his hand in, everybody walks away happy. Partners . . . Oh, boy.
It doesn't take a month for Dick Miles to make George Steinbrenner look like Little Mary Sunshine and for Jack to realize just how big a mistake he's made. Flying back just in time to catch his departing general manager, he says, "I'm here to save Private Ryan."
"I saw that movie," the GM says. "Most of them died in the end."
And it looks like the same fate, metaphorically speaking, awaits Mr. Jack Molloy--the Jammer jammed good and proper. It is only when he enlists the help of old friends and new allies, taking one last stand, nose to nose, betting it all on one last play in the red zone . . . that things really begin to get interesting. Red Zone is Lupica's funniest, smartest, most surprising novel yet.
Chapter 1
Let's get something straight right from the start: Whoever said it was better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all can kiss my ass.
I assume it was one of those English poets deeper than Dr. Phil. Though it actually sounds lame enough to have come from some sports columnist trying to show everybody what a Real Writer he is. Or one of the guys doing the smirkfest that currently passes for sports broadcasting, where they can't seem to give you a goddamn score without throwing in a couple of rim shots first.
You know the drill: We just want to know if the Yankees beat the Red Sox, but they think it's open-mike night at the comedy club.
If I sound hot about my former friends in the media, maybe it's because they had so much fun at my expense after I did the whole love-and-lost deal with my football team, the New York Hawks. I wasn't the first to find out how fast it can turn around on you when you're not on top anymore, in sports or anything else....
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Published 2013
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by Elmore Leonard
Published 2002
Even with this tragic background of Rwanda Pagan Babies comes off as Leonard's funniest straight-faced novel to date.
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