Reviews of Red Zone by Mike Lupica

Red Zone

by Mike Lupica

Red Zone by Mike Lupica X
Red Zone by Mike Lupica
  • Critics' Opinion:

    Readers' Opinion:

  • First Published:
    Oct 2003, 352 pages

    Paperback:
    Oct 2004, 368 pages

    Genres

  • Rate this book


Buy This Book

About this Book

Book Summary

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....

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Booklist - Wes Lukowsky
Entertaining, funny, and most likely, another best-seller.

Library Journal - David Wright
The women are objects, the men are egos, the drinks and dollars flow freely, and the actual game of football hardly enters into it. Lupica fans will love it.

Publishers Weekly
In his highly entertaining 15th book, Lupica takes another turn as novelist

Kirkus Reviews
The famed sportswriter's blitz of one-liners sacks his latest football novel. It's not that the jokes are never funny; it's just that they so seldom stop.

Author Blurb Elmore Leonard
Red Zone is Lupica's funniest.... The dialogue alone is worth the price. You won't put it down.

Author Blurb Harlan Coben
Mike Lupica's latest is hilarious, gripping and surprisingly touching.

Author Blurb Phil Simms - CBS Sports
I'd thought Bump and Run was the funniest book on pro football I'd ever read until Red Zone.

Reader Reviews

Matt

An Excellent Book.
I thought that this was the best book I have ever read. It was very hilarious and suspenseful. Mike Lupica did an excellent job keeping you on the edge of your seat and making sure you stayed there. This book had an interesting blend of serious ...   Read More
Bob Barker

The book was awesome. His wit and parody of the NFL was hilarious. I can't wait for him to write more.
viet

it was exciting
Jason King

Absolutely Terrible book. Waste of money and time would not recommend to anyone!!!!!

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Red Zone, try these:

  • The Prophet jacket

    The Prophet

    by Michael Koryta

    Published 2013

    About this book

    More by this author

    Michael Koryta, long hailed as one of the best young thriller writers at work today, has written his greatest novel ever - an emotionally harrowing, unstoppably suspenseful novel that proves why Michael Connelly has named him "one of the best of the best."

  • Pagan Babies jacket

    Pagan Babies

    by Elmore Leonard

    Published 2002

    About this book

    More by this author

    Even with this tragic background of Rwanda Pagan Babies comes off as Leonard's funniest straight-faced novel to date.

We have 5 read-alikes for Red Zone, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Mike Lupica
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Become a Member

Join BookBrowse today to start discovering exceptional books!

Find out more


Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Salvage This World
    Salvage This World
    by Michael Farris Smith
    In the near-future universe of Michael Farris Smith's Salvage This World, life-threatening ...
  • Book Jacket: Where Coyotes Howl
    Where Coyotes Howl
    by Sandra Dallas
    Where Coyotes Howl may appear to be a classically conventional historical novel — a wide-eyed ...
  • Book Jacket: After the Miracle
    After the Miracle
    by Max Wallace
    Many people have heard one particular story about Helen Keller—how the saintly teacher, Annie ...
  • Book Jacket: The Lost Wife
    The Lost Wife
    by Susanna Moore
    The Lost Wife is a hard-hitting novella based in part on a white settler named Sarah Wakefield's ...

Book Club Discussion

Book Jacket
West with Giraffes
by Lynda Rutledge
A rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who won the hearts of Depression-era America.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pieces of Blue
    by Holly Goldberg Sloan

    A hilarious and heartfelt novel for fans of Maria Semple and Emma Straub.

Win This Book
Win Girlfriend on Mars

30 Copies to Give Away!

A funny and poignant debut novel that skewers billionaire-funded space travel in a love story of interplanetary proportions.

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

S I F A R Day

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.