Red Zone

Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Read
Review: i picked up this book w/o having read the prequel, Bump & Run (or being aware that one even existed). the writing & dialogue were witty, and the plot was well adjusted. Jack Malloy isn't the most likeably character, but you find yourself rooting for him anyway even after he continuously makes a few mistakes. if you haven't read the first book, all the characters can be quite difficult to keep track of at first. honestly, i read the prequel afterwards and decided i really could have done without it - it was a plot too obvious and a bit harder to swallow. however, the Red Zone got intense, kept you on your toes and was in your face - the kinds of effect that a sport should have on you. the book had a Jerry MacGuire (the movie) and Playmakers (ESPN's football drama/soap opera) feel and i could definitely see a screenplay come outta of this for the big screen. the only complaint that i can think of is how Yum-Yum conveniently happened to be the solution/perk to save Jack's ass in practically every situation. i could give this 4.5stars but there's no option for halves, so i'm rounding up like they taught us back in basic math.

hey i'm a girl and i thorougly enjoyed this book. i would think sports fans would enjoy this a tad more since it deals with a gritty some times fantasized ideal of the inner workings, higher powers and corruption of any political, money-involving organization, and in this case, the National Football League.

it's a pit against the minds and wits of Jackass Malloy versus those who both love and hate him and the many who want to be him, including us readers. you may disagree with him and you may find him annoying and a bit arrogant, but he's the house and the house always wins.

Rating:
Summary: Good Plot but Mostly Lots of Laughs
Review: Jack Molloy inherited half of his deceased father's football team, while the other half went to his twin siblings,ken and babs. Ken and Babs sold their half to Dick Miles, a successful businessman. After much convincing,(a large amount of money) Molloy also sells his half,although his friends, employees, and even some of the football players warn him not to. Miles lets Molloy stay team president for a year before he takes full ownership, and malloy thinks that they will make great partners. When Molloy finally figures out that he was very wrong about Miles, he hardly has any control over the team and can't really fire him. Somehow the mafia enters this sports story. there's a twist in the ending(which i love.) This book is extremely funny, and the characters are great. This book is mainly about football, money, and greed. Even someone who doesn't like sports could enjoy this book. I recommend this book to Sports fans or people who like a witty comedy.

Rating:
Summary: Fatboys
Review: Jack Molloy inherits half of a NY football team from his deceased father, and the other half goes to his twin siblings, ken and Babs. After Jack Molloy finds out that his siblings sold their half to Dick Miles, a successful businessman, he decides to sell his half too. Jack Malloy's friends, employees, and even some of the football players warn him not to sell his half.Dick Miles lets Malloy stay as the team president for a year and Malloy thinks that they will make good partners. when Malloy finally realizes that selling the team was wrong,it's too late for him to take back the team. Somehow the mafia gets involved. There's a twist in the end that i love. This book is HILARIOUs and I love the characters in this book. This book is mainly about football,money, and greed, and might appeal to people who like a good realistic comedy, or sportsfans. Overall,this book has a good plot, but mostly it has lots of laughs.

Rating:
Summary: Hmmmm. It's my football . . .
Review: Jack Molloy's Dad, also known as simply "Molloy," begged, beat and bullied those around him to live his dream and build both a stadium and a team to rival the glory days of New York Football. It's a little bit of "Wake up the Echoes" and Sinatra singing "New Yawk, New Yawk." And then Molloy Sr. dies and Jack inheirits it all. The dynasty has begun . . . well, maybe not quite.

Jack goes off to London with the love of his life, Annie Kay, and spends months and months drinking, smoking and Annie Kaying. In a Hemmingwayesque funk, he forgets what is important to him. Annie Kay returns to New York to pursue her own life, living in wealthy abandon not as much fun as it was a few months earlier. And Jack stays on feeling sorry for himself when he is approached to sell his 1/2 interest in the team to Dick Miles, a Darth Vader-like hostile takeover investor.

There are some things that Mr. Lupica does that leave him head and shoulders above the rest. One is he writes great dialogue. Jack's conversations with his deceased Dad are priceless, rivalling Ken Bruen's Irish chraraters talking to the dead. And the conversations with his African American players, his deep, deep southern coach, and wealthy Yale colleagues are equally hilarious without appearing stilted.

And he tells a good tale. If there is a drawback it is that I felt unmotivated by the character of Jack Molloy, now and the first time around. Jack's like Stone Barrington of Stuart Woods fame; it's hard to identify with life's more mundane problems eg. girlfriend issues, if the speaker is a multi-millionaire. At least Barrington get's shot at; Jack spends a lot of time feeling sorry for himself.

Nevertheless, a good read that is both entertaining and funny. 4 Stars. Larry Scantlebury

Rating:
Summary: Great sequel, love writing style
Review: Mike Lupica has become one of my favorite authors of all time. His storylines and plots are just great, and everything comes together in the end. He keeps you waiting and wanting to continue reading, and then at the end it all pays off and he never leaves you hanging. Red Zone is no different. I dont want to give too much away that the "professional reviewers" already have, so i wont really tell about the story. Just know this: that its about Jack Molloy, the football owner of the New York Hawks, and his struggle as the owner basically. The thing that makes Lupica so great, and so readable, is how basic his writing style is. You dont hear something like "He angrily yelled" or "she obnoxiously said"...its he said she said. Very basic, but absolutely great. The ONLY thing that i dont always like with Lupica is that you cant go 2 chapters without a bar or strip club scene. But since most of his books are about sports, i dont think i can blame him, as a lot of professional atheletes probably do go to the bars and strip clubs. But anyways, Red Zone is a GREAT sequel to Bump and Run, and its definitely worth the read. Great book. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
p.s....also, if you like this one look into Travel Team, and Too Far...Those are his 2 newest books and they are just great.

Rating:
Summary: Very good, one of Lupica's bests!
Review: Mike Lupica has definitely grown on me. I have read 3 of his books now, and each one was progressively better i think. The reason, is because i got used to his writing style. At first, i did not like it too much as it was a bit confusing to follow, but then i definitely got used to it. What he does, is uses incomplete sentences to emphasize his point. Here is an example taken directly from Red Zone: "That was it. She never lied, about anything. Ever." He does this in all of his novels all the way through. But anyways, back to Red Zone. Red Zone is the sequel of Bump and Run, and you really should read that one before this. Lupica does catch you up with everything that happens in Bump and Run, its just easier to follow if you actualy read it. Red Zone is the story of Jack Molloy, known as the Jammer in Vegas, and his life as a football owner. His dad was the owner of the New York Hawks, and when he died he gave half the team to Jack and the other half to Jacks twin brother and sister. Their dad gave Jack the final decision making however, so he was techinally the "head owner" (this happened in Bump and Run). Jack steps in to run the team, some things happen but i wont tell you what happens in case you want to read bump and run and to make a long story short, he enjoys running the team. Red Zone starts in the offseason when Dick Miles, the classic rich guy who gets what he wants, asks to buy Jack's half of the team. The twins had already accepted Dicks offer to sell their share of the team, so Dick owned half of the team as it stood already. Jack refuses, and then Dick comes up with a better offer. He will buy half of Jacks half so then Jack will still be apart of the team. Dick will own 75% of the team, Jack the remainder. They will be partners according to Dick. But Jack soon regrets selling as Dick gives Jack no part in the team. Thats the basic starting point of the book. Lupica then throws the reader on all sorts of ups and downs. Sometimes you are pissed off when reading it, sometimes sad, happy, laughing...everything. Lupica created such a great story, that only a genious author could come up with and have it all tie in and make sense come the end of the book. Lupica has made himself into the master of writing hilarious sports novels. Several times while i was reading the book i found myself laughing out loud for minutes at a time. Lupica is great, the book is great, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Rating:
Summary: I'd rather be right than be a billionaire!
Review: Well. Maybe. Jack Molloy, who has the most endearing conversations with his deceased father since John Connolley and Ken Bruen (must be the Irish in Lupica), (re)falls in love with Annie Kay, moves to Europe, and spends a year in a Hemingwayesque funk. Cigarettes. Expensive booze. Drifting at a very high level. But . . .

Annie's got to move on with her life. What's a girl to do? So like the old Don McClean song, she 'takes the last train to the coast' where she becomes a network Sports Anchor and Jack remains, hungover. He realizes now, belatedly, how much he loves her but, he can't quite tell her how important she is to him. His team gets an "offer they can't refuse" from the evil and egomanical Dick Miles, and Jack tentatively accepts a buyout from Dick for 250 million dollars. Actually, this is a 1/4 of a billion over what he was worth to begin with, which was considerable.

The story is interesting and relentless. You won't want to put it down. Mr. Lupica knows sports, inside and out, and although the name dropping becomes tedious (does he really know all those people?) it does set a nice canvas upon which to paint his tale. Secondly, Mr. Lupica's dialogue gets better with each book and his conversations with African American players, goodoleboys from down south, and pretentious NFL Executives from 'Havahd' is as good as it gets.

The problem I have with the book is trying to get into the lifestyle of a billionaire and feel some empathy for him. I mean at a certain point, you want to say, "so what." So he loses the team. So he was a meathead. He deserves to lose the team. So he loses the girl. He ignored her. He deserves to lose the girl. He was an idiot. Now he's an idiot with millions and millions of dollars. Hard to picture him as "Rudy" trying to make the team.

If you get past that, great sports fix, funny, literate with gifted dialogue. Larry Scantlebury. 4 stars.