Sudden Death

Rating:
Summary: Andy Warhol was right ...
Review: ... everyone eventually enjoys their 15 minutes of fame -- or infamy, in the case of football star (but not hero) Dash Carter, one of the main characters in Dennis Murray's "Sudden Death." As a former sportswriter, Murray gives an incisive account of how the appalling behavior of pro athletes and their "entourages" force those who depend on their performance on the field -- from owners to coaches to the guys and gals in the ticket office -- to sort through agonizing conflicts of interest. And his ending, while shocking, is actually all-too-predictable (in a good way) if you have any knowledge of European and South American sports.

Rating:
Summary: A hidden treasure
Review: This book can only be found here, that fact alone shocks me!

My wife gave this book to me for Christmas. She stumbled accross it while searching for Lupica's new football book. Being a big sports fiction reader I was a little annoyed that my wife handed me something that; a-I never heard of the book and b-I've never heard of the author. I mean, I'm the expert! She makes her football picks based on who has the prettiest uniform(that technique, by the way, has made her some nice pocket change ;-)).

Well Mr. Murray is an extremely enjoyable read. His characters act like real people, all of them; the fans, the front office personal and of course, the athletes. The landscape, also, is well developed and the pace of the book flies at you. I was going to give it 4 stars because I wasn't sure how believable the ending was. But, that made me think about how very believable and enjoyable the book actually was. And after what has happened over the last couple of years: The ending may still be a little out there for some, others, like myself see it more as a something that will eventually happen.

Grab it and devour it!

Rating:
Summary: A hidden treasure
Review: This book can only be found here, that fact alone shocks me!

My wife gave this book to me for Christmas. She stumbled accross it while searching for Lupica's new football book. Being a big sports fiction reader I was a little annoyed that my wife handed me something that; a-I never heard of the book and b-I've never heard of the author. I mean, I'm the expert! She makes her football picks based on who has the prettiest uniform(that technique, by the way, has made her some nice pocket change ;-)).

Well Mr. Murray is an extremely enjoyable read. His characters act like real people, all of them; the fans, the front office personal and of course, the athletes. The landscape, also, is well developed and the pace of the book flies at you. I was going to give it 4 stars because I wasn't sure how believable the ending was. But, that made me think about how very believable and enjoyable the book actually was. And after what has happened over the last couple of years: The ending may still be a little out there for some, others, like myself see it more as a something that will eventually happen.

Grab it and devour it!

Rating:
Summary: It's not just a sports book
Review: While the details and flavor of the sports element of the book were excellent, DM has that dead on, what kept me glued to the book (it's very hard to put down) was the way he developed the different story lines and continually kept you on edge with where they were going. Very enjoyable.

Additionally, the plot elements weren't the same as most works that have a sports theme - which tend to be extremely predictable. DM continually surprised you and kept you guessing what was going to happen next.

One of the other reviewers questioned the ending. My first reaction was simply "wow", but then as I thought about it, the ending really fit - don't cheat and skip to the end, you'll kick yourself. The buildup makes the end even better.

I also agree with the other reviews on DM's character development, they were believable (which is so refreshing) and interesting - everyone seems to have their own "hero" after reading the book - the one character they were either rooting for or most interested in following.

A great read.