Red Zone [Hardcover]

Mike Lupica (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2003

A deliciously wicked tale of contemporary professional sports.

In Bump and Run, Jack Molloy, known as the "Jammer," in-herited 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 cham-pionship. 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his highly entertaining 15th book, Lupica, the syndicated New York Daily News sports columnist and ESPN commentator, takes another turn as novelist, revisiting his hell-for-leather protagonist, Jack "The Jammer" Molloy, the wisecracking, hard-boozing, womanizing owner of the NFL's New York Hawks. As this sequel to Bump and Run begins, Molloy turns the team over to his evil twin siblings, Ken and Babs, and takes off for Europe with the love of his life, Annie Kay, an up-and-coming TV sports anchor. After Annie heads back to her job in New York, Molloy is living the high life in London when the twins inform him that they have sold their half of the Hawks to the infamous megalomaniacal entrepreneur, Dick Miles, for a cool half-billion. When Miles offers to buy half of Molloy's half and let him stay on as team president for a year, Molloy-against the advice of mentor Billy Grace and Annie Kay-decides to take the deal. Within a month, Miles fires both the general manager and the coach Molloy handpicked to take them to the Super Bowl. Obviously, he not only intends to run the front office, but also plans to take a hand in coaching from the sidelines. When Miles brings in a TV commentator to coach and a psychopathic quarterback barely out of prison on work release, Molloy knows he's made the biggest fumble of his life. Metaphorically facing fourth-and-long in the red zone of NFL boardrooms, Molloy dusts off the old flea-flicker and goes for pay dirt.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Jack Molloy earned the name "The Jammer" from his days as a Vegas concierge, providing the wealthy with special treats as long as they were willing to pay the price. Then he inherited the NFL New York Hawks from his father and, as team president, guided them to the Super Bowl (Bump and Run, 2000). Now Jake has decided to sell a controlling interest in the Hawks to financier Big Dick Miles but to stay on as team president. Then Miles guts the franchise of its loyal management team, and Jack realizes that his position as president will be purely ornamental. That's when Jack the Jammer takes charge, attempting to wrest control from Big Dick by any extralegal means possible. Lupica writes soap-opera fantasies for men in which the money flows, the drinks are all call brands, the athletes are all cool dudes or psychos, and the hero's bedroom is filled with an endless succession of comely sideline reporters, indefatigable cheerleaders, and assorted civilian babes. Jammer starts rich and gets richer, fleeces the evil corporate financier, and ends up on the higher moral ground. Lupica propels the plot at breakneck speed with sitcom-like zingers, nifty Big Apple atmosphere, and an insider's knowledge of professional sports (he's a nationally syndicated sports columnist for New York's Daily News and a regular on ESPN's Sports Reporters). Entertaining, funny, and most likely, another best-seller. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1ST edition (October 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039915082X
• ISBN-13: 978-0399150821
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,322,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Lupica is one of the most prominent sports writers in America. His longevity at the top of his field is based on his experience and insider's knowledge, coupled with a provocative presentation that takes an uncompromising look at the tumultuous world of professional sports. Today he is a syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News, which includes his popular "Shooting from the Lip" column, which appears every Sunday. He began his newspaper career covering the New York Knicks for the New York Post at age 23. He became the youngest columnist ever at a New York paper with the New York Daily News, which he joined in 1977. For more than 30 years, Lupica has added magazines, novels, sports biographies, other non-fiction books on sports, as well as television to his professional resume. For the past fifteen years, he has been a TV anchor for ESPN's The Sports Reporters. He also hosted his own program, The Mike Lupica Show on ESPN2. In 1987, Lupica launched "The Sporting Life" column in Esquire magazine. He has published articles in other magazines, including Sport, World Tennis, Tennis, Golf Digest, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, ESPN: The Magazine, Men's Journal and Parade. He has received numerous honors, including the 2003 Jim Murray Award from the National Football Foundation. Mike Lupica co-wrote autobiographies with Reggie Jackson and Bill Parcells, collaborated with noted author and screenwriter, William Goldman on Wait Till Next Year, and wrote The Summer of '98, Mad as Hell: How Sports Got Away from the Fans and How We Get It Back and Shooting From the Lip, a collection of columns. In addition, he has written a number of novels, including Dead Air, Extra Credits, Limited Partner, Jump, Full Court Press, Red Zone, Too Far and national bestsellers Wild Pitch and Bump and Run. Dead Air was nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best First Mystery and became a CBS television move, "Money, Power, Murder" to which Lupica contributed the teleplay. Over the years he has been a regular on the CBS Morning News, Good Morning America and The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour. On the radio, he has made frequent appearances on Imus in the Morning since the early 1980s. His previous young adult novels, Travel Team, Heat, Miracle on 49th Street, and the summer hit for 2007, Summer Ball, have shot up the New York Times bestseller list. Lupica is also what he describes as a "serial Little League coach," a youth basketball coach, and a soccer coach for his four children, three sons and a daughter. He and his family live in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best $25 I've ever spent, September 20, 2006

By 

The Real Review (Everywhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Zone (Hardcover)

Everyone has done something that they subconsciously know they will regret later. Well, in Mike Lupica's Redzone, Jack Molloy knows that feeling intimately. He has recently sold half of the shares he owns in his family's football team to a self-righteous entrepreneur. With the sell having a negative effect on him in every aspect of his life he commits himself to obtaining his previously owned shares. With that plot the book goes from Las Vegas to the beaches of Florida and contains money, women, scandal and even a mob boss or two to turn it into a great book that you will be unable to put down after the first page. But this book isn't only just a great read it also shows you to always fight for something you want, and that even when all seems lost you can come out victorious. Overall this has been one of the most enjoyable books I have ever read and one of the best $25 I have ever spent.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good, one of Lupica's bests!, February 1, 2005

By 

Bryan "Bryan" (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Zone (Hardcover)

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!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Read, December 12, 2004

By 

Thi Nguyen (boston, ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Red Zone (Hardcover)

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.