Playing for Pizza - A Novel

Zusatztext “Delightfully comic . . . a deeply satisfying story.”— The Boston Globe   “Fans of John Grisham live for his legal thrillers! but now and then he serves up something unexpected. That’s exactly what he does! with great success! in Playing for Pizza .”— USA Today   “A light-hearted story of football! food and love.”— Richmond Times-Dispatch   “Enthralling.”— People Informationen zum Autor John Grisham Klappentext #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERRick Dockery is the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC Championship game, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually gets into the game. With a seventeen-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provides what is arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he becomes a national laughingstock-and is immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams.But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent find a team that needs him. Against enormous odds, Rick finally gets a job-as the starting quarterback for the Mighty Panthers . . . of Parma, Italy. The Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player-any former NFL player-at their helm. And now they've got Rick, who knows nothing about Parma (not even where it is) and doesn't speak a word of Italian. To say that Italy-the land of fine wines, extremely small cars, and football americano-holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement. Leseprobe Chapter One It was a hospital bed, that much appeared certain, though certainty was coming and going. It was narrow and hard and there were shiny metal railings standing sentrylike along the sides, preventing escape. The sheets were plain and very white. Sanitary. The room was dark, but sunlight was trying to creep around the blinds covering the window. He closed his eyes again; even that was painful. Then he opened them, and for a long silent minute or so he managed to keep the lids apart and focus on his cloudy little world. He was lying on his back and pinned down by firmly tucked sheets. He noticed a tube dangling to his left, running down to his hand, then disappearing up somewhere behind him. There was a voice in the distance, out in the hallway. Then he made the mistake of trying to move, just a slight adjustment of the head, and it didn't work. Hot bolts of pain hit his skull and neck and he groaned loudly. "Rick. Are you awake?" The voice was familiar, and quickly a face followed it. Arnie was breathing on him. "Arnie?" he said with a weak, scratchy voice, then he swallowed. "It's me, Rick, thank God you're awake." Arnie the agent, always there at the important moments. "Where am I, Arnie?" "You're in the hospital, Rick." "Got that. But why?" "When did you wake up?" Arnie found a switch, and a light came on beside the bed. "I don't know. A few minutes ago." "How do you feel?" "Like someone crushed my skull." "Close. You're gonna be fine, trust me." Trust me, trust me. How many times had he heard Arnie ask for trust? Truth was, he'd never completely trusted Arnie and there was no plausible reason to start now. What did Arnie know about traumatic head injuries or whatever mortal wound someone had inflicted? Rick closed his eyes again and breathed deeply. "What happened?" he asked softly. Arnie hesitated and ran a hand over his hairless head. He glanced at his watch, 4:00 p.m., so his client had been knocked out for almost twenty-four hours. Not long enough, he thought, sadly. "What's the last thing you remember?" Arnie asked as he carefully put both elbows on the bed's railing and leaned forward. After a pause, Rick managed to say, "I remember Bannister coming at me." Arnie smacked his lips and said...

Product details

• Authors: John Grisham
• Publisher: Anchor Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 31.01.2012
• EAN: 9780345532053
• ISBN: 978-0-345-53205-3
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 106 mm x 191 mm x 19 mm
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature