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 is the author of numerous #1 bestsellers, including The Firm, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Innocent Man, The Whistler, The Boys from Biloxi, and many more. His books have been translated into nearly fifty languages. Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system. He lives on a farm in central Virginia. 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 complet...

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