The Red Zone

Rating:
Summary: Tim Green has gone to the well too often
Review: Green's football formula is becoming tired in mixing heinous crime and/or nefarious plots with star NFL players who get bailed out by defense attorney Madison McCall. Murder hits another NFL franchise in The Red Zone, this time involving the wealth to be had by relocating the team. Even less character development and plot complexity than Green's other fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Too much football
Review: Having enjoyed other novels by Green, I found this one to be subpar. While Green shows his football background knowledge, its use merely distracts rather than enhances this story. Luther Zorn is not a sympathetic character, and Green should be ashamed of how his book concludes. While there is a satisfaction in how the killer gets his revenge, Green seems to forget all the innocent people murdered, and he lets the villain come across as some kind of avenging angel, thereby negating what has come before.
Not a bad novel, but nothing to rave about.

Rating:
Summary: GREEN FUMBLES
Review: Having enjoyed other novels by Green, I found this one to be subpar. While Green shows his football background knowledge, its use merely distracts rather than enhances this story. Luther Zorn is not a sympathetic character, and Green should be ashamed of how his book concludes. While there is a satisfaction in how the killer gets his revenge, Green seems to forget all the innocent people murdered, and he lets the villain come across as some kind of avenging angel, thereby negating what has come before.
Not a bad novel, but nothing to rave about.

Rating:
Summary: Green Scores with a Formulaic Mystery Novel
Review: I picked up this book prior to a cross-country flight. I couldn't put it down and finished it in the hotel, the same day. While neither the plot nor the characters are believable (one wonders where Green comes up with the names), the book is entertaining, if nothing else. He keeps you guessing, but his over-reliance on foreshadowing can get annoying, as can his often unorthodox use of figurative language. I recommend it to anyone who wants an easy "Grisham-esque" read for pure fun, or to any die-hard football fans.

Rating:
Summary: Typical of the genre
Review: My brother's been raving about Tim Green for ages, so I picked this up. Green obviously has good insights on the NFL scene, but I found his characters too perfect and predictable (really, Tim, do you have to mention that Madison is beautiful in every other paragraph?), although the ending was decent. I've been told his earlier books are better, so I may read those. This one is okay, nothing more.

Rating:
Summary: Too much football
Review: Ok so I know that Tim Green was a former football player so it shouldn't surprise me that this book was filled with football "talk". I know this but I still thought he went into too much detail about football and strategies. Aside from the football description(s) the book was pretty good. The only thing I would have to say is that if you don't like gory, bloody crime scenes, then this is not the book for you. The story is about a famous football player that is accused of killing the owner of the team. He is made to look even more guilty because he is having an affair with the wife of the owner. As you read along, you will see that the "killer" is a deranged psychopath who gets his thrills by decapitating his victim. So if you don't mind a few graphic scenes then you will like the book because you are not really sure who is the bad guy until you are almost done with the book and even after the book is about to end, the author gives us a surprise twist.

Rating:
Summary: This is an entertaining book that could have been better.
Review: Once again, Tim Green uses his insight as a former NFL player to write a compelling novel! Just like his other 3 novels, Green uses his talent to write another edge of your seat thriller, I couldnt put it down!

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Summary: The story is true. The names have been changed to protect...
Review: the guilty. Sounds like the rest of the reviewers come from a literary background, not from sports. Otherwise they would recognize this story as coming straight from the headlines of a national sports disgrace.

This is a fictionalized account of the death of the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, who many people feel was murdered by his much younger Las Vegas showgirl wife. Georgia Frontiere, present owner of the St. Louis Rams, met Carroll Rosenbloom, then owner of the Baltimore Colts, while at the home of Joseph Kennedy. Yes, the same Kennedy who fathered John F., Bobby, and Ted Kennedy.

Eventually she made Carroll, some 20+ years her senior, her 6th husband. Segue a few years, and many more notorious tales. Rosenbloom swaps ownership with the then owner of the LA Rams. Carroll and Georgia move to California. Then in 1979, Carroll Rosenbloom mysteriously drowns while swimming in the ocean. A death that has been the subject of many probes, including one done by PBS' Frontline in 1983.

Green's big problem in trying to write his story is having too much information to draw upon from real life. Perhaps this is why The Red Zone is not up to Green's normal standards.

Some reviewers thought there were too many contrivances. I offer news headlines that are even more bizarre. For example, a missing Super Bowl Trophy that the NFL had to replace (Many people reported seeing that same trophy in Rosenbloom's Bel-Air mansion).

Does that seem too contrived? Well, remember the way Carroll Rosenbloom died, a mysterious drowning? There were several witnesses who reported seeing one or more people come out of the water wearing wet-suits. Or, how about the 10,000 1980 Super Bowl tickets that came up missing, and husband #7 doing time for ticket counterfeiting income tax evasion. Or better yet, what was the involvement between the Los Angeles Rams, $20 million dollars in counterfeit money, a professional wrestler/hitman and organized crime.

To those who were football fans during the 60's and 70's it is easy to recognize this storyline. I could bore you with more, however a simple search on the Internet will substantiate this, and much more. (What ex-football player, now actor, was giving Georgia a "massage", causing her to be more than an hour late to her just deceased husbands memorial service.)

They say life imitates art, and art imitates life. However, life is much more interesting than art. Bottom line, if you like interesting fiction, this is OK. However if you want an even more fascinating story, check out the real story behind this story.

Rating:
Summary: This is an entertaining book that could have been better.
Review: Tim Green gives his readers a fascinating insight into the world of professional football. His style of writing is entertaining and easy to read. However it is a bit too easy to read. The characters and the plot are a bit underdeveloped. An example of this is the contrived and very predictable death of the character Julie Terracola. As a writer Tim Green has talent but it is a talent that is as raw and underdeveloped as parts of this story. I hope that he will not sit back on his laurels as a handsome ex-pro footbal player and be content to continue writing literary fluff such as The Red Zone. To do so would be unfair to his readers and to himself.