Outlaws

A former pro-football player delivers a high-scoring thriller about a pro-football player for the Texas Outlaws who, through the intrigues of his beautiful wife, becomes the target of a ring of ruthless international arms dealers.

A football star on trial in a sensational murder case; a female attorney distracted by a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband; bloody evidence, sex and violence?the similarities between the plot of this third novel from former Atlanta Falcon defensive end Green (Titans), who's now an NFL color analyst for Fox-TV, and a certain ongoing trial in L.A. seem made in publishing heaven. The trouble is, there's almost too much going on here. Cody Grey, defensive standout for the Texas Outlaws, is nearing the end of his career and ruining his body and psyche with painkillers in a desperate effort to hang on to his playing days as well as to his lovely but unfaithful wife, Jenny. Meanwhile, Jenny's new lover, the cold-blooded rogue CIA agent Striker, is selling nuclear-grade plutonium to shadowy Middle East figures?and he's using Jenny as his willing accomplice. Her involvement with Striker eventually leads to Cody being accused of murdering a mean-spirited IRS agent, and to his being defended in a grand courtroom drama by the brilliant Madison McCall. Green is a solid storyteller. His depiction of NFL football, Texas style, will remind readers of Peter Gent's early novels; despite a penchant for telegraphing, he manages to tie his myriad plot threads into a neat bundle by novel's end. While too busy, this is an enjoyable read, tailor-made for those who can't get enough of allegedly homicidal sports figures and their sensational lives.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Former Atlanta Falcons player Green, now a TV color analyst, has taken a stab at football-themed thrillers twice before (Titans, 1994, etc.), with tepid results; this time, he tosses a killing-machine CIA operative into the less-than-gripping mix. Striker is his name and selling arms to the highest bidder, under CIA sanction, is his game. But matters have gone sour for the Texas-based cowboy-style James Bond: A shakeup at The Company has put unwanted tails on his efforts to pull off one big score that will allow him to start a new life. In the process of enticing a bitter US general into stealing some weapons-grade plutonium, Striker realizes that he needs an accomplice. He finds her in the eyeball-popping form of his latest chippie, the gold-digging wife of a has-been NFL free safety, Cody Grey of the Austin Outlaws. Jenny Grey, in between athletic sessions of sackplay with Striker, undergoes a transformation from vapid social-climber to calculating cohort in crime. Meanwhile, thanks to Striker's ``cleanup'' work around town--the murder of two teenagers and the killing of an IRS man who'd been carrying on a vendetta against Cody and Jenny--Cody finds himself the one facing a homicide charge. After this frameup by Striker, Cody's only hope is pretty Madison McCall, a hotshot D.A. with a history of trouble with pro jocks. For help, Madison has a low-key tax lawyer, along with an intrepid forensic pathologist. Not surprisingly, Cody and Madison end up in bed, and the lady lawyer begins to make connections between Striker and the murders. Striker stays on top, however, almost until the bloody end. It all reads like a soup of recent thriller plots, with light references to the O.J. trial spread throughout. In place of an alluring central character, there's a sadistic cipher; and instead of an agile plot, a compensatory tangle of awkward subplots. (First printing of 100,000; $100,000 ad/promo; author satellite tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

It's first down and goal-to-go for Green, former lineman for football's Atlanta Falcons, who, with the popular suspense novel Ruffians (LJ 9/15/93), proved that all jocks ain't dumb. In his latest, a star player is accused of murder.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Cody Grey is an aging free safety for the Austin-based Texas Outlaws of the National Football League. His knee is shot, and his marriage to high-school sweetie Jennifer is fading faster than his earning potential. Jenny, for her part, has become the mistress of CIA renegade Striker, who's scheming to sell enough weapons-grade plutonium to set himself and Jenny up for life. There's also a parallel plot line centered on attorney Madison McCall, who was married to Joe Thurwood, a onetime teammate of Cody's who's now a violent drug addict seeking visitation rights to his young son. When bodies start accumulating, the law settles on Cody as the perpetrator. Green, the author of two previous thrillers, is a former NFL player, a lawyer, and a commentator for Fox Television's NFL broadcasts. Green is no literary stylist, but he gets his football and legal details right, he creates a complex plot and peoples it with full-bodied characters, and he deftly ties it all together in one exciting package. Great entertainment. Wes Lukowsky