Playing for Pizza cover art

Playing for Pizza

A Novel

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free

$8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on July 15, 2026 at 11:59 PT.
More purchase options

Playing for Pizza

Written by: John Grisham
Narrated by: Christopher Evan Welch
Get this deal

$8.99/mo. after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends July 15, 2026 at 11:59pm PT.

Buy Now for $21.02

Buy Now for $21.02

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “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

After providing what is arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL, third-string quarterback Rick Dockery becomes a national laughingstock. Cut by the Cleveland Browns, and shunned by every other team, Rick insists that his agent find a team that does need him.

Against enormous odds, Rick lands 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. Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Sports Italy Game
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

What the critics say

“Enthralling.”—People

“This is a fish-out-of-water tale that perfectly suits Grisham’s strengths as a storyteller. . . . A feel-good story, a tale of maturing and finding your way in the world.”—USA Today

“Grisham at his best . . . a page-turner of a story.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Football in Italy? Who knew? Grisham means to have a sweet time with this story of a fallen NFL quarterback. And he does.”—New York Daily News

“A delightfully comic tale of redemption . . . deeply satisfying.”—The Boston Globe

“A winsome football fable, replete with team bonding and character-building . . . the result is a charming fish-out-of-water story.”—Publishers Weekly
All stars
Most Relevant
A fun and engaging story centered on football but also about life in Italy with travel, food and new friends. A joy to listen to!

An Engaging Sport Story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Playing for Pizza is a fun and refreshing adventure that showcases a very different side of John Grisham. Known for his legal thrillers, Grisham takes a detour to Italy and the world of American football with this charming, lighthearted story. It's fast-paced, funny, and full of heart. The setting and characters are vivid, and the cultural clash adds a great twist to the plot. It may be different from his usual work, but it’s equally as good in its own right. Highly recommend it to everyone—even if you’re not a football fan!

what a fun story 🍕

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great story. I would've liked the narrator to research how to pronounce the Canadian city of Regina, they sounded pretty ridiculous.

pronunciation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you enjoy football, you will love this. However there is a story line involved that kept me listening all night so I could know what happened. Yes there is a love story but it is not the main story.

It is also partly a tour of Italy which I enjoyed very much.

Playing for Pizza

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
About as disappointing as you can be about a book from an author who typically delivers up much, much better story

Brital

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.