Written by John Grisham, published in 2022. Summary and review.
So on a whim, I decided to read a John Grisham book. Is this his best book? I doubt it (and that has nothing to do with how good the book was, as I quite enjoyed it). Only meaning he’s written about 734,334,888 books in his career, and I just happened to snag one of his most recent releases. I did zero research on this book or any of his other before diving in. And frankly, I’m glad I did.
The Boys from Biloxi was a highly enjoyable read. Perhaps given the majority of my reads are in the fantasy genre, it’s nice having a story based in reality with familiar names, locations, jobs, topics, and scenarios. Though the scenarios in this book I can’t say are “familiar” as it revolves around, primarily, illicit activities, crime rings, underground gambling and prostitution, hitmen and more.
It’s apparent in this book that Grisham leverages his own personal experiences as both a lawyer and member of the Mississippi House of Representatives. The Boys from Biloxi centers around two families – the Rudy and Malco families. And while I assumed this book would feature the “boys”, that is the kids of the family that grow up together only to be set on opposing sides of the law, we get a lot more story with the adult “boys”, the parents who also are set on opposing sides of the law. The Rudy’s on the district attorney/prosecution side and the Malco’s on crime end of things.
I really liked how in this book, the deeper we get into the story, the deeper the story goes. Maybe that’s a dumb thing to say, but it felt fairly simple and linear at the beginning, but the layers and complexity and the dynamic between the families (and many 3rd party players) quickly gets exponentially more interesting as we progress.
The first half is essentially Jesse Rudy vs. Lance Malco, then in the latter half we have a turning of the guard and the boyhood friends of Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco go from baseball teammates to mortal enemies. Good vs. Evil.
Oddly, this story had me mostly rooting for the bad guys until they cross and line that was not meant to be crossed.
It’s apparent Grisham is popular for a reason. This was a great read, with plenty of layers, and a lot of legal nuance (without getting too in the weeds of legal mumbo jumbo).
TLDR: The Boys from Biloxi is a solid read, complete with crime lords and the tough lawmen hunting them down at every corner. Drugs, gambling, underground boxing, prostitution, murder, bombing… this book has it all and with a fun super southern flair to it. Would Recommend. 4/5 Stars.
