In the winter of 1990, I was on a train from Chicago to Spokane when I finished reading A TIME TO KILL by John Grisham. Since then, I’ve read many of his books, but none has struck me as powerfully as his first, until now.
THE BOYS FROM BILOXI isn’t typical Grisham. It will be rightly called a legal thriller, but the tone is entirely different. It is a story of families, of American history, of friendships, and of the soul of humanity. It will be a bestseller, but I’m not sure every Grisham fan will love it, simply because it is such a departure. It forces the reader to be honest with themselves, as only the most extraordinary books can.
The book starts as historical fiction, with a fascinating delve into how Biloxi, Mississippi grew and the culture there evolved. It’s not a typical Grisham start, and the book is all the better for it, because it provides a foundation to the human story that gives it tremendous depth.
So what’s the book about? That will depend on the reader. It’s about crime and punishment and the vast implications of both. It’s about wealth and poverty. It’s about the uneasy truce often reached between those tasked with enforcing the law and those who choose to break it. I could be more specific, but to do so would have to include spoilers, and I don’t want to go there.
And the last scene? It is one of the most masterful ever committed to paper.
