In 1960, Biloxi, Mississippi - which has a large seafood industry - is populated largely with immigrants from Croatia, where residents had fished the Adriatic Sea for centuries.
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi Seafood Festival
Biloxi also has its share of more controversial businesses, and casinos and bars that promote drinking, gambling, and prostitution are prevalent and protected by police and politicians, who take their cut of the profits.
Casino in Biloxi
Regardless of what their parents do, most 12-year-old boys in Biloxi play youth baseball, and two all-stars, Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco, are third generation grandsons of Croatian immigrants. As baseball bigshots, Hugh and Keith are close friends, though their families are very different. Hugh's father, Lance Malco, is a gangster who owns bars, casinos and brothels; and Keith's father Jesse is an attorney on the right side of the law.
Youth Baseball
In the course of this multigenerational novel we follow the lives and careers of the Malco family, especially Lance and his son Hugh; and of the Rudy family, especially Jesse and his son Keith.
Lance Malco is a member of a criminal cohort nicknamed 'The Dixie Mafia', and Lance and his thugs have to deal with rivals in the vice industry who set up their own establishments in Biloxi.
This inevitably leads to violence, beatings, shootings, and the like. It's rare for anyone to be arrested, however, because Sheriff Fats Bowman is in the pocket of the felons. When young Hugh Malco grows up, he becomes a criminal like his dad.
Jesse Rudy is a low profile lawyer until Hurricane Camille demolishes the coast of Mississippi in 1969. The insurance companies twist themselves into knots to avoid paying out on policies, and Jesse's clients, devastated homeowners, have nowhere to turn.....until Jesse takes up their cause. Jesse spends years in court fighting the insurance companies, and the exposure makes Jesse a household name in Mississippi. This inevitably helps Jesse's career, which he dedicates to wiping out the vice industry in his backyard.
In time, young Keith Rudy also becomes an attorney, and joins his father's law practice.
As adults, childhood baseball stars Hugh Malco and Keith Rudy are on opposite sides of the law, and the ramifications are important to the story.
This is a very long book with large cast of characters and a lot going on. John Grisham's books tend to be up and down for me, but I'd deem this one a solid success. I even liked the beginning, where Grisham takes his time describing Prohibition and its ramifications; the history of Croatians in Biloxi; the background of the Malco and Rudy families, going back to the great-grandparents; and more.
Croatians
I also enjoyed the other elements of the novel, including the killings (you know what I mean), disposal of bodies, robberies, FBI sting operations, confidential informants, attorney maneuvering, courtroom scenes, marriages, birth of children, and the like.
Grisham, an attorney and politician, uses his knowledge to good effect in this novel. Highly recommended.
Rating: 4 stars
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