Review of Joy Boy

[Bertha Jackson]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Joy Boy" by Eric Trujillo.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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How does a good-looking white farm boy from Wooddale, Mississippi, end up hustling on the streets in Chicago, Illinois, and being arrested for the gruesome murder of two prominent citizens and a pizza boy? Twenty-five-year-old Alex Ashby is in jail, accused of multiple murders that he swears he did not commit. An investigative newspaper reporter and Alex’s friend, Tom, believe him and set out to find the real murderer to prove his innocence. The newspaper reporter visits Alex in jail and interviews him to get insight into his life and background before he came to Chicago to become a male prostitute. The investigation into Alex’s background will take you to Mississippi, California, Louisiana, and Mexico, to name a few of the locations. Did Alex commit the murders? If not, who did? Why did Alex choose a life of prostitution?

Joy Boy by Eric Trujillo has many positive and negative aspects. Eric Trujillo did an excellent job with character development. I was emotionally affected by the debauchery, physical and sexual abuse, murder, drug abuse, bigotry, discrimination, and racism in this book to the extent that I could only read small parts of it at a time. Many of the characters are hillbillies, and the author uses that dialect throughout the book. The book is written in the first tense from the investigative reporter’s perspective and flows smoothly between the investigation and his interviews with Alex. I liked that the author used italics and bold print to emphasize some of the events in the book.

Although the author not holding anything back made the story realistic, I would have preferred that he had left something to the reader’s imagination. The scenes where young boys were raped or willingly participated in sexual activities were disturbing because they were graphic. Before starting the book, I knew it was about LGBTQ+ love, but I expected a loving romantic environment. There is little romance in this book; it is all abuse and exploitation of young boys. However, this criticism is subjective because it is my personal preference for books. Having said this, I do believe readers need to be aware of this content. The author does mention that it is romantic erotica in the product details, but it is missing the romance aspect.

There are only three minor errors in the entire book, which means that a professional editor has edited it. To be objective and fair, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because the positive aspects outweigh the negative, and I enjoyed the investigative parts of the book.

I recommend this book to mature adult readers who want to understand more about sex trafficking or sexual abuse of young boys. I recommend that sensitive readers not read this book because there is gory content involving murders and rape, and the erotic sex scenes are explicitly described. The LGBTQ+ community may be offended by this book because there is little romance, only abuse, violence, and exploitation of young boys.

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Joy Boy
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[Priya_Singh]

I appreciate the author to bring about the issues which mostly get shadowed or suppressed. Thank you for your through and balanced review.

[Gabriella1997]

It's heart breaking to be accused wrongly when you are totally innocent, I hope Alex gets through it at the end, nice review.

[Elisa Joy Ocasla]

LGBTQ+ should be accepted today as several people from this community have been receiving inhumanity. I love to read this book soon to know more about how the author tackled the issue.

[Chinaza Nnabuenyi]

Crime stories are intriguing to read. The book is a good one. Thanks for your review.

[Humera955]

Great review
This seems like a pretty different book

[Salah bourouba]

people must have benn through hell and back to use prostitution as an income stream, good review

[Elendu Ekechukwu]

Your review made me ask a whole lot of questions about the book. I can't wait to satisfy my curiosity, I'm reading this book next.

[Hyacinth Bella]

I don't think I am able to go through this book comfortably since there are triggering factors I can't handle. Really interested on why Joy Boy got its title though, because based on your review, I don't think that his life brings joy. Thanks for the review!

[Shivansh_007]

The story is quite interesting and more than that it's a must to read it. The issues it has discussed are quite important in today's world. Thanks for the well written review.

[Stephen Ikimi]

From the cover page,it's a colorful book written in a great descriptive style. Your review is thoroughly written and detailed. Awesome one. Thank you

[Rishi_reviews]

I was attracted by the cover and title of the book and after reading the review I'm not disappointed at all. The book has discussed many important issues which should be addressed in this world. Thanks for the review.