{"product_id":"the-big-hustle-a-boston-street-kids-story-of-addiction-and-redemption","title":"The Big Hustle by Jim Wahlberg","description":"\u003ch1\u003eThe Big Hustle: A Boston Street Kid's Story of Addiction and Redemption by Jim Wahlberg\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen \u003cstrong\u003eJim Wahlberg went to prison the second time at 22 years old,\u003c\/strong\u003e he was sentenced to six to nine years for breaking and entering, bargained down from life for home invasion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe had staggered into a Boston cop's apartment, helping himself to the sellable stuff and all the beer in the fridge. The cop came home, found Jim passed out at the kitchen table, beat the hell out of him, and arrested him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut \u003cstrong\u003eWahlberg, a 130-pound kid from Dorchester, \u003c\/strong\u003ehad learned some things from his life on the street and his first prison sentence. He knew how to survive. And he knew that if he wanted to avoid serving the full sentence, he would have to do something.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe did what he was best at: \u003cstrong\u003eHe hustled.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe would create the illusion that he was trying to change, that he'd become the model prisoner, not a guy hell-bent on getting out while he was still young enough to drink more, steal more, and do more drugs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe didn't know, though, that the Catholic priest he was trying to hustle was actually hustling him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Big Hustle\u003c\/em\u003e is the story of a redeemed life and a family's healing. This is the no-holds-barred, unvarnished, and sometimes brutal true story of Jim Wahlberg, the fifth of nine kids growing up in a working-class Irish Catholic neighborhood outside of Boston, hustling for attention any way he could get it, which led him to the biggest hustle of his life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgainst all odds he got clean, he got out, and he got the girl. Jim dedicated his new life as a former addict to working with addicts, and for years has spread the word that recovery is possible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBut nothing could have prepared him for what came next. \u003c\/strong\u003eHis discovery that his own son was an addict threw Jim into a crisis—one that led him deeper into his faith and led to healing he never thought possible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is a \u003cstrong\u003etestament to God's power \u003c\/strong\u003eand an invitation to all of us to hope in the darkest places.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bust-Down Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50292685668667,"sku":"1681926032","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0855\/2077\/7531\/files\/23049383482786.jpg?v=1747228237","url":"https:\/\/bustdownbooks.com\/products\/the-big-hustle-a-boston-street-kids-story-of-addiction-and-redemption","provider":"Bust-Down Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}