I've read and enjoyed many books by Grisham, but this one is different, and, sadly, it missed the mark for me. It's not the fast-paced legal thriller I've come to expect from this author. While he does a nice job of showcasing the generations and telling things through the eyes of two different families in Biloxi, the pace was too slow and the storyline too dense. It could've benefitted from a tighter edit, especially in the first half of the book. Things pick up a bit after that, but it was a little too late. I hoped it would improve my feelings on the story, but it was a struggle for me to finish this one.

Hugh Malco and Keith Rudy grew up playing baseball and going to boy scout camp they had everything figured out for their future. Until Hugh’s dad became the boss of the Biloxi mob and Keith’s dad became the district attorney. Biloxi had a rich history in gambling, prostitution, and alcohol (during the prohibition), and it made the Malco’s rich, very rich. When Hugh and Keith became teens, their lives separated as Hugh liked the night clubs and the bad boy life, while Keith hung out watching his dad in court and decided he would follow his father into law. But with Malco’s illegal businesses and Rudy’s vow to clean up Biloxi the two were bound to see each other in court.
This is a suspenseful story that ends up playing out in court, it is not just one but several trials you won’t want to miss. I really enjoyed this book; the characters and story line are so good and the action won’t leave you deprived either. It showed the little guy doesn’t always lose.

The boys from Biloxi is another classic John Grisham novel. Love his writing style and how perfect the descriptions are. I do agree that some of the story is slow and there are lots of characters to keep straight, but overall, I enjoyed the story and setting.

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham is a very highly recommended legal thriller and the story of two families.

Biloxi, Mississippi, is known for its beaches, resorts and seafood industry, but it is also know for gambling, liquor, and prostitution which is run by a small group with tacit approval by the local police. Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco, two sons from Croatian immigrant families grow up as friends in Biloxi in the 1960s, head in different directions as teens, and find themselves on opposites sides of the law as adults. Hugh’s father, Lance, became the “Boss” of Biloxi’s criminal underground. Keith's father Jesse, became a lawyer determined to take down the illegal establishments plaguing Biloxi.

The narrative of The Boys from Biloxi is the kind of intricately plotted and detail oriented story that will grab you and pull you into the lives of these fully realized characters. Rather than a story with lots of twists and surprises, this is a legal thriller, but more essentially it is a family drama spanning generations and decades while covering the history of Biloxi and the fictional families involved in this saga. The enjoyment is the details of the story, who does what over the decades, the choices the characters make as well as the consequences of these choices. The novel starts out at an even pace before it takes off and picks up speed.

The writing is excellent in all areas: the quality of the writing, the complexity of the plot, the establishing of the setting, the development of the characters, the corruption, and the courtroom scenes. Everything on the pages springs to life under Grisham's hands and these characters and the story become real. It should be mentioned that the novel is populated with male characters, with females taking a secondary role, but it works as the focus of the novel is on fathers and sons as well as the male dominated social circle that dominated the area.

I loved this long family saga that is rich in details and atmosphere while creating a tense and compelling drama.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Knopf Doubleday via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

After Grisham’s riveting The Judge’s List, I excitedly starting reading the latest from the author. The Boys from Biloxi tells the stories of two families. Both are descendants of Croatian immigrants. The Rudys are upstanding citizens and become lawyers fighting corruption whether it is big insurance companies or the Mississippi mob. The Malco’s run the vice establishments in town including clubs with prostitution and illegal gambling. While the sons once played baseball together their lives are on a collision course.

I’m always wary of a books that start with information dumps. This begins by giving the background for each of the families and how they came to settle in Biloxi. But so much of the book is told and not shown. The story is a good vs. evil and includes corrupt officials, turf wars, and legal battles. There are a lot of people to follow in the beginning until you figure out who the main characters. I enjoy legal books and Grisham knows his law so the court cases are interesting. But I didn’t feel a connection or care about either of the main characters. I thought there’d be more to the ending after all the build up.

I still will recommend this to Grisham fans. But last years book I selected for my book club to read but this one wont make the list. Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. (3.5 stars)

A disappointment. As a longtime Grisham fan, I was looking forward to this read. Incredibly slow and plodding. The first half is spent establishing the characters and backstory. Unfortunately, the writing is less than engaging and certainly not up to the vivid prose one expects from Grisham. By the time the action gets underway, it's hard to care. I stuck with it all the way to the end, hoping for redemption, but even the ending was a disappointment. Skip this one.

Classic John Grisham that takes you deep into the darkest part of Southern culture. I can’t say I enjoyed this book, but wow does he know how to create scenes that make you feel like you’re right there in the middle of the action - I could feel the humidity on my skin and hear each punch land. I think I was looking for something with a slightly lighter touch, but the issue was with the reader, not the story. If you enjoy immersive Southern fiction with courtroom drama flair, this is worth checking out.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.

An In-Depth Story Of Two Different Lives

Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up together at a time when Biloxi was mostly an illegal gambling paradise on the Mississippi shore. This story takes you from their childhood days playing on the baseball team through their grown lives on either side of the law.

Although well-written I had a hard time getting to the end. When it seemed I should be at least halfway through I looked and found I was only at 18%. At that point I thought about quitting but decided “This is a John Grisham book, I can’t quit now” and decided to keep reading, thinking I hadn’t reached the courtroom drama yet. Yes, the courtroom drama is there, but when I got to the end of the book I decided that I should have quit way back then. The book was a total disappointment.

I’m from the south, so I really appreciate the accurate atmospheric descriptions of the area.

This novel was written in a different style than I’ve become accustomed to by this prolific author. In this narrative, I found there was a lot more telling than showing which made the thrills fall a little flat. I also found that I was less engaged and a bit less interested in the fate of the characters than I normally am in a courtroom drama.

I did enjoy the historical references and the research involved In exposing the criminal underbelly of the coast and this made it a worthwhile read for me.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Boys From Biloxi for my unbiased evaluation. 3.5 stars

I was disappointed by this book. It started off well enough with the history of two families who settled in Biloxi, but it quickly bogged down under lots of characters. There is very little dialogue in the story and it felt like a newspaper article from an investigative reporter. There is a lot of telling, but not showing, of the character's actions and little of their emotions. This is definitely not the page-turner of Grisham's earlier books and I struggled to finish it.

Wanted to give this book 5 stars because I ended up really liking this book but the beginning was sooo slow. Way too many details and backstory that really wasn't that important to the overall theme of the book. Again, great book by Grisham just took a bit to get into the story.

The Boys from Biloxi is new fiction from John Grisham.

"Hugh and Keith grow up together in Biloxi, Mississippi both descendants of the Croatian immigrants that settled on this part of the coast.. Keith goes to law school and follows in his father's footsteps by working at the family firm. Hugh prefers the excitement of his father's clubs, parts of which may or may not be legal. The families are headed for a courtroom showdown with tragedy visiting both sides."

Longtime Grisham readers will recognize similarities to The Firm, Runaway Jury, The Chamber and Calico Joe. The narrative is mostly the fast-paced, rich writing that Grisham has been known for. There are multiple generations so it's a bit of an epic tale. There's a definite division of good and bad that blurs near the end as the two sons remember they're childhood and ponder different decisions.

There are some excellent courtroom scenes and great characters. Fans of legal thrillers should enjoy this one.

The Boys from Biloxi is the latest thriller by John Grisham and the epic story hearkens to classic political tales one once found in black and white Warner Bros. movies.

Kevin and Hugh, best friends and baseball teammates are introduced at the beginning of the novel. From this point the reader sees their lives as they divert, and later intersect as they grow into two different paths, one with the law, and one in crime.

The bulk of plot is less about them and focused more on the family members who lead the way for the boys’ life choices. Anyone who likes mobster stories and political narratives will enjoy this book.

No Grisham novel is without the courtroom scenes and The Boys from Biloxi is no exception. Through these the reader gets a look at what goes on behind the scenes during trials and I found this element highly satisfying as well.

The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham is an excellent and engaging read, that had me hanging onto the story well after I concluded reading the final page. If you are a fan of the author, or of the genres mentioned, this work will not disappoint you.

I received an advance review copy of this novel, the publisher asking that I leave an honest review which I endeavored to do here.

It’s been a few years since I’ve read a Grisham novel but when I saw this one I had to read it. I love that Boys from Biloxi was filled with history (learned stuff about Biloxi that I didn’t know), the strong ties of small southern communities, a bit of corruption & the old southern mafia, as well as southern justice.

It’s a long read. A little slow at parts but worth it :)

Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends, They played ball together, and went fishing together. But when they got older, they started going down very different paths. Keith’s father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to “clean up the Coast". and Keith went to law school to follow in his father's footsteps. Hugh’s father became the “Boss” of Biloxi’s criminal underground, and Hugh worked in his father's clubs & resorted to a life of crime. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom.
First let me say I am a big fan of Mr. Grisham's books. This one, however, was not one of my favorites. I was intrigued with the idea of two friends choosing two entirely different paths, paths that would put them on opposite sides of the courtroom. The storyline itself was good, I just felt like it rambled on and was a lot longer than it needed to be. My biggest complaint though, was the vast number of characters in the book. Maybe I am just nitpicking, or maybe my brain just couldn't handle that many names, but I had a really hard time keeping everyone straight, because there were SO MANY PEOPLE! I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't felt overwhelmed by that. Overall it is a good read, and I would give it a 3.5

Back when I was a librarian for several years, I read several of John Grisham's books and wanted to read more. However, the cost is usually prohibitive. Therefore, I'm grateful to NetGalley and Doubleday for the chance to read (and review, which I'm so happy to do) for nothing. Amazon would have charged me $14.99 for the Kindle version.

What a rich history of Mississippi, especially the Biloxi and coastal area! In fact, I did quite a bit of Googling while reading, to establish what was fact and what was some added fiction. I learned that there's a LOT of fact involved, and it's so interesting (even to someone who's never set foot in Mississippi). It tells of a time when it wasn't the best place to live (unless you were a mobster or law officer who was on their side), but will the attorney who almost single-handedly takes on all of the corruption be successful? For the most part, this is his story, although there's much more to hold your interest.

I did feel like this was the longest book I ever read and was rather surprised to check Amazon and find that it's only 453 pages (I have read longer--"London" by Edward Rutherford comes to mind, for example, with 1332 pages). So it could be partly because of the extra time I spent researching the "real history".

Recommending this one to family members who reside in Mississippi. (I still say the old jumping rope ditty every time I spell this state 😁).

Have shared on Goodreads and Bookbub, will add to Amazon in a few days.

Twists, turns, intrigue and grudges abound in this story of two former friends who take different paths in life.

This is the story of two boys who grew up competing in sports together in high school. After graduating, one chooses a path of crime and one a path of law. Both choices have lifechanging consequences for their lives as well as other’s. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Doubleday Books for my honest review.

Lance Malco and Jesse Rudy were both the sons of immigrants and like most children of immigrants worked hard and made a little bit into a lot. They both fought in World War II and was injured but they didn’t let that stop them. For Jesse he started after college as a history teacher and Lance began working in his cousins grocery store they would both eventually become big deals in their community Jesse for being upright loyal dependable and an all-around good guy and Lance for being rich off of illegal prostitution and alcohol. They both were generous and helped their family and friends as much as they could and they both even had sons who were great add baseball so good in fact it garnered them attention and cause the boys Hugh and Keith to be very close growing up. Keith took after his dad almost in every way even becoming a lawyer just like him and Hue on the other hand just seem to like the benefits the Sea deer part of his dad‘s businesses had to offer. So when Jesse decided to run for district attorney in Harrison county, Mississippi Keith knew it would change him and Hughes friendship forever
Never in his wildest dreams did he think it would change so much not just his life but his family and his own career choices. I couldn’t wait to read this book I love John Grisham but I forgot the pure magic that is John Grisham. His books are so addicting and OMG this book is so good and it is written like a true crime story and I loved it. This is definitely a five star read and it is OMG awesome! I love the story I love how he creates characters you can like and dislike at the same time I just loved this book and highly recommend it! I received this book from NetGalley but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

“The Boys from Biloxi” by John Grisham
CHOICES and TRAGEDIES
This was a long suspense filled read that kept me glued to the story. Another scary and worthy read by this author. Happy Reading ! !
NOTE: This review expresses my honest opinion.
I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley.