I am not a big fan of legal thrillers, but decided to give this one a try. Grisham is of course a great writer, so I weighed in. I was stationed at Keesler AFB for 3 years as an instructor, and was curious about the location of the story. The author brought me into the story quickly and well, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Much of it was about the criminal element of the area, and I recall little of that aspect. His characters and plot kept me engrossed, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I may just try some of his other novels after this!!!

This story has an interesting premise in the two boys playing sports together and then choosing two very different life paths. The setting was also well described. However, for me the story dragged and didn't keep my attention. I read the first 8 chapters and then laid it aside. I may come back to it sometime since I really expected it to be a good one. If I do go back to it I will send further comments and post to Goodreads.com.

The Boys from Biloxi is the latest from John Grisham and a departure from his normal fare. I really enjoyed the historical look into Biloxi, and learned a lot along the way. The book started a bit slow for me, but it continued to get better as it went along.

Beautifully crafted and intelligent thriller.
One of the best Grishams, and that's saying a lot.

I enjoyed this book, it’s workmanlike Grisham. I was expecting more of a thriller, the plot was more historical fiction. It’s very readable with his usual high quality writing. The characters are well drawn and I was interested to watch how differently the two main characters developed.

I liked this book but wouldn’t read it again, I enjoy his legal thrillers more. 3.5 stars
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

I have always enjoyed John Grisham’s legal thrillers. Usually so much that I can hardly put the book aside until I finish the last page. But not so much with his latest book, The Boys from Biloxi.

I had only read a few pages when I began to wonder if this was really a Grisham book and it didn’t get any better. It just didn’t seem to be his writing style, and worse yet, the sentences were choppy, the storyline remained unclear for much longer than it should have, and overall it read like a high school book report – just the facts, ma’am. It became boring very quickly and I was glad when I managed to finished it. The Boys from Biloxi was a huge disappointment.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review. This is a fascinating story about two twelve year old boys from Biloxi, Mississippi who are best friends . They come from totally different backgrounds and their lives take different paths. Hugh Malco follows in his father’s footsteps as a criminal dealing with drugs, prostitution, gambling, murder and more. Keith Rudy follows in his father’s footsteps and becomes an honest lawyer , District Attorney and eventually Attorney General. The boys’ friendship ends when they both go in different directions. As adults, Keith and Hugh cross paths when Keith is the Attorney trying to have Hugh executed for horrendous acts including murder. The story was interesting, but, it was too long. I lost interest several times and was tempted to skip pages to get to the end.

In typical Grisham fashion he has told a complicated story that had me at times hooked for more. This tale of two families was not his typical legal thriller that I've become accustomed to but what felt like a historic read for an area of the south with some legal things that started to shape what I've come to expect around the middle of this book. This tale was well told and at times had me questioning if this was really a fictitious read. I will admit at times that there were a lot of characters that played a part of this book and sometimes were hard to keep up with but overall this was a good read that I enjoyed from start to finish and would recommend to others.

After taking a long hiatus from reading John Grisham novels, I started picking them up again and have now read most of what he has published in the past 4 years. With this one, I struggled between 3 and 4 stars.

The Boys From Biloxi was a compelling, LONG novel. I stayed engaged throughout, which is what pushed my rating up. What I didn't like was how many characters were in the novel over the time span covered. I get that this was a saga, and even though I KNEW that from the description, my muscle memory of John Grisham novels couldn't compute that, so I kept wanting to know more about each character's story, even as the story moved on to the next and the next and so on.

There was little to no mystery. The Boys From Biloxi is not really even a courtroom drama for most of the novel. It was really a historical fiction novel about a few generations of people set in the seedy underworld of a corrupt city as it used to be, clearly a history and city that the author loves.

I think most people will LIKE this book and I would recommend it to my friends. Readers would just do well, though to make sure they know the genre of this book is not something they have read from John Grisham before.

I cannot say this was a great Grisham read, as he seems a little off his game with this one. The Boys from Biloxi shares the story of two boys who grow up together but experience very different family lives. If you enjoy thrillers set in the South during the 60s, this book might be for you.

Thank you, NetGalley and Doubleday Books, for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham is a thriller set in Mississippi, a saga of two Croatian immigrant families who find themselves on the opposite side of the law. Mr. Grisham is a best-selling author whose books have been translated all around the world.

Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up ion Biloxi together, played on the same teams, and rooted for each other. The Malco family has become part of the Dixie Mafia, dabbling in alcohol, gambling, and prostitution. The Rudy family turned to the less lucrative occupation of honest living.

The two childhood friends find themselves on opposite sides of the courtroom, in a showdown that will live its mark on Biloxi for generations to come.

I have always enjoyed Mr. Grisham’s books and jumped at the chance to read his latest. The premise sounded enticing; a legal/mafia thriller set in Biloxi.

This was a strange book, part history of Biloxi, part crime thriller, part legal thriller, part philosophical discussions, all told through short sentences, almost styled as a documentary.

The reader is “listening” to an omnipotent narrator without unfortunately, without the characters evolving much. My copy started with two glaring historical errors which almost made me put the book down, this is not the Grisham books I’ve known. However, I figured since it was a galley it might have been caught, but from reading other online reviews I guess they weren’t. To be honest, if I didn’t know that John Grisham wrote The Boys from Biloxi, I certainly wouldn’t have guessed.

Even though the story is somewhat repetitive, it is still very well done, despite the appearance that an editor’s hand never touched many parts. Even though I didn’t care much for the characters, they are certainly interesting and unforgettable.

As in many other Grisham books, there are sports scenes, and, of course, courtroom dramas that would last a lifetime to any one person. I found the frank discussions about legal morality, responsibility, as well as the death penalty in the context of the novel to be fascinating.

Even though the setup seemed too long, the courtroom ending brought the book up a notch. As previously mentioned, this was a strange novel, not very “Grisham-like”, but enjoyable nonetheless.

John Grisham explores the history of gambling in Biloxi, MS with this fictional look at two families. Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco played on the same baseball team in Little League and in high school Their fathers, both immigrants, had very different outlooks on life and careers. Hugh's father became the head of gambling, vice, and prostitution in Biloxi while Keith's father became determined to clean up the city. Mr. Rudy became the prosecutor and Hugh's father went to jail.

Hugh followed in his father's footsteps and took over as crime boss. Keith also followed his father into the practice of law. When Keith's father is killed, he is determined to link it back to the Malco family.

The story paints a fascinating picture of life during the years of Prohibition and the decades that followed. One issue, which I hope has been corrected in the final publication, is that the sheriff was said to have committed suicide in one chapter while the next couple of chapters place him in prison in Maine.

Recommended for Grisham fans.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.
As a Grisham fan, I was excited to read this one (as I am to read every one of his books), although this book is not one of his typical legal thrillers. This book tells the story of two families – the Malcos and the Rudys. Both families are of Croatian heritage and both settled in Biloxi. Hugh Malco and Keith Rudy grew up, played baseball and graduated HS together. However, after graduation they separated but each followed their respective fathers’ footsteps and joined the family businesses.
Hugh joined his dad, Lance, running nightclubs along the “Strip” which also offered illegal gambling, prostitution and drug dealing. Keith joined his dad, Jesse, at his law firm which attempted to take down all illegal establishments and the bosses that control them.
This is a slow burn but you know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. There isn’t a lot of “mystery” to this story and not a lot of dialogue. The story starts to pick up when it gets to the court proceedings tied to Jesse’s attempts to clean up the city.
The book begins with a LOT of backstory and character development. So much so that I wondered how it all tied in but it did become apparent as the book progressed.

This book was too long and very wordy. This book took me much longer to read than I would have expected, and finally had to force myself to sit and read it so I could move on.

Usually the pace of Grisham's books is fast and keeps the pages turning, but this one took too long to set up. Finally at about 50% the story started after the background story of two families in Biloxi Mississippi, the history of the fathers, the sons and their places in town. Once the actual story began, more characters were introduced, from far and wide places in the state of MS, with varying criminal backgrounds. It was a lot to keep track of, and the family backgrounds were too drawn out to keep me interested. After plowing through, we got to Grisham's strengths of crime and courtroom, and for the next 30% I was enjoying the book and not having problems sticking with it. But after the verdict, the books goes for another 100 pages of extra detail. I did enjoy the ending of the book, but overall, it could have been 200 pages shorter.

I really liked the Rudy family and feel like Keith and Jesse could be expanded into more books- with some serious editing- and I would be interested in reading them. However, for this book, the overall plot I enjoyed, but I did not find the escape in reading it I look for. It is not one of Grisham's I would recommend.

John Grisham's latest novel, The Boys from Biloxi, is a thrill seeker. Set in Mississippi during the sixties, two teenagers who were friends growing up, take a radical change in their friendship due to family backgrounds. Life in Biloxi in the sixties, is a time of criminal underground, and racial tensions. Friendships fall apart due to family situations and the two boys take radical change in their lives. I want to encourage to read this novel for those who want to understand how choices you make affect your future lives.

This one just didn’t catch me like Grisham typically does. This was much more like a non fiction story with a lot of historical references labout Mississippi. It was average.

I was so looking forward to this book and was thrilled when I received an advanced copy from Netgalley and Doubleday books. The story is about two friends, Hugh Malco and Keith Rudy who were childhood friends. Each of their families follow a different path and the two friends find themselves on opposing sides. The historical backdrop of Biloxi is very interesting and I loved the premise of the story. I felt the book was convoluted by insignificant details and possessed a lack of drama. A long drawn out story that read like a history book to me. #TheBoysfromBiloxi #NetGalley.

3.5 Dual Lives Stars
* * * 1/2 Spoiler Free-A Quick Review
When I first discovered John Grisham, it was through the riveting book, The Firm. I gobbled it up and was hooked. I followed up that book with all the other ones that came after and then, life happened and I missed quite a few he has written recently. When I had the chance to read this, I was thrilled.

The Boys from Biloxi looks at seriously two families, and young men who continue to cross paths through the years. Each has family ties that bind, each is committed to the family business, and each follows in their father's path. One in law and the other breaking it.

This tale takes the time to lay all of the necessary groundwork to lull you into seeing each family and how they are functioning, what the goals are and how little moments have huge ramifications.

A serious look at the times of the 60s/70s and all that was happening.

The story is a captivating and careful ascent To The Emotional Implosion

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY
Two boys grew up in the same neighborhood, with so much in common.  They went to the same schools, both were Catholic, and they loved the water. They were born one month apart in 1948, and they both lived and breathed baseball and started Little League together at age eight. Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco were inseparable, both on and off the baseball field. Their friendship lasted until high school graduation. And then these two boys from Biloxi simply went in different directions.

Keith, who idolized his father, Jesse, went to college, followed in his father’s footsteps, and became a lawyer. Hugh chose not to go to college but also followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the family business. Hugh’s father, Lance, owned and operated several bars, casinos, and clubs offering alcohol, gambling, and prostitution along the Biloxi strip. His illegal activities were well known, and the corrupt county sheriff turned a blind eye. Lance Malco was in charge of activities on the coast, and no one in authority seemed to care. That was until Keith’s father, Jesse, became the district attorney.  His goal: “Clean up the coast.”


REVIEW
The Boys from Biloxi is a classic legal thriller as only John Grisham can adroitly do.  He skillfully transports us to the Mississippi coast and its unscrupulous culture, and he has the era of the 1960-1970s down pat.

The story is a captivating and careful ascent, full of a descriptive and detailed backstory of the two families. The story grows like a rumbling volcano, slowly growing closer and closer to the surface. When it blows, the ramifications are felt by all those in its path, and things are never the same. The story's evocative and emotional implosion will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The characters are plentiful and serve as the pillars of the story.  The differences between the two families add immense interest and intrigue. Grisham's writing is gut-wrenching, and you never know what's around the next corner.

In addition to cleaning up the coast, Jesse Rudy is also an unforgettable hero for taking on the insurance companies during their refusal to pay homeowners for damages in the aftermath of Hurricane Camille in 1969.  We need a real-life Jesse Rudy today! My favorite parts are the masterful courtroom scenes, where the whole story comes together.   

Author John Grisham, as known as America’s Favorite Storyteller, has authored over 47 #1 bestsellers. His recent books include The Judges List,  Sooley, and Sparring Partners.  Grisham is also a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Publisher Doubleday Books
Published October 18, 2022
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

Another solid novel from John Grisham. Although this was a long one, At the forefront of this novel is the theme of good vs evil. It begins with two young boys who play on opposing rival baseball teams and then we follow them both into adulthood where one boy becomes a defense attorney and the other a mob gangster. The rivalry is set early and although the book is slow to get going it’s well worth the set up for the explosive ending. I enjoyed this one and wouldn’t be shocked if it ends up getting a film adaptation in the future.