Bahama Boyz

Tales from a carribean casino. Young makes living life to the full. Of its time set in the 1970s, so definitely not pc but true to the era. Leaving East end of London for the live life to the full, work hard and party hard. Will make you smile and roll your eyes at their antics. An easy fun read.

Thank you NetGalley and Troubadour Publishing for the eARC. 3.5 stars
Having been to Paradise Island several times and even meeting my husband there, I was looking forward to reading this book.
Filled with info about the world of casinos and those who work there, it was quite an eye opener. I didn't realize the training for dealers was quite so rigorous. I did realize the dealers were funloving, cheeky young men as my girlfriends and I met quite a few in the late 70's and 80's!
It's definitely not a book to read if you are insistent on everything being PC...I found most of it quite amusing though. The reason for my 3.5 rating is that it became a bit over the top, it could have done with more editing, making it a shorter story, but overall it was a likeable read if you can take some good natured fun that probably wouldn't exist as freely in these 'enlightened' days!

Firstly a warning, this book will not I'm sure appeal to all readers. Conveying a way of life and written in a manner that is devoid of what can be called political correctness, we are transported back to the hedonistic world of the 1970's. A world of bunny girls, non stop partying, heavy drinking, drug use and as is recounted seemingly endless sexual encounters. This first person account is mainly set on the resort of the Paradise Island Casino in the Bahamas where Nick Hughes has landed the job of a dice dealer, top of the gaming hierarchy after starting as a trainee croupier at the Playboy Club in London. From his east end of London background he takes the path that many bright young males from the area would subsequently take in the 1980's into that other gambling arena, namely that of the newly deregulated financial markets. Indeed the hard drinking partying lifestyle reminded me of passages from Nick Lesson's autobiography working as a a derivatives trader in Singapore.

Here there are lots of stories and characters that those of us of a certain age will remember such as the wrestler Giant Haystacks and the television personality Monty Modlyn. Although I squirmed at some of the more extreme stories, overall I quite enjoyed the book and it did convey certain values like loyalty, friendship and standing up for yourself. I suppose you have to put the story into the context of the time, a time when the BBC would annually show the Miss World contest and most sitcoms had racial and gender stereotypes that would not be permitted today. Perhaps not really the book for me, but I'm sure there is enough here to please a certain audience.