The Boys from Biloxi
Sunday Times No 1 bestseller John Grisham returns in his most gripping thriller yet
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4.1 • 114 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Sunday Times No 1 bestseller John Grisham returns to Mississippi in his most gripping thriller yet.
'As ever with Grisham there are corkscrew twists and turns as he ratchets up the suspense. It is exceptional story-telling, which leaves the reader begging for the novel never to end. Grisham has sold more than 300 million copies of his work. This shows exactly why' DAILY MAIL
For most of the last hundred years, Biloxi was known for its beaches, resorts, and seafood industry. But it had a darker side. It was also notorious for corruption and vice, everything from gambling, prostitution, bootleg liquor, drugs . . . even contract killings. The vice was controlled by a small cabal of mobsters, many of them rumoured to be members of the Dixie Mafia.
Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith's father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to 'clean up the Coast.' Hugh's father became the 'Boss' of Biloxi's criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father's footsteps. Hugh preferred the nightlife and worked in his father's clubs. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom.
Rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters, The Boys from Biloxi is a sweeping saga of two sons of immigrant families who grow up as friends, but ultimately find themselves in a knife-edge legal confrontation in which life itself hangs in the balance.
In this novel, Grisham takes his powerful storytelling to the next level, his trademark twists and turns will keep you tearing through the pages until the stunning conclusion.
'It's a story that spans half a century and ends inevitably in a courtroom showdown. A morally complex, compelling and illuminating read' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'Invites comparisons with the Godfather trilogy - it spans two generations and several postwar decades - and has a vast cast and a winning energy' SUNDAY TIMES
350+ million copies, 45 languages, 9 blockbuster films:
NO ONE WRITES DRAMA LIKE JOHN GRISHAM
Customer Reviews
Dull
2.5 stars
Author
American lawyer turned giga-selling writer, who specialises in legal thrillers. This is his n-th title, where n is a very large number.
Plot
Biloxi is on the US gulf coast about half way between New Orleans and Mobile. Before Hurricane Katrina, it was the third largest city in Mississippi. It is now the fifth largest. (Gympie and Hervey Bay both have populations about 15% larger.)
The local seafood industry drew post-war migrants, many from war ravaged central Europe, and unlike much of Mississippi, Harrison County, in which Biloxi lies, was never a “dry county.” Corruption and vice in its various forms prospered, creating a downmarket version of Vegas controlled by what came to be known as the Dixie mafia. Meanwhile, “Cleaning up the Coast” became a catch cry among would-be political candidates, to limited effect.
Mr G begins by introducing us to a couple of baseball obsessed 12-year-old boys, both from Catholic immigrant (Croatian) families. Needless to say, their paths keep crossing as one succeeds his father as local DA before going on to higher political honours, while the other surpasses his old man’s achievement by ending up not just in jail, but on death row.
Writing
Overly long, predominantly expository effort that seeks to exploit the current vogue for overly long, expository true crime podcasts and related Netflixian docu-dramas. I find those tedious at best, but am clearly in the minority. With books based on the aforementioned tosh squeezing his titles off airport bookshelves, Mr G’s decision to fight back with some tosh of his own is understandable, if not entirely forgivable. That I stuck with it to the end is testament to the readability of his prose. The writing and the historical detail* explains why my star rating was not lower.
* For example, I learned that Hurricane Camille, which hit Biloxi in 1969, was the second most powerful hurricane to have hit the US coast, and stronger than Katrina.
Didn’t download properly
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Boring as…
This was disappointing, just a long narrative with not much else.