Title: Camino Island
Camino Island by John Grisham
Read by: Mary Kennery
Author: John Grisham
Genre: thriller/suspense
Why did you choose to read this book? I love mysteries and I have read other books by the author. This 30th novel written by John Grisham published in June 2017 is a different style for the author. There is no young lawyer this time, but a young soon-to-be unemployed UNC-Chapel Hill English instructor/ struggling novelist Mercer who is pegged to infiltrate a rare book dealer Bruce’s bookstore with a black market connection after F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts are stolen from Princeton and find their way to Camino Island, Florida.
What did you like about it? How the plot unfolds between Mercer and Bruce and the islanders and all gets resolved. The island’s inhabitants are certainly characters! The many fond memories that Mercer has of spending summers with her grandmother on the island are endearing. You can imagine the author tours, rare book collecting and preservation and storage of prized books.
Did it remind you of any other book, or a movie? Other mystery authors/ missing artifacts, but this one has a rare book angle.
Was there anything noteworthy about the book? References to UNC-Chapel Hill, Franklin St., and The Lantern Restaurant made it especially appealing. These are places that Grisham likes to visit.
What feeling did the book leave you with? Resolution plus wanting to know what future blockbuster novel will be next on the horizon for Mercer when she gets over her writer’s block. Will Camino Island be made into a movie? Plus another Grisham book is due out later this year. I will add that one to my must read list.
Who would you recommend the book to? A mystery lover, a John Grisham fan, a bookstore afficionado.
What would you pair this book with? Even though Camino Island mainly takes place in Florida, I enjoyed reading it on my front porch under a Carolina blue sky with a sweet tea while dog sitting. I guess I should have read it on a favorite beach.
Were you one of the lucky ones to meet John Grisham at his first book tour in over 25 years? One was held at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh in June. Sorry to say, but I was not there.
John Grisham was interviewed recently in The News & Observer:
http://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/books/article155357904.html
The library plans to purchase a copy of this book for our collection in July. In the meantime, we have most of Grisham’s other novels available.