Camino Island: A Novel
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Soak up the sun—and the intrigue—with the first novel in John Grisham’s beloved Camino series.
“A happy lark [that] provides the pleasure of a leisurely jaunt periodically jolted into high gear, just for the fun and speed of it.”—The New York Times Book Review
A gang of thieves stage a daring heist from a secure vault deep below Princeton University’s Firestone Library. Their loot is priceless, but Princeton has insured it for twenty-five million dollars.
Bruce Cable owns a popular bookstore in the sleepy resort town of Santa Rosa on Camino Island in Florida. He makes his real money, though, as a prominent dealer in rare books. Very few people know that he occasionally dabbles in the black market of stolen books and manuscripts.
Mercer Mann is a young novelist with a severe case of writer’s block who has recently been laid off from her teaching position. She is approached by an elegant, mysterious woman working for an even more mysterious company. A generous offer of money convinces Mercer to go undercover and infiltrate Bruce Cable’s circle of literary friends, ideally getting close enough to him to learn his secrets.
But eventually Mercer learns far too much, and there’s trouble in paradise as only John Grisham can deliver it.
Look for all of John Grisham’s rollicking Camino novels:
Camino Island
Camino Winds
Camino Ghosts
“A happy lark [that] provides the pleasure of a leisurely jaunt periodically jolted into high gear, just for the fun and speed of it.”—The New York Times Book Review
A gang of thieves stage a daring heist from a secure vault deep below Princeton University’s Firestone Library. Their loot is priceless, but Princeton has insured it for twenty-five million dollars.
Bruce Cable owns a popular bookstore in the sleepy resort town of Santa Rosa on Camino Island in Florida. He makes his real money, though, as a prominent dealer in rare books. Very few people know that he occasionally dabbles in the black market of stolen books and manuscripts.
Mercer Mann is a young novelist with a severe case of writer’s block who has recently been laid off from her teaching position. She is approached by an elegant, mysterious woman working for an even more mysterious company. A generous offer of money convinces Mercer to go undercover and infiltrate Bruce Cable’s circle of literary friends, ideally getting close enough to him to learn his secrets.
But eventually Mercer learns far too much, and there’s trouble in paradise as only John Grisham can deliver it.
Look for all of John Grisham’s rollicking Camino novels:
Camino Island
Camino Winds
Camino Ghosts
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Thank you #DoubledayPartner for free copy of this book to read.
Camino Island introduces readers to a relaxing yet suspenseful tale regarding the theft of valuable manuscripts that are stolen from a university library. From there, readers are shuffled into the story of their retrieval, whereabouts and in whose hands they've landed in.
I wouldn't say this was a traditional cozy mystery as there's no amateur sleuth on the trail of the case but easily Camino Island can be picked up as a beach or summer read. In a way, it gave me Leverage vibes. I only had issues with two passages the author wrote having to do with a character skin tone and a book concept that references slavery.
Overall, it was an interesting and easy read that kept me interested from beginning to end. And I liked that one of the main suspects in the book came across as rather likable.
I am curious to see if the resident writers of Camino Island make other appearances in the rest of this series.
Camino Island introduces readers to a relaxing yet suspenseful tale regarding the theft of valuable manuscripts that are stolen from a university library. From there, readers are shuffled into the story of their retrieval, whereabouts and in whose hands they've landed in.
I wouldn't say this was a traditional cozy mystery as there's no amateur sleuth on the trail of the case but easily Camino Island can be picked up as a beach or summer read. In a way, it gave me Leverage vibes. I only had issues with two passages the author wrote having to do with a character skin tone and a book concept that references slavery.
Overall, it was an interesting and easy read that kept me interested from beginning to end. And I liked that one of the main suspects in the book came across as rather likable.
I am curious to see if the resident writers of Camino Island make other appearances in the rest of this series.
Good but not great. Reliable Grisham plot with good characters but it just felt like he didn't put his all into it. Nothing too surprising or interesting in the plot like he's known for doing. Quick and enjoyable but not one of his best.
This one got out of the courtroom and ventured into another area Mr. Grisham knows well - publishing and rare books. Extremely interesting. Loved the characters! Fast-paced fun.
I read an interview with John Grisham where he was talking about his new book, Camino Island. Now, I like his legal thrillers quite a bit but when he veers off of those (Painted House, etc.) my attention goes elsewhere.
Camino Island had a good premise that made me decide to grab it from the library. Five of F. Scott Fitzgerald's original manuscripts are stolen from Princeton and enter the black market. Is this a mystery involving books? I'm in. And a good deal of this takes place on an island in Florida at a book store? Yep yep!
I'm sad to say I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped. I read til the end and was really not happy with the ending at all. It started well with the theft. The men involved in the theft could have really carried the book, but *spoiler* the FBI stepped in way too quick and took nearly all of them out of play. What? Where is my mystery??
Enter a mysterious woman named Elaine who is trying to hire Mercer Mann, a "writer", to go to Camino Island and live in her dead grandma's house. Elaine wants Mercer to infiltrate Bruce Cable's life and bookstore to find the manuscripts.
WTF?
Mercer is barely a writer. I couldn't stand her character and, frankly, she spent too much time "admiring her body" in the mirror and whining about her inability to write. Cable was an interesting enough character to follow so that gave me something to hope for but in the end, I was very disappointed with him and his actions. Hardly the stuff of a shady book dealer. Denny, one of the thieves, was a violent asshole who never got to shine before a convenient FBI person arrested him and threw him out of the picture. Who were we supposed to be enticed by here? Surely not Mercer.
Alas, I think we were supposed to like the whiny wannabe writer (heeey, alliteration!). The end of the book wrapped everything up in one extremely tidy bow that I disliked.
If I hear Grisham is putting out a new legal thriller, I'm in. Everything else, I'm out.
Camino Island had a good premise that made me decide to grab it from the library. Five of F. Scott Fitzgerald's original manuscripts are stolen from Princeton and enter the black market. Is this a mystery involving books? I'm in. And a good deal of this takes place on an island in Florida at a book store? Yep yep!
I'm sad to say I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped. I read til the end and was really not happy with the ending at all. It started well with the theft. The men involved in the theft could have really carried the book, but *spoiler* the FBI stepped in way too quick and took nearly all of them out of play. What? Where is my mystery??
Enter a mysterious woman named Elaine who is trying to hire Mercer Mann, a "writer", to go to Camino Island and live in her dead grandma's house. Elaine wants Mercer to infiltrate Bruce Cable's life and bookstore to find the manuscripts.
WTF?
Mercer is barely a writer. I couldn't stand her character and, frankly, she spent too much time "admiring her body" in the mirror and whining about her inability to write. Cable was an interesting enough character to follow so that gave me something to hope for but in the end, I was very disappointed with him and his actions. Hardly the stuff of a shady book dealer. Denny, one of the thieves, was a violent asshole who never got to shine before a convenient FBI person arrested him and threw him out of the picture. Who were we supposed to be enticed by here? Surely not Mercer.
Alas, I think we were supposed to like the whiny wannabe writer (heeey, alliteration!). The end of the book wrapped everything up in one extremely tidy bow that I disliked.
If I hear Grisham is putting out a new legal thriller, I'm in. Everything else, I'm out.
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