![]() I'm a great Grisham fan, and I can say without a doubt that this is not one of his best works. 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.īut eventually Mercer learns far too much, and there's trouble in paradise as only John Grisham can deliver it. She is approached by an elegant, mysterious woman working for an even more mysterious company. Mercer Mann is a young novelist with a severe case of writer's block who has recently been laid off from her teaching position. Very few people know that he occasionally dabbles in the black market of stolen books and manuscripts. He makes his real money, though, as a prominent dealer in rare books. Their loot is priceless, but Princeton has insured it for twenty-five million dollars.īruce Cable owns a popular bookstore in the sleepy resort town of Santa Rosa on Camino Island in Florida. Welcome to the twenty-first century, where the rich still get away with the crimes they commit.A gang of thieves stage a daring heist from a secure vault deep below Princeton University's Firestone Library. Maybe a little of the Daisy Buchanan has rubbed off on her. We both were a little disappointed in Miss Mercer’s weak character, but the book is set in our era. If not exactly a thriller, the reader is fascinated and curious to see what happens. Still, Camino Island is a bit different for a detective novel or legal procedural. It does feature a mother who exploits her daughter for gain like Erysichthon, but it is somewhat disjointed and seems to be going in a few different directions. I confess that I have not yet read the unfinished The Last Tycoon, but I would consider Tender is the Night his weakest. The Beautiful and Damned shows us how they do it. Gatsby tells us that the very rich go on being rich and letting others clean up their messes. It is the closest to The Great Gatsby in content and portrays a family very similar to the Tom Buchanans. One such observation says that The Beautiful and Damned may be Fitzgerald’s weakest effort. Included are some comments about Fitzgerald and his friends. We are introduced to a curious cast of writers who live nearby. Indeed, many such thefts are more like kidnappings where the stolen items are held for ransom.Ĭamino Island names numerous other modern books, most of literary significance. As with stolen works of art, insurers and victims are usually more interested in recovering the stolen items than seeing all the perpetrators come to justice. A somewhat reliable informant thought Cable might have them.Ĭamino Island not only introduces the reader to the bookstore business, it gives insight into the rare book and manuscript world along with high-stakes insurance investigations. They offer her a generous amount of money to find out what she can about Cable’s business and see if she can learn anything about the missing manuscripts. The unnamed insurer of the Fitzgerald manuscripts approaches a starving young author, Mercer Mann, to go to Camino Island where her aunt owns a summer home. He also has a great personal collection of first editions and a rare book business on the side. Cable has learned the trade well and frequently gets authors passing through to do book signings. ![]() It is in an upscale tourist area like the coastal islands of Georgia and South Carolina. Scott Fitzgerald’s five novels from a heavily protected safe at Princeton University.įrom there it does get to Camino Island, off the Jacksonville, Florida, coast where Bruce Cable owns a flourishing bookstore. And like some of his other novels about the law, the stakes are high.Ĭamino Island begins with a very clever heist of the handwritten manuscripts of F. ![]() Perhaps we could call Camino Island an insurance procedural. This latest work is not exactly the legal thriller he is known for. It has been a while since we read anything by John Grisham.
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