What a fun summer read!I haven't read a John Grisham book since the 90s, but I picked up Camino Island after seeing a positive review. I was intrigued because the story is a departure from Grisham's usual legal thrillers. The plot is that priceless manuscripts by F. Scott Fitzgerald were stolen from a Princeton library, and the hunt is on to catch the thieves and save the papers.The novel starts off with a thrill as we watch the gang of thieves go about the heist. (As a librarian and also as som...

Allow the author to help with this review. Starting on page 237 to 238, one of his cardboard cutout characters, gives advice on how to right a good book/bestseller:"I'll give any book a hundred pages, and if by then the writer can't hold my attention i'll put it away. There are too many good books I want to read to waste time with a bad one."Geez. Should've taken this advice.What a boring, uneventful, tritely written .... well, what? Yeah. What was this? A thriller? A veiled hat tip to Grisham's...

1. Grisham is one of my favorite authors.2. I have read all 37 of his previous works listed in the front of this novel.3. Every one of them has been a good story; many were great.4. His characters, stories, and writing pull you right in and along.5. I have hardcover copies of all of his works.6. I usually purchase them the first day they go on sale.7. I often read them in one sitting.8. I read this one in one sitting and enjoyed it very much.

I'm a great Grisham fan, and I can say without a doubt that this is not one of his best works. The truth is, the book goes from very fast and very gripping to very slow and very girly far too quickly. It's like reading two different books intertwined, and I couldn't care less about the second one. I seriously doubt John Grisham wrote the whole thing. Some of the portions where the girl's POV is adopted are just too intimately "girly" in style to have been written by him. I'm not saying "girly" i...

Back with another new novel, John Grisham seeks to expand his horizons with a story free of much legalese, but with the slightest hint of some criminal activity. A heist at one of Princeton's libraries puts a number of original F. Scott Fitzgerald's manuscripts in the hands of some career criminals. Quick-acting FBI agents are able to scoop up two of the five, but the others are still in hiding, along with the manuscripts. When one is rumoured to have surfaced at a small book shop on Camino Isla...

"Your secrets are safe. I can't think of a soul I would want to tell."And these secrets are within a crime. A jumbo, over-the-top, kick in the door of modern literature, and pull down the shades type of heist. Dollar signs that even have dollar signs.When a group of well-rehearsed thieves make their way into the tombs of Princeton's lower vaulted depths, they come away with a golden grail in the form of original hand-written manuscripts of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Miraculously, they stage enough div...

This book went down smooth and easy. I almost gave this 5 stars. I had a blast reading this story about reading and bookselling. It took 2 days to get through this. It's been awhile since I've read anything by John Grisham. I think his Painted House was the last I read of his. I started out reading his novels in high school and read each one until the late 90s or into the aughts. I got tired of the law stories. I listened, during the COVID quarantine, to a Stephen King Podcast he and John did to...

While this was a much better book than Grisham's recent efforts (e.g. "Rogue Lawyer") it still is not at the same level as his earlier books (e.g. "A Time To Kill", "The Chamber"). In some ways this reminded me of "Gray Mountain". A female lead who is suddenly out of a job and finds herself in changed circumstances. This is not a thriller or page turner. This is not about race or the death penalty or any other theme to make you stop and think. This would make a nice beach read.The story opens wi...

Seldom has such a good premise and beginning of a novel fallen as far and as fast as this. The story languishes with not one, but two inept agencies looking for perpetrators, despite apprehending some immediately. The weak and incomplete ending finishes this bottomless piece. 0 of 10 stars

I enjoyed this more than some other recent John Grisham novels I have read. Many parts of it were 3 stars and many parts were 4 stars. I will compromise at 3.5 stars (but round up to 4 on the official scale – since I have been so harsh on Grisham lately!)The main appeal of this book is that books are central to the theme. Hardcore readers – which most of you probably are – will appreciate the discussion of bookstore business/politics, book values, first edition collecting, and book heists. All o...

Camino Island was a disappointment. This is really just a beach read. Not much substance. I really didn’t care for the audiobook. The narrator had an uninteresting voice and I didn’t like her style. Maybe the book was better to read rather than listening to? I continued on as it was only 7 cds.I’m giving up on Grisham. As everyone on Goodreads, my TBR list is extensive and there are many higher caliber books to get going on.3 out of 5 stars.

3.5 stars.When a major literary theft occurs, who better to help investigate than a writer?Thieves steal five highly valuable manuscripts from Princeton’s Firestone Library. The authorities are determined to find out what happened to them and hopefully get them back.Mercer Mann is a novelist with writer’s block and a mountain of debt. She is approached by a woman seeking her help. She wants Mercer to move into her grandmother’s house on Camino Island and help investigate the local bookstore owne...

If I could change the title, I think I'd rename it Anatomy of a Heist. The writing is very matter-of-fact - nothing very thrilling or exciting - that begins with the theft of five one-of-a-kind F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts from the bowels of the Princeton University Firestone Library. From there, it follows the day-to-day (often minute-by-minute) lives of the thieves and those who want to find them and bring the manuscripts back to their rightful home. It's divided into sections, each of whic...

     This was an entertaining summer beach read, with none of Grisham's usual courtroom legal drama. There is no mystery for the reader to solve, only for the reader to see how this drama will all play out.      Thieves steal F. Scott Fitzgerald's priceless  original manuscripts from Princeton University.   Princeton had these priceless manuscripts insured for 25 million. Princeton's insurance company sets out to recover the manuscripts, to keep from paying out.     Mercer Mann is a broke young