Introduction
Camino Island by John Grisham is a thriller about the theft of rare manuscripts from the Princeton University Library. Frustrated writer Mercer Mann is recruited by the FBI rare asset recovery unit to get inside the inner circle of rare book dealer Bruce Cable, the FBI’s suspect for buying the stolen original handwritten manuscripts of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s five novels. Mercer must go to Bruce’s bookstore, Bay Books, on Camino Island in Florida. If she can convince Bruce to show her the manuscripts, will she turn him into the FBI or will she let him go?
Summary
The first three chapters of Camino Island follow the viewpoints of the three main characters in succession. The first chapter, The Heist, follows Denny Durban a disgraced Army Ranger as he and his crew steal the manuscripts from the Princeton Library. Chapter Two, The Dealer, is the backstory about how Bruce came into money, opened his bookstore, and becomes a dealer in rare writings. Mercer is introduced in Chapter Three, The Recruit, when she had just lost her job as an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina. She had written a well-received novel years ago and a book of short stories. She had been unsuccessfully trying to write her next novel as she taught. Elaine of the FBI rare asset recovery unit has an offer for Mercer. Return to her childhood summer retreat of Camino Island to learn what she can about Bruce and the FBI will pay her well including eliminating her student loan debt. She had spent her summers there with her Aunt Tessa until her Aunt died. Mercer is reluctant to go, but she accepts the offer for the money. She engages with the writer’s community on Camino Island and is soon introduced to Bruce. He is a notorious ladies man, who is married to Noelle but is rumored to bed young female writers as they come for book tours at his store. Mercer is a likely target for Bruce and that is why Elaine recruited her. The story continues following Mercer, Bruce, and Denny until the conclusion.
Recommendation
I liked this book, but something was missing. It had to do with my expectations for the novel and the characters. I can’t decide who the protagonist is and the genre of this novel falls. The three main characters are Denny, the antagonist, Mercer, maybe the protagonist, and Bruce, who is somewhere in between. The categories on Amazon put this novel under thrillers and suspense with subcategories of Heist, Crime, and Conspiracy. It could have been a thriller, but Denny never threatens or even meets Mercer or Bruce. The secondary plot involves the writing community on Camino Island. It could have been a literary novel where Mercer found her muse to write by interacting with the community, but that’s not how the novel turned out. So, it’s a non-thriller thriller or a non-literary literary novel. The setup and characterization are well done, and that makes the unfulfilled ending disappointing.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Camino Island by John Grisham.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38398224-camino-island
Two recent thrillers I have read and reviewed are like Camino Island.
This is the link to my review of Bleak Harbor by Bryan Gruley.
This is the link to my review of The Speed of Sound by Eric Bernt.