both by John Grisham (Grisham)
The libraries’ Just Desserts
mystery fiction discussion group read and discussed two connected John Grisham
novels for our August 2022 meeting — Camino Island (2017) and Camino Winds (2020). Other than his atypical
“Skipping Christmas”, this was the first time I’d actually read a Grisham
thriller — and I ended up really enjoying his writing.
Camino Island introduces us to Bruce Cable, owner
of a small but thriving independent bookstore on Camino Island, in Florida. But
he’s not the “hero” of the story. That’s Mercer Mann, a struggling 30-something
young female writer, who is convinced by a shadowy security agent to infiltrate
the Camino Island writing community to see if she can spy on Cable and find any
evidence that he’s in possession of a set of F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts,
stolen not long ago from a university. This first novel spends a lot of time
setting up the relationships of the quirky folks living on the island, mostly
in orbit around Cable and his bookstore. Mercer is a sympathetic character, if
somewhat wishy-washy, but Cable is made out to be a gregarious, dominant and
mischievous playboy personality, and even if he’s guilty of what he’s suspected
off, I didn’t really want to see him get caught.
Camino Winds brings back most of the same set of
characters, a couple of years later, for a more traditional mystery story.
During a severe hurricane, which causes the majority of the island’s residents
to evacuate, Cable and a few friends remain behind. When one of his friends
turns up dead, but from injuries the storm couldn’t have inflicted on him,
Cable believes that writer was killed, and continues to investigate what would
have inspired such a violent act. Cable is definitely the central hero of this
story, though his many friends and allies have major parts to play. And the bad
guys in this second novel are truly deadly. A compelling read, and it will be
interesting to see if Grisham returns to the Camino setting for a third novel
again in the future!
I found Camino Winds to be a much more satisfying read,
and it gets an “8” rating from me, while the first novel, Camino Island, gets only a “7”.
(In talking with Grisham fans, I’m
told that the two Camino books are not typical of Grisham’s “legal thriller”
style of writing. But, none-the-less, you may enjoy John Grisham‘s other books if you like either or both of
these!)
( official John Grisham web site )
Recommended
by Scott C.
Public Service — Bennett Martin Public Library
Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?
New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!
If you're a mystery fan, join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight, September 29th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October. This month's book up for discussion is "The Maid" by Nita Prose.
Even if you haven't read this specific book, you can still participate, and learn about great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts
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