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Camino Island

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Camino Island
AuthorJohn Grisham
LanguageEnglish
GenreCrime fiction
PublisherDoubleday
Publication date
June 6, 2017
Publication placeUnited States
ISBN978-0-385-54302-6

Camino Island is a crime fiction thriller novel written by John Grisham and released on June 6, 2017, by Doubleday. The book is a departure from Grisham's main subject of legal thrillers and focuses on stolen rare books.[1] Grisham made his first extensive book tour in 25 years to publicize the book.[1]

Plot

The book begins with the theft of five rare F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts from the Firestone Library at Princeton University and then embarks on a journey to a resort town on a Florida island in search of clues about the heist.[2] Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation and an "underground agency" of investigators working for Princeton's insurance company pursue the perpetrators in the black market, the story focuses on a novelist who pursues an investigation of the heist.[3][4]

Background

Author John Grisham

Grisham conceived of the subject with his wife on a lengthy road trip to Florida when they discussed a work incorporating "stolen books, stolen manuscripts, bookstores, [and] booksellers".[2][5] In February 2017, Doubleday books announced that Grisham would publish a crime heist novel in June in addition to his usual fall legal thriller.[3] Publicity for the book included Grisham's first major book tour in 25 years, which included 12 cities and was scheduled from June 6 through June 29.[1]

Reception

Sales

The book appeared at the top of several best seller lists including USA Today,[6] The Wall Street Journal,[7] and The New York Times.[8]

Critical review

USA Today critic Jocelyn McClurg praised the book as "sheer catnip for book critics" that resembles Grisham's legal thrillers with many similar character types but that might appeal to people who are not generally Grisham fans.[4] Ken Tucker from The New York Times said that occasional flaws "don't impede the jolly appeal of the novel's storytelling".[2]

Books Mentioned in Camino Island

Title Author
The Convict and Other Stories James Lee Burke
In Cold Blood Truman Capote
The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson
Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
Soldiers' Pay William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner
The Beautiful and Damned F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Love of the Last Tycoon F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald
This Side of Paradise F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett
The Nightingale Kristin Hannah
Catch-22 Joseph Heller
A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway
The World According to Garp John Irving
The Cider House Rules John Irving
The Lonely Silver Rain John D. MacDonald
Darker Than Amber John D. MacDonald
The Naked and the Dead Norman Mailer
Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy
The Last Picture Show Larry McMurtry
Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry
The Moviegoer Walker Percy
Goodbye, Columbus Philip Roth
Cup of Gold John Steinbeck
The Confessions of Nat Turner William Styron
The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
A Spool of Blue Thread Anne Tyler
A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf

Notes